It was certainly perilous news that Pakistan is at No 145 in Human Development Index (HDI). But it is not the only set back we are facing at international level. UNDP has many cryptograms of shocks for us. All these shocks and terrors are framed by us, our ancestors, and our own rulers. In Education Index we are ranked 165th in the list of 179 countries. In literacy, we are at the 160th spot out of 182 countries.
Defining education
Education is a set of knowledge and behaviour, but literacy has been commonly defined as the ability to read and write with an adequate level of proficiency that is necessary for communication. More recently however, literacy has taken on several meanings. Technological literacy, mathematical literacy, and visual literacy are just a few examples. While it may be difficult to gauge the degree to which literacy has an impact on an individual’s overall happiness, one can easily infer that an increase in literacy will lead to the improvement of an individual’s life and the physical development of societies. Education is a composite term and its material aspect is literacy.
HDI is a yardstick
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a yardstick to evaluate the level of uplifting the masses in each country by UNDP. It is an amalgamated statistic used to rank countries by level of “human development” and distinguish “very high human development”, “high human development”, “medium human development”, and “low human development” countries. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a proportional measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, developing or an under-developed country, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. There are also HDI for states, cities, villages, etc. by local organisations and companies. The assortment of all this infra structure makes the final portrait of a country in the shape of her ranking. “Ranking” connotes how civilised a country is in the eyes of international community.
Education Index
With an effusive deliberated understanding, the United Nations publishes a Human Development Index every year, which consists of the Education index, GDP Index and Life Expectancy Index. These three components measure the educational attainment, GDP per capita and life expectancy respectively. The pioneers had thought that uneven environment always polluted the human mind and if we wanted to save the next generation from conflict and wars; they might acquire education.
The Education Index is measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting). The adult literacy rate gives an indication of the ability to read and write, while the GER gives an indication of the level of education from kindergarten to postgraduate education. Education is a major component of well-being and is used in the measure of economic development and quality of life, which is a key factor in determining whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country.
Evolution of human understanding
This thought process took thousands of years to evolve. From Dark Ages to Enlightenment, from Crucifixion of Jesus Christ to the heart transplant by Christian Bernard, from the discovery of gun powder to the silicon chip, man learned the blessings of learning and knowledge. He also learned that minds could be changed and channelised with effective education. Conflicts, encounters, battles and wars can be avoided by virtue of wise and prudent thinking.
Development of UNDP
During World War – II, on January 1st 1942, twenty six nations signed the Atlantic Charter which paved the way to UN. On 25th of April 1945 a UN Conference on international organisation began in San Francisco attended by fifty governments and more than three hundred NGO members who helped in drafting the UN Charter and finally United Nations came into being on 24th of October 1945 with an aim to prevent a third world war. The horrible experience of Nagasaki and Hiroshima was there. In January 1946, 1st meeting of the UN was held in West – minister – Central – Hall, in London. Among 51 signatories, five were permanent Security Council members and 46 other countries. But soon it was realised that better human development is the only way to think peacefully. Since man did not succeed in the past to contain himself according to his limitations therefore a battle or a war always remained crucial for him to know his actual worth. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), founded on 22nd November 1965, is the United Nations global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 out of 193 UN member countries, working with nations on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.
Divisions of UNDP
The pioneers divided their job into following groups or fields:-
n Education Index
n Democracy Index
n Freedom House
n Gini coefficient
n Gender Parity Index
n Gender-related Development Index
n Gender Empowerment Measure
n Genuine Progress Indicator
n Global Peace Index
n Legatum Prosperity Index
n Living Planet Index
n Gross national happiness
n Happy Planet Index
n Physical quality-of-life index
n Human development (humanity)
n Child Development Index
n Satisfaction with Life Index
n Genuine progress indicator
n Multidimensional Poverty Index
Education Index ranking
In Education Index, Australia, Cuba, New Zealand, Finland and Denmark are at the first spot with 0.993 marks each then there are Canada, Norway, South Korea, Ireland and Netherlands are from No 6 – 10 respectively. From 11 to 60 most of the countries belong to Europe minus Barbados at No 16, US at 20, Kazakhstan at 23, Uruguay at 31, Japan at 34, Israel at 36, Argentina at 37, Antigua and Barbuda at 38, Guyana at 39, Venezuela at 46, Tonga at 47, Chili at 48, Kirghizstan at 49. All of these countries are Non Muslim states. Around Pakistan, geographically, in the list about Education Index, China is at No 97, Sri Lanka at 107, India at 145, Nepal at 151, Bhutan at 162, Bangladesh at 163. Here Bhutan and Bangladesh are our next door neighbours as SAARC countries.
Mongolia; in the Gobi desert , the birth place of Genghis Khan and Hulagu is at No 53, Libya the Berber tribes of Carthage at 59, Maldives, at No 80, all are in better position. This would not result in any cause for sanguinity in our neck of the woods.
We are in the proximity of Afghanistan and 13 African countries Mozambique, Cote d’lvoire, Benin, Gambia, Central African Republic, Senegal, Ethiopia, Sierra Leon, Guinea, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Our religious philosophy opens with the word of ‘Iqra’ and we have been advised to go as far as China in the search of knowledge. All Russian state which left the USSR are ranked at decent positions. It means that those termed ‘Kafirs and Mushriks’ were in favour of education more than so called Muslim rulers. All countries around Ex-USSR like Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine et al.
In literacy first 18 positions go to ex Russian bloc except Barbados. No traditional Muslim country is before Brunei Darussalam which is at No 71 except some Russian states, Bosnia Herzegovina and Albania. After Pakistan all are African countries except Afghanistan and Bangladesh. China is at 68, India at 137, Nepal at 150, Bangladesh at 163 and Bhutan at 168. From 138 to 159, four countries Nepal, Haiti, Papua New Guinea and Yemen are non African countries. It means that Pakistan is in the cluster of 45 African countries. It is indeed a pity that Pakistan a country which boasts itself to be a nuclear state lags so far behind other nations in terms of literacy and education.
