Balochistan has failed to recognise the emergency it faces with respect to out-of-school children. Notwithstanding the efforts made by the Province government to improve education in Balochistan, the situation persists in remaining dismal in the province. However, Balochistan has been confronting manifold deep-rooted issues, but yet most of these issues remain unsolved.
Balochistan has failed to recognise the emergency it faces with respect to out-of-school children. Notwithstanding the efforts made by the Province government to improve education in Balochistan, the situation persists in remaining dismal in the province. However, Balochistan has been confronting manifold deep-rooted issues, but yet most of these issues remain unsolved.
In the Province primary government schools are functioning despite infrastructural limitations a number of them portray bleak picture when visited.
More than 1.9 Million children including 927,542 male and 984,128 female are out of schools in Balochistan out of 2.7 million. As compare to that 57% in FATA are out of schools, followed by 52% in Sindh and 40% in Punjab. KPK has the minimum percentage of out of school children with 34%. The ratio of Out of School children in the country is 44%.
Recently, National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with the Balochistan Education Department is launching an enrolment campaign titled ‘All Children in School 2018’.
The education enrolment campaign for Balochistan will start from March in which around 500,000 out-of-school children would be enrolled and the process would continue till April.
While the Balochistan Education department has decided to launch school admission campaign across the province with the support of UNICEF education support and ARC while meeting with parents and seminars on cluster level would be held.
The Provincial Government has set a target to enroll 28136 new children in Balochistan following the near educational year that kicked-off from Marc 1st, while awareness campaigns would be held to foster educational environment in Balochistan.
The government urged parents to make sure that any children may not stay out of school. The development goals could not be achieved without the help of parents.
The Pakistan has the second highest number of out-of-school children, falling second to the country like Nigeria.
At the same time, the education emergency in Balochistan is not only about school enrollment. It is much graver than that. Many children attending school are unable to read a sentence in any language or do basic mathematics even in secondary school.
It is no secret that the bane is countrywide, with out-of-school figures for Balochistan equally distressing.
The incumbent government has also made an effort to bring in more qualified teachers. Despite earnest attempts to fix what it sees as a flawed system, the Balochistan government’s battle against entrenched nepotism and a basic lack of infrastructure will be laborious and difficult, rendering the process to find and train good teachers equally fraught. But the first steps have been taken, and Balochistan is definitely on its way.
One of the major reasons behind these out of schools children is lack of safe education in Balochistan. Dispute out-of-school children issue, the other reasons for our weak educational system is that the teachers having no Knowledge of the subject get a job in schools that are operating without any standard procedural code. The System of recruiting teachers should be ended and a new system to recruit teachers should be introduced.
The state of education in Balochistan is absolutely pathetic. It is really high time it changed and more budgetary funds allocated towards education. Schooling must be accessible to all. Balochistan cannot go too far if it continues to raise an intellectually poor people.
Perhaps it is the scale of the challenge in the province that has made the education authorities feel helpless. But the larger picture is more terrifying as childhood gives way to an unlettered adulthood.