Warped priorities

The Punjab government is reported to have spent the sizeable sum of Rs12 million on the inauguration of two of its much-touted ‘Danish’ schools, at Hasilpur and Rahimyar Khan. A third school has yet to be inaugurated. People were flown in from Lahore for the occasion and no doubt lavish amounts were spent on all kinds of fripperies. This seems like a colossal waste when we think of how useful the same sum of money, could have been in improving facilities at existing government schools or in setting up new schools. A recent report released by the Pakistan Education Task Force has demonstrated that even while it is the country’s richest province, Punjab’s attainments in education are far from impressive.

In the backdrop of a situation where millions of people in the province are illiterate and children everywhere attend schools where there is little or no furniture, no toilets, no fans and sometimes no teachers the wisdom of the ‘Danish’ schools also needs to be reviewed. The purpose behind the setting up of plush schools is, in theory, to educate ‘talented’ children from poor families and thus also attempt to break the cycle of poverty. The intention is perhaps worthy. But would it not be more just to use scarce resources on offering quality education to every child, rather than focusing on a few. After all, each child should be enabled to develop the potential he or she possesses, as a means to uplifting their quality of life. Using huge resources for a few may not offer the best means to move forward. We need, in the Punjab and elsewhere, to address educational policy as an urgent priority. A key issue is the multi-tiered nature of education — with madrassas operating yards away from elite private schools. We must even out a playing field which offers huge advantages to some, while discriminating against others so that every individual gets a fair chance to move ahead in life.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2011.