Balochistan is the richest province of Pakistan which covers 47% of Pakistan’s total land. Balochistan is rich enough in minerals production, but it suffers from multiple problems such as healthcare and other social problems. Particularly, education is one of the biggest problems in Balochistan as the overall literacy rate of Balochistan is 46 percent. Out of 3.6 million, only 1.3 million children go to school and remaining 2.3 million are out of school which is really a food for thought. Unfortunately, the schools and colleges in the province have totally failed to present a good image to the students as most of the schools and colleges lack very basic facilities such as toilets, classrooms, boundaries, wall and potable water.
Moreover, 36% of schools are deprived from water, 56% schools have no electricity and 15% of schools have turned into ghost schools in Balochistan. This shows that the government has totally ignored education sector in the province.
Furthermore, colleges, universities and schools are the places where students can create a reading environment, but the presence of ghost teachers has destroyed much of the schools. Similarly, here the students are too disappointed as they do not get any opportunity to enlighten themselves with the blessings of education. The youth are wondering with scattered dreams and their lives are too destroyed as the education system has made them pessimistic. The menace of teacher absenteeism is very much common in the province which has hurt the education badly.
There is no record of 150,000 teachers, 900 ghost schools with almost 300,000 fake registrations of students. There are 3,500 ghost schools across the country. 12,500 schools including secondary, primary and high schools among which 7000 school are operating with a single teacher. The out of school children are mostly forced to work as laborers and are the victim of child abuse.
Besides this, 50% people live below the poverty line in the province which compels the parents to make their children laborers instead of sending them to schools. These children are neglected and face multiple problems in seeking education. Poorly designed and non-availability of course books, lack of libraries and trained teachers are additional causes of educational backwardness in Balochistan. As the books are not provided on time and there is lack of libraries which decreases students’ mental sharpness.
Further, in the backward areas of the province, the education system is next to nothing. According to (MDTF), the rural literacy rate is 35%. Almost 2.5million children are school less. And 50,000 are out of school. Female education is discussed usually to be worst especially in the rural areas where girls are forced to sew clothes instead of going to school. In 2013, 64% of rural female population never went to school.
75% of girls are out of school between the age of 5 to 16. The overall female literacy rate in the province is 26% and male is 37%. Consequently, 25% females have never been to school as compared to 60% male. It is painful to mention that when they pass their metric so they are forced to leave their education after which they mostly become the victim of child marriage.
According to a report, 84% of students are getting education in governmental schools while 16% in private institutions. Despite the fact that a very large number of students are enrolled in governmental schools, the governmental still failed to provide necessary facilities to the educational institutions. The poor families cannot afford to send their children to private schools due to high fees.
Sadly saying, the richest province of the country has the poorest literacy rate as compared to other provinces. The literacy rate in Punjab is 59%, Sindh has 56% and the literacy rate in KPK is 49%.
According to UNO, at least 4.5% of budget should be spent on education while the country spends 2.2% of its budget on education. The government of Balochistan is requested to show seriousness towards the worst condition of education in Balochistan and immediate steps should be taken for the betterment of education in the province so that the coming generation is equipped with education.
Fida Zaman
