For our leaders, education has never even been a priority which is one big factor hindering our growth as a nation
KARACHI: The importance of education cannot be overemphasised. A country lacking proper educational facilities is sure to lag far behind in the race for development in the world. Article 25-A of Pakistan’s Constitution states that it is mandatory for the government to provide free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 5 and 16. However, our government has not implemented a functioning system for the education sector.
According to the Human Development Report of the United Nations, Pakistan is placed at 136th in terms of an educated population which is just 49.9%. The allocation of budget is another problem the education sector in Pakistan is suffering from. The education sector is allocated less than 3% in the annual budget. Our traditional teaching methods are also a major problem. The teaching methodologies too need to be updated with changing times.
Outdated curriculum is yet another issue which hinders mental improvement of our students. Thus they fail to developed a creative mindset. Moreover, most of the private schools choose English as their medium of education while the government institutions prefer Urdu. This discrepancy proves harmful to students coming from-Urdu medium schools.
For our leaders, education has never even been a priority which is one big factor hindering our growth as a nation. Our leaders need to give the issue a serious thought.
Eatisamul Haq
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2018.
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