It is our responsibility to champion the cause of right to education for all
LAHORE: Every year a number of students migrate to Lahore. Some of the most renowned educational institutions of Pakistan are in this city, including King Edward Medical College, Allama Iqbal Medical College, LUMS, the University of Punjab, the University of Engineering & Technology and Government College University. However, the overall educational ranking of Lahore is on the decline with every passing year. Despite the presence of all these prestigious institutions, the state of primary and middle school education is considerably unsatisfactory in terms of standard of education and infrastructure.
Buildings of government schools do not have sufficient space to accommodate students. Basic facilities like drinking water, toilets, and electricity are available, but there is the problem of space. Either the buildings don’t have enough classrooms to accommodate all students, or there are no classrooms at all. Many buildings are in neglected state. For instance, a government school in NA-124 has been in ruins for the past three years and another one in NA-120 was demolished a year ago and hasn’t been rebuilt since then. The number of government schools is decreasing; and at the same time the number of dilapidated buildings also is increasing. The government and the people do not seem to be concerned about this state of affairs. The issue needs urgent attention of the government.
To bring such issues to the attention of the authorities concerned, there is a voluntary organisation by the name of Ilm Dost that works on such reports and highlights such pivotal issues in the social, print and electronic media to raise public awareness.
People should not ignore the quality of public education even if they can afford to send their children to private schools. It is our responsibility to champion the cause of right to education for all.
Mudassir Zia
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2018.
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