ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) passed the ‘Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2012’ unanimously to ensure free and compulsory education to all the children of age five to sixteen years as enshrined in the Article 25-A of the Constitution, but the government did nothing to ensure its implementation despite the lapse of several years.
Under the bill, every child, regardless of his/her sex, nationality or race, shall have a fundamental right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. However, the governments have miserably failed in the implementation of the bill.
The government has seemingly forgotten about the bill, which was passed in haste without any homework, hence nothing could be done to achieve this milestone so far.
Pakistan Education Statistics 2015-16, launched by the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) – a subsidiary of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, revealed quite alarming numbers claiming that as many as 22.6 million children are still out of school.
A senior official in the ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) told Pakistan Today that it is true that no work has been done regarding the implementation of the bill till now because it is impracticable in a country where education did not exist in the priority list of the ruling junta.
The official said that the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme (PMERP), under the leadership of Maryam Nawaz to upgrade the standards of education and uplift the state of government schools – run by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), failed to yield the desiring results.
He said that around 44 per cent children between the ages of 5 and 16 are still out of school, which necessitated the need to declare ‘education emergency’. But the ground realities are different, he added.
The official said that there are only 423 government-run educational institutions in the federal capital, a number too low to meet the requirements of even half of the population of the city. So talking about providing free and compulsory education to all the children is a far-cry.
“The mushroom growth of the private educational institutions speaks volume of the government’s apathy towards the education. Not even a single school has been constructed nor a teacher has been hired in the metropolis by the incumbent government during the last four years,” he said.
He said that a large number of students have been denied admissions in the public schools due to the paucity of these institutions. This causes the parents to run from pillar to post to ensure the admission of their children.
Talking to Pakistan Today, President Private Schools Network (PPSN) Dr Muhammad Afzal Babur said that the number of registered private schools is around 2,000 in the federal capital, while there are only a few hundred government-run schools, reflecting the government’s non-seriousness in valuing the education.
He said that even though the private schools were carrying such a huge burden, even then they are being targeted instead of being appreciated for performing the duty which essentially falls on the shoulders of the government.
He said that the private institutions are accommodating millions of students, and they took up the gauntlet because of the government’s inability to perform its duty.
However, according to the details obtained from Private Educational Institutions Regularity Authority (PEIRA), there are 1,242 registered Private Educational Institutions (PEIs) in Islamabad and the strength of the students is 259,699 – out of which the number of male students is 149,229 and female students is 110,470.
Talking to Pakistan Today, LUMS Economics Department Associate Professor, and Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives Senior Research Fellow Faisal Bari also confirmed that the government, so far, did nothing for the implementation of the hurriedly-passed bill.
He said that its implementation demands huge resources, time-frame and most importantly the government’s attention. The government, however, seemed more interested in including a clause in the Constitution since no spadework had been done regarding its implementation.
The professor said that the federal and the provincial governments have yet to pass mandatory legislation for the implementation of the constitutional amendment.
About its implementation, he said that first, the parliament should have to ensure its implementation, but added that the results were not satisfactory in this regard.
He said that the court could be approached to enforce the basic rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
However, he said, more effective and appropriate way of its implementation could be if citizens prioritise education and start pressing the elected representatives to ensure their basic right. But unfortunately, no such public movement could be seen in the country despite spending a massive amount on education by every individual, he added.
In response to a question he said that since the children of the elites are studying in private institutes, public schools no more remain their priority.
Efforts were made but CADD Secretary Nargis Ghalo could not be reached for her comments in this regard.
