Election, education and manifestos

• Ignoring what is important

Educated societies will have educated minds which will always come forward with questions. An easy way to get rid of all this mess is to produce society with no education, with zero sense of right vs wrong, etc. And it seems that this is precisely what Pakistan is going to have from today’s elections too. We will come back to this later but first

let’s have a look what the previous government did with regard to education of Pakistan.

Spending on education as a percentage of GDP remains among the lowest in the South Asias region, which was 2.2 percentage in the fiscal year 2017 as compared to 2.3 percentage of GDP in the fiscal year 2016.

Moving forward, everyone knows what state government schools are in, and just how good the quality of education they impart is. Talking about facts, 81pc schools in Pakistan are primary and 22.6m children are out of school, according to reports.

Keeping eye on what is manifesto of BIG 3 in Election 2018

PPP’ slogan, interestingly, is “BB ka Waada Nibhaana Hai Pakistan Bachana Hai”. The party has mentioned two reforms in education which they have introduced in last tenure; Right to education Pakistan (RTE) and New Education Policy 2009. RTE urges the government to enforce laws set forth in article 25-A of the Pakistani constitution, which states “The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law” but no primary legislation was introduced to deliver the newly created fundamental right. Where is the implementation? Why did nobody take the constitution seriously?

PML-N has mentioned 14 newly established schools, with enrolment of 10,000 students only, as an achievement in its manifesto. Sigh!

Secondly, Education Policy 2009 envisions that “Education is a categorical imperative for individual, social and national development that should enable all individuals to reach their maximum human potential. The system should produce responsible, enlightened citizens to integrate Pakistan in the global framework of human-centered economic development.” Sounds extravagant, but in the manifesto 2018 they’ve mentioned that they have strengthened merit and needs-based teacher recruitment, arrangements and procedures, hiring only 30,000 new teachers. Then what about the ghost schools and teachers reported in Sindh and the vision of education policy? In the manifesto 2018 PPP has emphasised primary education.

PML-N’s slogan, nobody needs reminding, is “Vote ko izat do-khidmat ko vote do”.

PML-N has mentioned 14 newly established schools, with enrolment of 10,000 students only, as an achievement in its manifesto. Sigh! Fostering universal education by 2023 plan isn’t mentioned but performance is readily raising questions. Not much to discuss on education as they haven’t introduced any education revolution policy in the term.

The PML-N has made a five-point agenda of education to celebrate its manifesto. It is focused on higher education by increasing percentage in GDPA.

PTI’s famous slogan is “Not two, one Pakistan, New Pakistan”.

Discussing five years of PTI, it seems they spent only 20pc of the budget on education, which is seen counted as an achievement. They recruited 57,000 teachers and made 47 colleges and 10 universities, though no major reform was introduced.

Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf has given equal attention to primary and secondary education in its manifesto for 2018. The formation of a commission for annual review of the curriculum is the highlight of its manifesto.

I am sorry if I am writing the same, repeated soap opera type piece only with new packing. Where is education then? There isn’t any revolutionary education plan introduced by any party. Who will educate the nation, who will produce minds? Isn’t that the dilemma we discussed above? Do not produce educated minds as they will argue, as they will question?

And, of course, education is not the only area where Pakistan is not making progress. Otherwise large hearted people, Pakistanis ranked 147 out of 188 in a global poverty index and as much as 40pc of the population – roughly the size of Florida, California and New York combined – lives below the poverty line (HDI report).

Now let’s have a look on assets of big three first,

Maryam Nawaz has declared a total of Rs845m worth of assets. Maryam, of course, is likely to take her place as leader of PML-N one day. Net worth of her jewelry is 1.7 million.

Mr Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of PPP who was president from 2008 to 2013, declared total assets of Rs758m, an unspecified number of horses and cattle worth Rs9.9m. He has spent millions of rupees on his passion for weapons, apparently worth Rs16.60m.

Son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari is better off having declared around twice as much wealth as his father, he has around Rs50m cash in hand and his bank accounts holds Rs13.86m. Papers revealed that the value of Bilawal house in Clifton, Karachi is Rs3m. He has Rs1.25m gifted by his mother, his shares in Zardari Group and the park lane estates are worth Rs1.11m. He has arms and ammunition worth Rs3m and other valuables worth Rs3m.

Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf, declared Rs38m worth of holdings. The affidavits attached to his nomination papers reveals that his net assets are worth Rs38,694,493. His income source is agricultural land, MNA’s salary, PCB pension and bank profit. He has two dollar accounts holding $379,760 and $1,470 and one-pound account which holds £7,068.

The discrepancy between their life styles and their earnings makes you wonder whether they are truthful to the people of Pakistan when they are signing these papers, especially after the episode of panama papers. Now the nation has to decide for what a common man is going to vote? Dish of Biryani? Gas connection? One note? Or education, the future of Pakistan?

Many, many people of Pakistan are living below the poverty line, they don’t have basic education but the big three enjoy their life in villas and their kids got higher education from abroad.

If Pakistan will continue to vote these big three into power, they will only help increase their net assets and the poverty index of Pakistan.

Now it’s Pakistan’s call, Pakistan’s vote.