K-P’s missing students, school infrastructure ordeal persist

Current situation does not reflect commitment despite ruling party’s manifesto claims of prioritising education

PESHAWAR:

Aided by the raging pandemic and the ruling party’s unfulfilled promises, the education system’s outlook in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) is grim given the number of out of school children and dilapidated public school infrastructure.

Another International Day of Education has come and gone but now nearly 9 years in power, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led provincial government’s manifesto promise of prioritizing education remains unfulfilled as according to a Malala Fund survey 1.8 million children are out of school in the province. The survey report further highlighting the massive ground still left to be gained in the provision of education states that 23% of K-P’s population aged 5-17 years, is missing formal education out of which a staggering 64% are girls and 36% boys.

In contrast, another survey conducted recently by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), reports that 39% of K-P’s 11.7 million children in the 5-16 age bracket are out of school - putting the total at 4.7 million children.

Qamar Naseem, an activist for the right to education in K-P, reflecting on the mammoth numbers, told The Express Tribune that a majority of the provincial education budget was spent on salaries and recurring expenses rather than improving educational facilities or the access to education. “Covid-19 has made matters worse as the poor cannot afford to send their children to school and girls especially are totally deprived of education,” he said despondently.

The Malala Fund report provides more insight into Naseem’s insight on the lack of government spending into improving schools, stating that 16% schools in K-P are without electricity, 12% have no clean drinking water facility, 5% are without boundary walls, and 4% do not have toilets.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader and member of provincial assembly, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, while talking to The Express Tribune said that for the last nine years the PTI government in KP had failed to bring any significant educational reform. “The PTI government announced an education emergency in the province but despite the education emergency 70% of schools have no basic facilities and there is still no uniform education system all over the province as promised by the government,” Wali said.

On the other hand, Imran Takkar, a social activist working for child rights in K-P, believes that apart from the ruling party the superspreader played a major role in forcing children out of school. Takkar was of the view that the financial constraints have forced parents to take children out of school and make them work for daily wages to run the household. “During the pandemic, child labor has seen an upsurge and so has begging. Parents simply cannot afford to pay school fees and the government has done little to help them,” he said.

K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Director, Hafiz Muhammad Ibrahim, does not agree with the assessment, stating that the current government had taken many steps to provide all the facilities at schools and improve the education system. “We are specifically focused on girls’ education and there are very few schools which still lack facilities but during our current tenure the schools in the entire province will be 100% functional,” Ibrahim told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2022.