Blue-sky education
Construction of a metro-bus system is a mere mote in the eye, inconsequential
Attempting to understand the governance of the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is akin to unravelling a paradox boxed in a conundrum and all encased in a web of hyperbole. If the latter is to be believed the utter shambles created across Peshawar by the construction of a metro-bus system is a mere mote in the eye, inconsequential. Hospitals? Well you can forget them as there has been no new hospital built under the current dispensation. Schools and education in general? All going swimmingly apparently. Except that it is not as evidenced by a recent independent report. An education emergency has been declared — as it has elsewhere in the country it must be noted — and millions of rupees are being spent in servicing that emergency.
The scale of the problem is considerable. The independent monitoring unit found that there were 483 schools still open to the elements across the province where extremes of summer and winter conditions are unlikely to make school a happy experience for students or teachers. Another 441 schools are in rented buildings, 151 schools are sited in buildings that have been “donated” and 179 schools have been ‘adjusted’ with schools in the vicinity which presumably means absorbed by existing schools. About 18% have no clean drinking water — think communicable diseases — and 8% have no boundary walls. Another 8% have no sanitation and a startling 26% have no electricity supply — at all. Kohistan has the most schools with the sky for a roof — 162 — followed by 143 in Mansehra. These are relatively developed large urban areas. On the plus side in the interests of balance there are 85 newly-constructed schools and this is commendable.
The education emergency in Pakistan is real and it is everywhere, in every province. Some lag further behind than others and K-P is one of the laggards. The governing political party tends to emulate its verbose leader in its public statements and it would be prudent to engage in a little precautionary fact checking before exercising the vocal chords.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2018.
The scale of the problem is considerable. The independent monitoring unit found that there were 483 schools still open to the elements across the province where extremes of summer and winter conditions are unlikely to make school a happy experience for students or teachers. Another 441 schools are in rented buildings, 151 schools are sited in buildings that have been “donated” and 179 schools have been ‘adjusted’ with schools in the vicinity which presumably means absorbed by existing schools. About 18% have no clean drinking water — think communicable diseases — and 8% have no boundary walls. Another 8% have no sanitation and a startling 26% have no electricity supply — at all. Kohistan has the most schools with the sky for a roof — 162 — followed by 143 in Mansehra. These are relatively developed large urban areas. On the plus side in the interests of balance there are 85 newly-constructed schools and this is commendable.
The education emergency in Pakistan is real and it is everywhere, in every province. Some lag further behind than others and K-P is one of the laggards. The governing political party tends to emulate its verbose leader in its public statements and it would be prudent to engage in a little precautionary fact checking before exercising the vocal chords.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2018.