How US became a superpower dominating the former Soviet Union and eliminating the all ideologies other than capitalism, how France and neighbor countries survive the French Revolution’s aftermaths, how Industrial progress modernize the ignorant Europe, how China is taking over the world economy, how Japan survive after dreadful atomic bombing and finally how still more than half population of Pakistan is living under poverty line. Neutralizing all other intervening variables we will find one common variable seeding these all events is education.
We met with desperate and astonishing figures while analyzing education condition in Pakistan, standing at 46% literacy rate with only 26% of which girls are literate as per ministry sources, however independent sources paint more horrible picture. We know without education a person can’t become doctor to provide medical aid to patients suffering from disease, one can’t become engineer to build roads, infrastructure, buildings, and educational complexes, without proper education one can’t bring innovation. There will be staggering of ideas, intolerance, xenophobia and accumulation of violent ideas without education and modern ideas. So, with half of all school going children out of school what we are missing, we are missing 25 million opportunities for them to become either a doctor, engineer or social scientists. What other options we left them when they miss these opportunities? Becoming an ignorant or prey to some violent group using them for their vested interests.
In our rural areas, situation is especially alarming as social and cultural obstacles are deeper there. One rightly said that ignorant people are in favor of rulers as they are easy to made subject. Most of rural and tribal areas of Pakistan, girls are not allowed to go school on religious grounds, the religion which supports men and woman education equally and more than any religion. However this misinterpretation of Islam favors them to spread their ignorant propaganda in society.
As per World Economic Forum yearly report ‘The Human Capital Report 2016’ Pakistan stands 118 out of 130 countries, falling at the bottom in South Asia, and behind countries like Rwanda, Haiti and Benin. The report stated the cause as “poor performances on educational outcomes throughout all the Age Group pillars”.
We all know that there are hurdles beyond lack of political will, cultural and social matters; poverty is a big cause why our children out of schools, as about 185 of school going children work to support their families. We met with statements like “if we send them school how we will feed other siblings at home” asking again policy makers to devise a plan which address these concerns if they at least want children at schools.
There are rays of hope too as many NGOs and world organizations working to promote a culture of education in Pakistan, however, not as equivalent of the level government can.
We see drastic changing on global front in all these years and more are expected in coming years, but question is how to survive these economic, environmental and social changes? Experts believe that societies with intellectual pool of humans will be capable of competing future challenges threaten world leaving countries with unskilled, ignorant manpower behind.
The difference is evident that nations with high literacy rate advances in fields of physics, energy, economic development and prosperity and nations with ignorant majority hardly find themselves finding religious pictures on fruits, stars or animal skin.
With 35 percent of under-14 population, Pakistan could stand among world’s top economies only if our political leadership announce education emergency addressing all concerns, which keeps our children out of schools. With induction of modern revised curricula, this youth can do miracles within years. We are losing wars on diplomatic fronts and termed as violence fostering people due to massive foreign propaganda but have we ever find anyone to defend what we really are on international fronts? No, because we haven’t risen our generation prepared for that. We should learn from Japan, US and even from India and Bangladesh who are transforming their youth into their assets equipping them with weapons of mass education.
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