Out-of-school children

Pakistan has repeatedly failed to recognise the emergency it faces with respect to out-of-school children. This dire state of affairs needs to be a national priority but has never really been treated as such. The number of out-of-school children this year is 22.6 million, which is some reduction from last year’s figure of 24 million, but the improvement is of course no cause for celebration.

Given these statistics revealed by the National Education Management Information System, as many as 44% children between the ages of five and 16 are still out of school. The situation is worst for Balochistan where an estimated 70% children are out of school and Fata where 58% are not enrolled in any educational institution.

Pakistan has the second highest number of outof-school children, falling second to Nigeria. It is stuck in this unenviable category in both South Asia and the world. The difference between Pakistan and other countries in the region is stark. Pakistan alone comprises more than 50% of out-of-school children of South Asia, while India that has a much larger population houses a fraction of these children and Sri Lanka has nearly all its children in school.

At the same time, the education emergency in Pakistan is not only about school enrollment. It is much graver than that. Many children attending school are unable to read a sentence in any language or do basic mathematics even in secondary school.

Moreover, there are a large number of public school buildings that are in such a dilapidated condition that it makes schools unsafe to go to, while in some schools students are made to sit without shelter all day.

The state of education in Pakistan is absolutely pathetic. It is really high time it changed and more budgetary funds allocated towards education. Schooling must be accessible to all. Pakistan cannot go too far if it continues to raise an intellectually poor people.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2017.

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