SUN CITY, CALIFORNIA, USA: This is with reference to your story “Over 27 million children out of school” (May 18). Basic education of every one of the 27 million out-of-school children and the adult literacy of the 25 million illiterate adults could be the key to Pakistan’s progress. In 2002, the first public-private partnership mass education programme, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), was formed to meet the Millennium Development Goal that aims at Pakistan achieving a minimum literacy rate of 86 per cent by 2015.
From 2002 till 2007, over 10 million out-of-school children and illiterate adults started receiving the required education. I am one of the 25 private sector founding directors of the NCHD. During this time, the literacy rate increased by 10 per cent. This came to a halt with the government change that took place in 2008 and till today, due to major cuts in promised education funds, hardly any progress has been made. In the last five years, the government tried to shut the NCHD down twice. In October 2011, the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that the NCHD cannot be shut down. The NCHD is the only organisation established in every province and district of Pakistan but its work has only been limited because of lack of funds. The education budget has to increase by four to eight times for Pakistan to progress in the future. However, it is too late for the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal regarding education by 2015.
Pervaiz Lodhie
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2013.
