Social organisations sue the state, want a govt plan to ensure every child is enrolled

Hardly 10 per cent of the population completes twelve years of schooling.

KARACHI:

With the passage of the 18th Amendment, education changed from an ‘arbitrary entitlement’ to a ‘basic right’. In light of these changes, social organisations of Sindh united on Wednesday to submit a petition, urging reforms in the education sector to ensure that every child between the age of 5 and 16 is attending school.

The amendment’s Article 25A, ‘Right to Education’, clearly binds the state to provide free education to all children, which is why members of civil society held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club with an aim to create enough stir to make education the government’s top priority in the upcoming budget on May 28.

Ills such as wide disparities between regions and gender, a lack of trained teachers and poor physical infrastructure have marred the educational system of the country, said Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research’s (Piler) Karamat Ali.

He was quoting the Pakistan Economic Survey of the fiscal year 2010-2011 that, according to him, presents a “pathetic picture”.

“To make sure that the constitutional right is not violated, we appeal to the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan to direct the federal and provincial governments to submit a concrete plan and implementation action to the court to ensure that every child of school-going age is enrolled and the allocation of adequate finances for this purpose is provided in the ensuing budget.”

Pakistan ranks 163rd out of 177 countries on the UN Index of Education Systems. “There are 70 million children aged between five and 19, out of which only 27.9 million are enrolled in schools. Our literacy rate is 49 per cent because signing names is our yardstick. Meanwhile, 42 million - or 60 per cent of the school-age population - have no access to education.”

One in every 10 of the world’s out-of-school children is a Pakistani. “Pakistan also has the highest drop-out rate with hardly 10 per cent of the population completing twelve years of schooling,” Ali said.

The Pakistan state is the largest provider of education in the country. “Viewed in this context, the quality of education points to the state’s failure in fulfilling its constitutional obligation.”

He shared a recent report titled, “Education Emergency in Pakistan” that reveals that only 35 per cent of school-going children can read a story. Fifty per cent cannot read a sentence.

Infrastructure

In its role as a manager of resources too, the Pakistani state’s failure is evident in the physical condition of schools that “speak of utter disregard for human safety”. According to a survey reported in the Education Emergency report, only 36 per cent of public schools are judged to be in a satisfactory condition. “Around 30,000 school buildings are dangerous, 21,000 schools have no building whatsoever, 60 per cent of government-run schools have no electricity, 34 per cent do not have drinking water and 23 per cent go on without textbooks.”

Expenditure

Karamat Ali highlighted that Pakistan’s education expenditure at 2 per cent of the GDP is the lowest compared to other countries in the region. Bangladesh spends 2.5 per cent, Nepal 3.1 per cent, India 3.2 per cent, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries spend 6.2 per cent, while Malaysia spends 23 per cent of its GDP on education. He also pointed out that India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all on track to meet their education Millennium Development Goals while Pakistan lags far behind.

Countries in the region spend a certain  percentage of their  GDP on education

Pakistan: 2 per cent

Bangladesh: 2.5 per cent

Nepal: 3.1 per cent

India: 3.2 per cent

OECD countries: 6.2 per cent

Malaysia: 23 per cent

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2011.