Each Pakistani by now is aware of the fact that the answer to most of the problems in this nation is a better education system. Civil society activists constantly demand freedom and equality in education. The budget allotted for the education sector is also a cause of concern in this country.

Alif Milaan is a non-profit organisation working in the field of education in Pakistan. They released Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017

The list analyses eight territories of Pakistan with respect to the provision of quality education. Ahad Jammu and Kashmir has ranked number one in terms of provision of quality education, followed by Islamabad on the second place, and Punjab on the third. Balochistan has jumped up two places on the rankings, whereas Sindh and FATA ranked lower.

Punjab and KP have made considerable improvements in terms of increasing school infrastructure

However, the pace of improvement in FATA, Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan still remains a concern. Another major problem is the emphasis on the quantity of schools, rather than the quality of education in these schools. Since the education sector and the lack of attention given to it has become a way of competing with political opponents, which is why building new schools is their priority. It does not matter what is being taught inside.

For every four primary schools in Pakistan, there is only one school above primary level

While the number of students in primary schools has increased, no attention has been given to schools above primary. What this means is that children do not have schools to go to after Class 5. This is one of the biggest reasons why a lot of kids are dropping out of schools, because they have no schools to go to above the primary level.

However slowly and surely efforts are being made to change the situation around

Initially the problem in the country was lack of schools, which is now being eradicated by setting up infrastructures around the country. It is quite possible that the measure of education must only be the number of schools instead of the quality of what is being taught inside. Here is the little progress being achieved in the provinces:

• Many schools in rural Sindh are going digital due to the introduction of the multimedia system
• In Punjab, over 4300 schools have been privitized to improve the level of education
• In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government started the proper monitoring of government schools in March 2014 and today, a field force of five hundred monitors visits over 90 per cent of schools every month and uploads the data in a central database
• Balochistan introduced a Basic Education Programme (BBEP) to provide quality education for all. In the process, they have charged nine officials who were involved in “ghost appointments” and are working to reduce teacher absenteeism in the process.

One of the main targets of terrorists in the area have been schools

From 2007 to 2015, 867 schools were attacked by terrorists. This pushes a country way back and creates hindrances in the gaining education. Efforts such as the ones mentioned above are the way forward in the case of education.

Cover image via: dailytimes.com.pk