Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children with an estimated 22.8m not attending school
KARACHI: In Pakistan, the political leadership has failed to give good performances in sectors like education, health, child protection, and nutrition. They are ignoring real problems which are dangerous for the coming generations. We must learn from past mistakes committed by so-called democratic leaders. We have to improve our education and health system to ensure and nurture a healthy nation so that we have some international standing. We should start to focus on the real issues at hand instead of creating useless ones. According to a Unicef report, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 44 per cent of the total population in this age group. In the 5-9 age group, 5 million children are not enrolled in schools and after primary-school age, the number of out-of-school children doubles, with 11.4 million adolescents between the ages of 10-14 not receiving a formal education. Disparities based on gender, socio-economic status, and geography are significant; in Sindh, 52 per cent of the poorest children (58 per cent girls) are out of school, and in Balochistan, 78 per cent girls are out of school. Nearly 10.7 million boys and 8.6 million girls are enrolled at the primary level and this drops to 3.6 million boys and 2.8 million girls at the lower secondary level. Why has our political leadership failed to achieve desirable performance in this sector? It is because our political leaders have been working on personal interest. Institutions are used for selfish motives because of which industries are lagging behind. There is a need to take the necessary measures to improve the nation’s image.
Ishaque Junejo
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2019.
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