Education is the key to success

The gateway to a country’s success is undoubtedly education. It is what enlightens and boosts the country’s economy, sovereignty and development.

Malaysia is a worthy example. It has dragged itself into the category of the developed. The education has been so wisely promoted that the literacy rate has flown up to 95 percent. This is why their economy and development has expanded greatly by the years.

We have got so much to blame, but the Indians who became independent right along with Pakistan, are seeing great prosperity. They have population problems, but alongside that, they keep on promoting their education sector. They can’t be called fully developed, but they have improvised their financial status using the education and skills. They now are a nuclear power, have a reasonable tourist industry and an extremely successful film industry. It is the education that has done everything.

It has been a lengthy discussion, but the best example is yet to come and is that of Bangladesh. They were a part of us in 1971. We lost them and are still crying over the spilled milk. But they instead have promoted the education sector immensely. Schools have been built for everyone with equal opportunity for the rich and the poor. This is why that today they have got quite ahead of us. They have a better currency value and a better GDP growth rate.

We have untapped oil and gas reserves under the barren mountains of Baloshistan, and we have coal estimated 175 billion tons, under the sands of Sindh. We have everything but the problem is that we don’t have the key – that is education.

In Pakistan, two education systems are running parallel to each other – the Cambridge and the Matriculation. I find this the primary cause of lack of equal opportunity of education for everyone here in Pakistan.

The government schools for the lower and the lower middle class mostly offer Matriculation. These schools are mostly in a neglected and ruined state. Here, the students aren’t even facilitated with basic requirements including books, and furniture.

To be honest the teachers come just for killing time and are focused upon their income instead of fulfilling the basic purpose of teaching. Children should be entitled to great care, security and a good upbringing. They should always be treated with respect and love, but here they are treated with inhumane punishments and humiliating treatment. This mismanagement in government schools have caused the children of the ones with a lower budget to lack behind in terms of education.

The Cambridge system is ostensibly for the upper class. The rich think of nothing less than famous privately owned schools, which teach according to the Cambridge system. Here, the children aren’t given strenuous punishments, but are treated as ‘lords’. This causes the children to become arrogant and give less importance to studies, which is a great cause of this predicament.

As said before, education is everything for a country to survive. We need to cover this massive gap between the rich and the poor. Education should be equally available to everyone. We must improve the standard of education and must standardise the present infrastructure instead of introducing new and ostentatious programs. The children of leaders and the servants should study together.

Most importantly, there should be a single education system, and the teachers should be hired for their teaching skills and not their references from famous personalities. The teachers should also treat the children as their own, and with love and affection. Promoting education and improving its standards is intensively required in Pakistan. We have the capacity to beat the developed and even the so called ‘super powers’.

M IBRAHIM TARIQ

Lahore