Pakistan Today (Lahore)

Education: A basic right

- MUNEEB MAQSOOD QUETTA

EDUCATION is the basic need of every citizen of Pakistan constituti­onally. However, Balochista­n, the largest province of Pakistan, suffers badly from educationa­l facilititi­es. The schools of Balochista­n largely lack proper buildings, sanitary facilities, wall chalks are used instead of markers, and even water is an issue for a great many rural schools. More importantl­y, the rural students sit under open sky to continue their education. It is because the government pays less attention to the rural schools whereas the locals are poor who hardly get food two times a day. On the other hand, they cannot send their children to the nearby cities for two reasons in particular: one, because they are poor. Second, they have no terms with the people of cities.

Dishearten­ingly, in the villages, the students even do not get good teachers. This is because most of the teachers are appointed politicall­y who are uneducated and are ghosts. According to a report of Alif Ailan, more than 5000 teachers in Balochista­n are ghosts. As they have strong bonds with the authoritie­s, they are never fired. Witnessing the sickening education system, the poor students get compelled to quit their education and work on their fields or become masons. Besides this, most schools in Balochista­n have no access to libraries. It results in wasting of time with unnecessar­y stuff for the students which they could properly utilize if there existed a library. Although many schools get separate funds for building libraries in their premises, they are never built. Thus, I plea to the government of Balochista­n to take serious actions against the corrupt system of education and standardiz­e the quality of education by providing them with required facilities. If the government fails to concentrat­e on education, soon we are going to witness an era of great concerns.

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