Poor Education System In Balochistan

By: Muhammad Naseem

Getting education is the fundamental right of every child born in the world, for education is the most essential need of this modern era. No nation can get the achievement of progress and success without educating its citizens in science and technology. The most successful nations of the world have advanced much in technology through education.

Balochistan, which is largest in size and smallest in population, has been neglected since the independence of Pakistan in every sector. It lags far behind for education from other provinces of Pakistan. There is a dismal state of education in Balochistan and the state of education is the worst in the province.

About 40% of children do not go to school in Balochistan that means 40% of the children are growing up without getting Education in Balochistan. The number of out of school children in the province is 11,58,291 according to statistics of Balochistan education department. The data further mentioned that 531,371 students have been studying in private schools across the province. Similarly, the number of students studying in Madaris is 103,305. The education department revealed that the number of ghost and non-functional schools across Balochistan is over 3,200.

Not only the province faces a dire lack of educational facilities, but other problems such as lack of health care facilities, lack of sanitation areas and no access to clean drinking water are the leading issues making life in the province miserable.

The past leadership promised to provide schools to children but those were mostly words, not actions. No funds were given building more schools and bringing in more teachers. It is estimated that around 12,000 primary, middle and high schools are available across the province with 56,000 teachers. But around 3000 schools are not functioning in a good manner and most of them are closed.

The Balochistan government has declared education as compulsory and free for children. The government has also declared the implementation of article 25-A of the constitution to ensure the provision of education to children of the province.
For the provincial government, actions must match their words when it comes to the implementation of their announcements. The education budget needs to be increased and newly recruited, teachers should be preferably posted in non-functional schools to make them functional.

A comprehensive strategy should be evolved to enroll all out of school children in school to make them better citizens.

Daily Makran Times posts this article.