A nation of illiterates

The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement survey for 2011 shows that families spending less on education.

For a short period last year, spurred by a campaign exploring the education emergency in Pakistan the country’s intelligentsia got very worked over the dire state of our educational system. The fervour died down but the situation has become even worse. The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement survey for this year shows that the increase in the adult literacy rate has been anaemic and families are spending less than ever on education. This is an indictment of a government that made access to education a constitutional right under the 18th amendment. Government spending on education has remained more or less static even as the enormous defence budget continues to grow unchecked.

As much as the government is to blame, scapegoating it for our problems would be wrong. The truth is, the educational problem is partly caused by cultural factors. This is shown in the survey, which reveals that the average monthly expenditure of families on education has decreased over the last year. Education just isn’t a priority for many, it seems. Partly this can be explained by the runaway inflation, where families are now forced to spend more than ever on food, just to keep from starving. But in a society where there is a stark gender gap in education and girls just aren’t given the same educational opportunities as boys, you are bound to see such disturbing statistics.

What the government needs to do is redress the balance, particularly in rural areas. The provision of free, quality education for all is a must and the government has to ensure that all school-going children, particularly girls, are actually attending school. Families often use the valid reason that they simply cannot afford to send their children to school when they could have them working and bringing in another income instead. But such short-term thinking is doing grave damage to the country. Laws against child labour have to be strictly enforced so that all children are given the tools they need to be productive members of society. That will be possible only if they are given a quality education.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st,  2011.