Education is not about getting good grades. It’s a way to find our hidden abilities and increase our knowledge. It gives us the ability to find out the merits and de-merits in taking decisions of life. Education is not only for our own self but for our nation as well. It’s a light that shows us the right way. Without education, a person is a bird without wings that means he can’t fly.
Unfortunately, Pakistan is lacking in this field, the literacy rate of Pakistan is 58% which declined from 60 %. This decline should be alarming for the state-crafters of Pakistan. Moreover, the education standard in the least developed province of Pakistan is not so good. The Balochistan Educational Survey stated that the male literacy rate in Balochistan is 55% and the female literacy rate is just 25%. Analyzing the data of the provincial government, 963 schools out of over 13,000 schools in Balochistan have yet to be made functional. The figure tells that there are silver linings in the sky. Whereas the Education Secretary of Balochistan Shah-ul-Haq said that the main issue in Balochistan is lack of schools and teachers.
Balochistan tops the list of out-of-school children in the country and the figure is 66 percent. Discussing the causes of this immense dropout, the indicators are socio-economic. It is the matter of fact that economy is now booming in Balochistan but in the past, it was like a dead soil. This economic instability enhanced the social disproportion generating a sense of deprivation. It’s a universal truth that where there is deprivation, people go for economic benefits by ignoring social order and education is part of social order.
Discussing another dimension in Balochistan is the lacking of available resources and political will. According to a report by Pakistan Education Atlas 2016, 36,408 primary schools are being run by few hundred teachers as well as there is a shortage of textbooks and libraries. The problem is not just limited to this, there is a shortage of electricity, drinking water and school furniture. Furthermore, a survey in 2015 by ASER revealed that in Balochistan more than 60% of class five students cannot read English books, for grade 2 and 55 percent cannot read Urdu books of class 2. Now here comes the role of provincial government and the federal government. The provincial government of Balochistan must get approved the handsome budget from the federal government only for education whereas programs like “Parha-Likha Punjab” should be launched in all over Balochistan. If Punjab can give free education and books to the students of Punjab why cannot Balochistan?
Recently Alif Ailaan assembled in Panjgur for the promotion of education reforms. It focused on encouraging the government to make education a priority. The government can build schools that will improve standard of education. If whole of Balochistan wants to progress, then the primary objective should be the education, it will generate the indigenous human resources for Pakistan and Balochistan.