Illiteracy

Historically speaking, no nation on earth could earn name by showing step-motherly attitude to education. Most of the developed nations have prioritized education sector to attain success and affluence. But unfortunately, Pakistan seems averse to writing on the wall and education has been probably the most neglected area despite the fact that literacy is a catalyst and life-blood of development. The nations which are galloping and making strides towards development and progress are spending a huge chunk of money to improve their literacy rate, but Pakistan is still spending a minuscule amount on education.
Statistics also testify low profile of Pakistan in education. It stands fifth in SAARC and comes after Maldives, Srilanka, India and Bhutan because of its fragile literacy rate. Its rating in the world is also not praise-worthy owing to its standing on 159th place. Ministry of education states, Pakistan has 46% of literacy rate but independent sources are much skeptical over this claim and believe it to be round about 26% and these include even those who can handle little more than mere signatures. Various surveys, conducted by reputed organizations and agencies present a very bleak situation, their surveys show that 54% of the population have never went to school even once in their life time. Over all situation is very grim.
Various incumbent governments have claimed to have done a lot in this field but still we are reeling and crawling on the same place. Still poor education is a matter of concern. This gory picture becomes more horrific and lamentable as we move out of central Punjab and sindh ,rest of the areas of Pakistan seem to have no concern with education. There are scores of problems ranging from social, cultural. Religious, political, psychological and economic spheres. If one problem is tried to be solved, other prove to be more gigantic in proportion and without solution of these problems and with out provision of a viable mechanism ,all the efforts of sustainability are not more than a pipe-dream. Resultantly, Pakistan will remain an impoverished and week state to make it more vulnerable and prone to destabilization.
Suffice to say, Pakistan has made some advancement in the field of education since independence but these efforts are not enough to rely upon. We need war-like preparation in the filed of education. The Quaid very aptly said,’’our education policies are needed to be suited to the genius of people, consonant with our history and culture and having regard to the modern conditions and vast development that have taken place all over the world.’’ There is a dire need to launch awareness campaigns to alter mind set of people. Majority of people in Pakistan have a tendency to say, what is the use of such education which is not job oriented. They believe that education is solely for the purpose of pragmatic gains. They do not reckon education as a demarcating line between humans and brutes.
Such situation is prevalent particularly in rural areas where feudal lords and wadera system is a big hurdle in the realization of dream of better literacy rate. Statistics show that there are tremendous disparities in the country on the basis of gender, class and regions. There is overall a miserable literacy rate and to further dent it, women have even less representation. On national level, their literacy rate is less than half compared to that of men, and this gap attains magnitude when we turn to rural areas where it is 5%, the lowest in the world for any class or gender. Recent onslaught of Extremists specifically on girls’ institutions in the Northern areas has further aggravated already precarious situation.
In rural areas of Pakistan and tribal belt ,women are going through various socio-religious restrictions and centuries old taboos, where it is considered a sin if female folk goes out of the boundary of their respective houses. A very thin group of women very daringly could reach to colleges or universities. In many other cases, girls, if willing, are unable to go to their institutions due to long distances or non-availability of means of transportation. As regards, boys, their families wish them to be helping hand owing to agricultural back ground.
Poverty is yet another obstacle, posing problems. The country where 40% of people are living below poverty line can how turn to education? According to UNICEF,17.6% children work and support their families. So, in such conditions, role and support of govt becomes inevitable but govt is continuously paying deaf ears to such demands. At present, Pakistan is among those twelve countries of the world which are spending less than 2% of GDP on education, whereas, china is spending 2.82%, India 3.5% and countries like USA, Uk, Japan and Italy are spending more than 5% of GDP on education. The govt of Pakistan should come out of hibernation and lethargy and should allocate at least 4% of GDP.
Quality of education is also very poor, especially in public sector. A dilapidated infra structure, lack of methodology and irrelevant curricula, paucity of books and teaching aids are common ills, found in public sector institution. Teachers are following erstwhile boring teaching methods and they are unable to create any interest in the students. Hardly any audio-video methods are resorted by these teachers and height of ignorance is that they refuse to equip themselves with refresher courses whenever they have been asked to go through. Critics believe that the relevance of the curriculum, the
availability of pedagogical equipment and attractive facilities and above all the skills and interest of the tutors need much improvement. It is true that every successive govt vows to adopt certain measures to improve literacy rate but political instability has seriously jeopardized the efforts and many serious efforts are found in dole drums. Consequently, inconsistency in govt policies is checking onward progress of the country and education sector is the main sufferer. Along with this inconsistency, Red Tapism and frequent bureaucratic changes are also hampering onward progress. There is a strong need of much improvement in our literacy rate. Govt needs to work in liaison with private sector. Active and constructive Role of NGO’s and community should also be taken into consideration. No doubt, private sector is playing its role but its role is focused on urban areas only, data shows 65% of private schools exist in urban areas only, so their cooperation towards rural areas is much needed. Clearly much greater consistency and concreteness of initiatives is needed if we are to reach somewhere near the literacy rate of India even. And for that to happen, we must keep in mind that this is not the job of govt alone, every one has to play its role, the parents, the teachers, the students rather the whole community. The sooner we create more and more literate people, the better for nation and country.