Education for all

Article 37 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan lays down the following parameters:

a) Promote with special care the educational and economic interests of backward classes.

b) Remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary level education within minimum possible period.

c) Make technical and professional education generally available and higher education accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Primary education has remained a victim of experimentation. The feudal system and the vested interests run ghost schools. Private schools are charging exorbitant fees.

Some 60 percent of the population is below the poverty line, ie, on less than Rs 170 per day. That means about 105 million of our population cannot think of education for their children in any real sense. The alarming thing is that 60 million, over the age of 10 years are illiterate.

The UNDP data informs us that literacy in Christian world is over 90 percent whereas the Muslim states averages at 40 percent.

Pakistan is still below that literacy rate although various governments have been claiming better rate of literacy.

Almost 98 percent of Christian literates have completed primary education, those of Muslims stand merely at 50 percent and 40 percent of the Christian literates attended university education, and that of the Muslims stand at a meagre 2 percent.

The state of education progress should have woken up this nation and the leaders at all levels. The rulers, the parliamentarians, the clergy, in fact people belonging to any strata of society, should be having sleepless nights if they have any love left for the country and its future.

Imagine what will happen after few years when we will have majority of our population as illiterates and un-educated. We are already reaping the harvest from our un-educated leaders for years.

When will our leaders and parliamentarians take notice of Article 37 of the Constitution under which they took oath?

SALMAN BABAR

Lahore