Our education emergency
The events that have led up to the barbaric attack on Malala Yousufzai also point in the same direction. Malala is an icon for the all that is positive in Pakistan. She stands for the future of the country, where boys and girls have full access to education and where peace and tolerance can prevail. We live in a land of extreme contradictions; a 14-year-old school girl, albeit an exceptional young girl, chose to speak up for a right that should have been hers at birth — the right to go to school, the right to be educated. In most other countries of the world, young girls like Malala would not have to struggle to be allowed to go to school. As a society, we really need to do some hard thinking, for we are unable to protect the rights of our own children. Not only that but we are exposing our children to violence since we have not stood up against the forces that continue to target primary schools in parts of the country. It was our mistake to have remained quiet then and it’s an even graver mistake to remain silent today as Malala struggles for her life.
On the other hand, forces like the Taliban stand for all that is wrong in our country. They are the flag bearers of ignorance, intolerance, barbarism, bigotry, narrow-mindedness and fanaticism. I am actually surprised that some leaders would want to hold a dialogue with individuals who won’t bat an eye in taking the innocent life of a 14-year-old girl. And what was her crime after all? She was only asking that she, and other girls in her district, be allowed to go to school. Over the past few days, I have been scouring newspapers to see what our leadership has to say with respect to the attempt on Malala’s life and I must say, I am sorely disappointed. All I have seen are the usual platitudes about condemning the act but not providing a solution to the problem. In my view, the solution would be to counteract extremism by setting up schools in every community and ensuring that 100 per cent of primary school children graduate through to high school.
I know this sounds like an impossible task, given the kind of priorities that our government has demonstrated. The government has preferred to invest Rs126 billion in schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the past four years, which provides a Rs1,000 income transfer to poor families. Given the scenario that is panning out in Pakistan, where education can perhaps be the only inoculation against extremism, wouldn’t it have been better to prioritise education instead and invest these billions of scarce rupees into establishing schools and improving the overall quality of education? According to an estimate, to put a child through primary school in Pakistan it would cost around Rs20,000 per student for five years. Based on this estimate, it could mean that the Rs126 billion that has been spent on the BISP could have put 6.3 million children through school for five years. Of course, academicians will question this simple thumb rule, but really it is all about choices that we make today and their impact on lives and individuals tomorrow. It is time to declare an education emergency in Pakistan and ensure that Malala’s sacrifice and courage do not go to waste.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2012.
COMMENTS (19)
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I endorse the views of writer and also Imran Khan relating declaring education emergency in Pakistan. I think education not only help control extremism but also corruption. People, who are really educated, tend to pursue positive ways to acquire whatever they want in life.
@riz:
"......billions of people would become aware of the true, brave and honorable face of Pakistan…"
Yes Sir, Insha-Allah.
Your noble desires will take a lot of doing. Please do not leave that on the frail shoulder of Malala. She has shown the way. Others in their thousands must now cary the flame lit by her. She must live her childhood and complete her education away from the public glare.
@gp65: You said:" BISPis one of the better run targeted transfer programs in South Asia and it also has no taint of corruption."
BISP may have less corruption in it ,but that does not mean it is efficient too. Similar Poverty eradicatioin programmes were implemented in Latin America with the help of UNHCR and were very successful. However there are important differences:
1) In Latin America such programmes were linked to social indicators,such as mandatory child immunization,enrolment to primary school for children and vocational training for adults. Long term success that accrued form these programmes was largely due to these measures. 2)Monetary help was deemed as a temporizing measure and formed a part of larger socioeconomic policy so that as the economy grew not only did it provide education to children and jobs for adults it progressively reduced poor families dependence on this programme. In the absence of above ; dishing out Rs1000/a month which in view of ever increasing inflation is increasingly insufficient for these families, reduces this farce (BISP) to nothing more than a vote buying exercise for PPP( cf: it's name). I would like it renamed "humwatan income support",after all it's tax payer's money and not coming from BB or AAZ bank account.
@wonderer: You nailed it and went beyond the issues I mentioned. On the expense side, security and power subsidy expense need to be reviewed and on revenue side obviously the entire tax policy and administration needs to be rengineered to allow adequate funding for education and healthcare initiatives. @agentprovocateur also made a good point i.e the hatefiled curriculum needs to be reviewed also. Otherwise more people will be 'educated' in hate.
Finally @Manoj - All your emails are always in bold. This distracts from your content. Can you please post in regular font going forward?
ok! consider it declared an emergency... what next?
The ministry of education should take over the madarsahs and bring them into conformation with the prevailing education system. Mullahs do not make good teachers or role models. The job of education should be left with the educators
It is not just about providing education to every child but also about the quality of the education being provided. In addition, job creation is highly important. people need jobs which are suited to their skills, well paid to not resort to other ways and productive, happy workers would also contribute better to society in their sphere of work. this can only be done by improving government sector through reformations and institutional reforms and incentivizing private sector and attracting investors. Comprehensive plans for business loans for start ups and student loans also need to be formulated.
