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| The biggest threat to the Pakistani state is illiteracy |
Millions of illiterate Pakistani children and millions of illiterate adult citizens of tomorrow, this is not a baseless assumption but a painful reality.
There is talk of children's problems outside of schools, but no government has even begun to think seriously about taking this issue seriously. No real plans are being worked out to solve this problem. No consideration is being given to where the resources will come from or what kind of planning will be required to solve this problem. As a result, Pakistan is not in a position to ensure that all children under the age of five are enrolled in schools.
According to UNICEF, about 23 million children in Pakistan do not go to school. Thus, Pakistan is the second largest country in the world, where so many children are deprived of education.
In September 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the provision of education was one of the top priorities of his government and he would ensure equal opportunities for the people in higher education and basic education. But after more than two years, the situation has not improved. Imran Khan also promised comprehensive reforms in the education system, including women's education, and vowed that his government would bring the biggest education agenda in Pakistan's history, including primary, middle, secondary, vocational and special. Reforms will be made in every sub-sector including education.
But the government has set a federal education budget of just Rs 80 billion in the current financial year, which is only 3.3 per cent of GDP and the lowest in the region at the national level. The current education budget is insufficient to send children out of school, so how will they be educated? The result is that if the education budget is not increased, then all the Pakistani children who are currently out of school, they will be able to read and write after regular admission, there is no question.
One of the promises of the Imran Khan government was that in addition to setting up schools for girls and their higher education, scholarships would also be given to girls and women so that they could continue their education. But unfortunately so far no concrete work has been done in this regard. In terms of population, the number of girls and boys in Pakistan is almost equal, but most of them are girls who do not go to school and so far the government has not formulated any effective and far-reaching education policy to address this problem. Has given
The Pakistani state actually has two priorities. One priority is to enhance, nurture and protect the religious identity of the state. Although it is not understood that if religion is not in any danger, then why is this being done?
Religion is not only a basic right of every person but also a part of his private life. What does the state have to do with religion? But even if it did, at least when the state first made it possible to provide all other civic and social services to the people.
The second priority of the state at present is the fictitious threats to the country, which it is focused on tackling. This focus is "consuming" many national resources, although many experts also say that the use of government funds in many so-called non-productive sectors is not inevitable and as long as resources continue to be spent in such sectors, new There will be delays in removing a large section of the population from the pit of illiteracy.
Today's millions of illiterate Pakistani children and tomorrow's millions of illiterate adult citizens, this is not a baseless assumption but a painful reality. Why resources are not being used on a priority basis to address this real threat is incomprehensible to anyone who knows that the process of nation building begins with education.
An important question in this regard is whether Pakistan will continue to be influenced by its past experiences, or will it try to solve today's problems according to its present resources in order to improve its future. , The consequences of which may be very painful in the days to come. In any case, Pakistan will have to invest its resources in its citizens who have to run this country, its economy and its entire system tomorrow.
The welfare of the people does not seem to be included in the goals set by the Pakistani state for itself, ostensibly and practically, because more emphasis is placed on the protection of religious identity and the interests of the elite. The government should abandon loud claims and take practical steps in the field of education and announce a comprehensive and equitable education policy, in which every Pakistani boy and girl has equal access to education.
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