Chronic Illiteracy in Pakistan

I consider Education as the single important entity by which an individual is equipped with the skills to survive and flourish in the modern world. It also constitutes among the basic necessities of life. However, Pakistan faces an evil which is a root cause of its disparity in the areas of social and economic infrastructure; illiteracy: a lack of education or an absence of life skill is what this phenomenon has to offer. Education in Pakistan has encountered a multitude of changes over the past few years. Rigid policies enforced by the government officials and the incoherent actions of activists and educationists is an ongoing source of conflict in the education sector.

In Pakistan, an individual is considered officially literate if he or she can read a newspaper and write a short letter in either Urdu (the local language) or English (the second most prominent language of the country). According to the statistics provided by Human Development Report, Pakistan had a literacy rate of only 49.9% in 2014. The situation is quite alarming since a major percentage of the population comprises of young individuals between the ages of 22 to 29 who are the driving workforce of the country’s economy. The education completion rate in Pakistan is 33.8% in females and 47.18% in males which is a clear portrayal of the fact that in a country with a population of 182.1 million, people are deprived of this fundamental right.

The Constitution of Pakistan contains an explicit section on education which states; ‘The state of Pakistan shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period.’ The provincial governments have taken some steps to ensure this clause. Recently, secondary education has been made compulsory for students in the KPK Province for both male and female students. Institutional reforms are being established to initiate collaboration between local authorities and village/district level schools to promote the decentralization policy. This policy supports the idea for a standard quality of education in all schools at all levels. However, along with these positive aspects, there has also been observed that the state budget hit to an all-time low amount for the education and science & technology sectors in 2016.

Illiteracy is a rampant and widespread phenomenon in Pakistan and its causes can be traced to various social, political, cultural and economic factors. I believe poverty to be the major reason as it hinders educational development the most. A related statistic is that 36-40% of the population lies beneath the poverty line. Economic cost of good quality education in the private sector is out of bounds for low income households. Secondly, uncontrolled population growth is another immense factor as densely populated areas have minimum to no amount of increase in educational resources. This results in overcrowding of schools and exhausting of current resources in terms of infrastructure of schools and wages of staff. Child labour is another important issue in Pakistan which has repeatedly been stressed upon by UNICEF. 17.6% of the population below the age of 18 have to work to support their families, making it impossible (or highly impractical) for them to continue their education. The wide gender gap is another key factor as the female population is deprived of education due to conservative cultural constraints, early marriages, and illiteracy of parents. Pakistan’s war on terrorism has also massively affected the education sector as schools and colleges are now the targets of these hideous atrocities.

The solution to the frightening problem of illiteracy is a procedural one and requires positive actions by both the government officials and general populations. I have highlighted some aspects below which are

• Spreading awareness among the rural population about the necessity and significance of education through education camps and awareness programmes.
• Introduction of a uniform curriculum in schools of both urban and rural areas.
• Attention should be paid to technical and vocational training institutions as they are a significant asset to the youth and industry of Pakistan.
• Dedicated and trained faculty personnel must reinforce the system as they are the pillar in the development of an individual’s educational growth.

The State can only definitely prosper by firmly establishing its educational system so current and generations ahead can take advantage from it.

Fin.