@Manoj Joshi, India:
Here are two very important links for your information, and for those interested in the Malala story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eu8NyLeMCbc
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/10/09/world/asia/100000001835296/class-dismissed.html?ref=world#100000001835296
Is this what is being taught in the schools of pakistan?
http://www.ncjppk.org/specimen.pdf
If it is so, then the next generation is better off un-educated.
I fully agree with the authors views. Education is the best tool to get rid of terrorism and fundamentalism. For that to happen the top leadership has to give more attention to primary schools instead of mulla based madrassa which teach intolerance and jihad mindset
The subject relating to education is indeed a matter of concern for entire South Asia especially Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan the four nations that have shared commonality of culture. History proves that these four nations of modern times have shared customs and a culture which was more or less similar. Women and girls have unfortunately not been given the desired status in South Asian societies and to simply brand a particular religion, group or community wi thin South Asia would not be appropriate. Girls till date in the rural areas of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are deprived of formal education as they are considered as a liability who will one day leave the family. The attack on Malala Yousufzai in Pakistan indeed is an act most barbaric and shows the frustration of the religious fundamentalists however, to perceive this as an evil which is purely Pakistani would not be appropriate as similar incidents are seen happening in a similar form or the other within the entire South Asia. Education may not always be the reason but the girl is the cause or target of attack. Education has so far either not been able to reach the people within South Asia or one can say has not been able to change the mindset, the feudal manner of perceiving women and girls within the family and society and this is a rather unfortunate aspect of society in South Asia that includes Pakistan. Blaming the patriarchal form of society or dowry alone would not be enough although these two are important factors that have undermined the status of girls and women in society. Family as an institution seldom welcomes the birth of a girl child in the family whereas a boy is welcome and his birth is celebrated with great fervour as the boy is believed to carry on the family's lineage further. Despite having heard the proverb 'A son is a son till he gets a wife, A daughter is a daughter for a life' the perceptions in society do not seem to change. The nations within South Asia must take up this issue during their meetings as well as in the SAARC forums as this pertains to South Asia and a long term comprehensive strategy can be framed. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh share a common culture and there are marriages between families living in these three nations hence it becomes all the more important for the three neighbours to deliberate and work out a strategy to check crimes against girls and women.
Noble ideas indeed. But can we find the needed resources? Impossible; if we must have the army that we have, the nuclear bumbs and all kinds of missiles, the level of corruption that we cannot get rid of, the disinterest in making the rich pay taxes, the actions of the non-state actors, the need for strategic depth, the expectation that the schools we build will continue to be dynamited, and all other expenses of maintaining a useless government of the kind we have. It seems highly probable that the turning point Malala's sacrifice could have provided will be unfortunately missed.
Let us imagine that when Ziaul Haq was in power during 1977-1988, he had decreed the following steps to be taken throughout Pakistan. (1) Everybody who lives in Pakistan has a right to live and practice his religion according to his choice, without the State giving undue preference to one religion or sect over another. (2) Schools will be established throughout the country to enable all children to go to school at a reasonable distance from their homes. (3) The teaching in the schools shall be based on the need to develop an inquiring mind and the scientific attitude. (4) All madrassas shall be abolished: the maulanas and imams should confine themselves to their proper function of running their mosques and leading prayers. If this had been done then, a whole generation would have been through a course of education and a way of life that would have made them formidable citizens of a modern State. That would have led to natural benefits in every other sphere of activity of the State and society. But, of course, we know that Ziaul Haq did nothing of the kind. V. C. Bhutani, Delhi, India, 18 Oct 2012, 0526 IST
BISPis one of the better run targeted transfer programs in South Asia and it also has no taint of corruption. Income support for the desperately poor (which also addresses related issues like hunger, health and nutrition) is not the place to look for educational funds. The place took is the security expense that is 40% of tax revenue egenerated in the country. If as you say, education would reduce extremism then that case is even more potent.
The Education sector in Pakistan is in dismal state. The education sector of Pakistan is very low on the priority list of the govermnent. The education sector is one of the worst victim of govermnent neglect and corruption. I don't know whose purpose our rulers serving by not giving due focus and attention to the education sector.It is deploreable that in some part of the country, the education has not been considered the birthright of the child. Young girls and boys have to go through extra-ordinary ordeals in order to get the normal year of school education. It is the duty of the govermnent to clear the areas infested with the extremist mindset disallowing the young children to attend school.
good but solution to tackle talbans can not be just building schools in every corner of pak...eventually the dialogue is necessary with not only just talibans but all other terrorist groups including BLA