Javeria Ahmed
Balochistan is the richest province of Pakistan having the lowest literacy rate. Education is the fundamental, constitutional and birth right of everyone. According to article 25A of our constitution, it should be free and compulsory for every child in the state. However, Balochistan which covers 44% land of Pakistan, is the resource and mineral rich province of Pakistan and is the most deprived in education. Despite, the development in infrastructure the government ought to focus on education and refurnish the already deteriorating system that has become outdated.In Balochistan the literacy rate is getting lower day by day, while the dropout rate is increasing day by day due to low quality of education. The students of Balochistan cannot compete with the students in of rest provinces of Pakistan and they face difficulties to survive in the institutions of other provinces of Pakistan, where the quality of education is provided well. If we see the provincial budget. The educational sectors have 2nd position. Billions of rupees are allocated to educational sectors in each budget, then why Balochistan is so backward in literacy case. There are three main causes behind this scenario, that are: local political leaders, elite classes and poverty.If we see the ratio of children studying in Balochistan. It is about 1.8 million, the total population of children in Balochistan is smallest as compared to the other provinces of Pakistan. And over from these about 60% students leave schools due to poverty when they reach to the middle level from those who have left 45% students leave school before the completion of matriculation because most of these people leave below the poverty line. And many leave schools and go to religious schools to get religious education which is free of cost. And most of the children leave schools and go for labor work just because of poverty that makes a great ratio of child labor.Apart from this the local government and the elite class play a great role in destruction of education of our province. Every year, a budget of billions of rupees is allocated to the government for the betterment don’t use the budget properly for the education of Balochistan. According to the documents about 13500 Primary, Middle and High schools are running in Balochistan. Out of these 500 primary schools are single roomed with one teacher, 2000 schools are shelter less and about 3200 schools are nonfunctional and 25%of schools are not even present yet that are called “Ghost Schools”. The government of Balochistan is using the budget for public but using it for their personal interests. Elite classes has a great influence on educational system of Balochistan. About 59000 teachers are appointed from which most are less educated and not trained well and the well-educated teachers have multiservice and appoint someone else on their duties give them salaries around 15000 rupees. These teachers are ghost teachers, who are only mentioned in the list but can’t be seen in schools. It is because of Nepotism and elite class influence and the buildings of some educational institutions are used by the elite classes for their personal interests. By these things you can estimate the influence of elite class on educational system. Moreover, private schools are established for the sake of high quality of education but only some private schools can give quality of education. Most are just doing business on the name of education.
