Asif Ali Tamboli Advocate
IF we are willing to rise
as a great nation as well
as a successful economy in 21st century, we must provide better learning opportunities to our ever growing population, to reap well from the advancements of the world. Education could be a method that helps in making your abilities, beliefs, knowledge and values better, not just a tool to acquire a degree like it’s a belief in our society. Pakistans hould fix its superannuated, colonial and ‘slave-producing’ education system so asto fulfill the dream of turning intoa great nation.
Article 25-A of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan also speaks of free and mandatory education to kids between the ages of 5 to sixteen years. Another Article 37-B makes it a duty of state to take away illiteracy and supply mandatory education to kids. It’s extremely unfortunate that up until now, we are unable to accomplish the constitutional rights of our future generations. This is one of the reasons why Pakistan today is known for not providing a better education system to its citizens. According to a report Pakistan has allocated lowest budget to education among any Asian country, with the number never actually touching 3% of annual GDP whereas Mongolia spends 8.5%, Iran 5.4% Maldives 8%, South Korea 4% India 3.7% and Pakistan 2.76% (Ghazi, 2018). Another official report published in 2018 says that 22.84 million kids between ages of 5 to 16 are out of schools and that’s the figure out of a total of 51.33 million making it a 44% of the total children population. Considering these figure, one can see we are actually making a nation of illiterates for the coming years.
The primary school registration ratio of kids is only 63%. Half of the registered kids drop out before graduating from school due to numerous reasons. This adds to child labor which is an additional issue and ethical liability for the country. The government cannot handle such gigantic burden unaided, consequently many organizations especially in civil society have come to the forefront to help government in stimulating primary education. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use many policies such as public-private corporations; teacher-training; family literacy; community participation and developing funds for the educational sector. But NGOs are very clear on their stance that they are not here as a substitute for government.
Out of many, Akhuwat is the one i would like to mention here. Akhuwat by Dr Amjad Saqib is known as non-profit organization that gives interest free loans but there very few who know the extra ordinary work Akhuwat has done so far in the field of education. With five diverse projects presently running under Akhuwat’s education umbrella, Akhuwat offering every Pakistani a chance to be educated. With the aid of two thousand staff members, working across Akhuwat’snumerous schools and colleges, Akhuwat is presently providing free of cost education to fifty thousand individuals at numerous educational levels; thereby improving the lives of thousands of families.
The Akhuwat’s Jugnu School Project caters to the idea of early childhood learning which is vital for cognitive and motor skills development at an early age. Under the Jugnu School project, underprivileged children are registered in formal education at a young age and are given access to a safe learning atmosphere and innumerable prospects early on in life.
Akhuwat Faisalabad Institute of Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) providing higher education especially focusing in the field of science, technology and applied research. Over 200 students who are already making a mark in Biotechnology Research in Pakistan. Akhuwat Colleges in Kasur and Faisalabad have registered about five hundred determined students who want to pursue particular fields such as medicine, engineering or information technology. So far, one hundred and fifty students have graduated from Akhuwat Colleges in Kasur and Faisalabad with great goals of employment and further studies.
Akhuwat’s School Project, a flagship project under Akhuwat’s education pregame, presently registers over forty-six thousand disadvantaged students giving them free of cost education at the primary level. Many other organizations also contributing to the cause of free education to all but we as society need to come forefront and we need to understand the responsibility as nation, only then we can rise as a successful nation. And without education it’s just a distinct dream. The test today, and particularly the accomplishments of today, can thus become the guide for tomorrow.
—Writer is Islamabad based lawyer and social activist. He can be reached at [email protected]
