Deteriorating public education

Letter September 11, 2018
Education is in pathetic condition in rural areas of Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan is one of the most populated countries in the world but its literacy rate is one of the lowest. Education is in a pathetic condition in rural areas of Pakistan.

Conditions at government schools in Pakistan are rapidly deteriorating. Majority of them don’t have basic facilities such as clean drinking water, electricity and furniture. Students study without electricity, in hot weather they sit on the dirty floor as there aren’t enough chairs. They don’t have a canteen and hence they buy food from stalls outside their schools.

Clean drinking water has always been a big issue for public schools. A number of schools in Karachi have no water tanks and some that have them don’t have drinkable water. Water tanks are not clean and are infested with insects. A number of public school students get sick after drinking water from these tanks. At least basic facilities should be provided at government schools. There must be suitable training programmes for teachers of government schools, so that they can impart quality education to students. In rural areas, scholarships and stipends should be provided as these are essential to encourage students and increase enrolment as well.

The primary education sector must be the government’s top priority. Proper and quality education provides lifelong benefits to children. It just doesn’t give knowledge to children but also makes them better citizens.

Education promotes tolerance in society and empowers people with better decision-making, problem solving and even multi-tasking abilities. Education is a need for every human being.

The government must concentrate on the education sector and take revolutionary steps to improve it. The primary education sector needs to be brought up to modern educational standards. This is the need of the country.

Afsah Hashmi

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2018.

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