25 million children are out of school in Pakistan-THINK ABOUT IT.

Pakistan is facing tremendous challenges in the education sector, with 25 million children not attending schools at all. Official record shows that this figure has remained mostly unchanged since 2005.

Improving school enrollment lies at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle to improve education.

Sharing data and figures, educational experts are of the opinion that come December 31, 2015, Pakistan would have missed each one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to achieve universal primary school access, improve retention in school and increase adult literacy.

As per the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey 2013-14, Pakistan’s progress on the education front has been severely lagging, given that it has not achieved any of the targets set for 2015 in all three indicators: to improve literacy rate, retain enrollment and increase net primary enrollment.

Currently, the literacy rate in Pakistan is 57%, while the target was to increase it to 88%. It was also pledged that the survival rate of enrolled children from Grade 1 to 5 would be brought to its maximum, but the retention rate is currently only 67%. Similarly, the net primary enrollment is 58% in Pakistan and the target of 100% remains a distant dream.

Furthermore, experts have said that the figure of 25 million children not enrolled in school could not be reduced for the past decade given the increase in population.

As per the Ministry of Education’s 2013-14 data, at the primary level, 5.7 million children are out of schools in all four provinces and 6.2 million children are out of primary schools overall including AJK, G-B and Fata. As per the break up, 2.9 million children live in Punjab, 0.4 million in K-P, 1.8 million in Sindh and 0.54 million in Balochistan.

The latest plan of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government is to enroll six million children between the ages of five and nine years in school. The National Plan of Action 2013-2016 has a budget of Rs188.7 billion ($1.7 billion). It includes incentives to control dropout rates, build new schools, add classrooms and train teachers in existing schools.

As per the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) 2013-14 report, there are 11, 096 government schools in Pakistan which do not have buildings and students have no option but to sit on floors

A government school

Chairman of an alliance of teachers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Mutahida Mahaz Asatiza) Abdul Manaf Khan believes that successive governments’ incompetence is the only reason for the educational crisis in Pakistan. Rampant corruption in government departments further worsens the situation, he adds.

Moreover, many schools are built at a distance from residential areas in some parts of the country, and are not accessible for children. Hazara is said to be a relatively secure division of K-P, but other factors, such as unsuitable terrain, cause children to stay home. A government primary school built on a hill located at Munnim village near Haripur has a total number 12 students only, says Qazi Zahid Iqbal, a reseident of the area.

Iqbal says it is not possible for minors to walk on such a steep height. A few months ago, a student fell and broke his elbow on the hill. Iqbal also recalls the time he sustained head injuries after falling on the hilly path leading to the school when he was a student.

Muhammad Khan, a 5th grade student at primary school, who broke his arm. PHOTO: AZAMAT KHAN

Similarly, authorities declared a Government’s Girls Primary School in Khoi Nara, a village of Haripur district near Khanpur Dam, as vulnerable and it without any suitable alternate arrangements; thus, forcing girls to stay at home. Under temporary arrangements, a rented house was arranged to serve as a school building; however, the school staff and students were evicted this Independence Day after the government failed to pay rent.

In the same vicinity, a government high school for boys was built in Mang village some seven years ago but to date not even one class has opened. In fact, the owner of the property has turned the school building into a stable.

A government school in Mang village. PHOTO: AZAM KHAN

The government spent over Rs10 million on its construction but no one has actively pursued opening the school.

The roof of a government middle school at Sokal village in Mansehra district burned down two years ago at night. Over 100 students enrolled in the school were forced to look for new options. Although a generous resident of the village stepped in and offered his home for temporarily classes, after the eighth grade, students will be leave with only one option: the nearest Government High School at Siaki, which is at least five kilometres away from the middle school and there is also no road to link the two.

Despite this, the children sit under the open sky to receive an education.

The school belongs to career counselor Master Muhammad Ayub, a low-ranked government employee at the fire brigade directorate.

For last three decades, the 58-year-old has been teaching underprivileged street children at a vacant plot near capital city’s elite area Super Market in his free time. The number of students fluctuates between 100 and 300 throughout the year.

For his decades-long struggle for education, Ayub was conferred the ‘Pride of Performance Award’ by President Mamnoon Hussain this year. But despite ample media coverage and official recognition, Ayub is still worried. He believes his cause is neglected and the future of his students remains uncertain

End the last most of children are receiving education where no school  only "MADRASA" and only education about Holy Book  "QURAN" reading only there.

and teacher know about only can read Arabic .and nothing else.

Ignoring climate change in Pakistan

Ignoring climate change

farmers of the Potohar region usually sow their wheat crop before November, and the agriculture department has set Nov 5 as the deadline for wheat sowing so that a better crop can be ensured. This year, though, with December nearly upon them, the farmers still find their land uncultivable.

“Sowing should begin possible by the end of December provided it does not rain too much,” says Mohammad Dorez, visibly distressed. Some eight kilometres to the west of Chakwal city, his grass-laden field is being ploughed. Dorez, who never had an education, does not know the expression ‘climate change’, but he blames his predicament on the unusual monsoon rains. In many parts of the region, there was very heavy rainfall up to October; but other parts of the region got lower than average rains.

Besides the delay in the sowing of wheat, the harvesting of the peanut crop — which is considered the sole cash crop in the region — has also been badly affected either by the unusual heavy rains, or the continued dry spell in the belt of Talagang, a tehsil of Chakwal district. The peanut crop should have been harvested three weeks ago but it is lying rotting in many fields because the drenched soil means the harvest cannot be undertaken.

“This is happening due to climate change,” says Dr Mohammad Tariq, director of the Barani Agricultural Research Institute in Chakwal.

Geographically, Pakistan is located in a region that is likely to be affected most by climate change. “As per vulnerability to climate change determined by Germanwatch [which compiles a climate change performance index], Pakistan is among the top 10 vulnerable countries in the world,” says Prof Dr Abdul Saboor, chairman of the department of economics and agri-economics at the Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi. “There is a continuous increase in temperature, due to which we have observed the heavy melting of ice, leading to floods in addition to a rise in sea level, which causes the degradation of mangroves in Pakistan. We have witnessed the devastating flood of 2010; the same pattern continued in subsequent years. Also, this rise in temperature is reflected in the drought in Sindh and Balochistan. Tharparkar is a classic case.”

A recent study conducted in Chakwal and Attock districts by Intercooperation, a Swiss non-governmental organisation, predicts horrible consequences of climate change. The report, jointly authored by Dr Mohammad Hanif, director of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, and Dr Jawad Ali, director of the Climate Change Centre of the University of Agriculture in Peshawar, predicts that the region is going to lose its spring and autumn seasons. “There will be only two seasons: summer and winter. The summers are going to be wet while the winters are turning into a dry season as we are facing an increase in summer rains and a decrease in winter rainfall,” says Dr Tariq, quoting the findings of the study. Due to the decrease in winter rains, the chances of the wheat crop failing are increasing while the crop has also become more prone to getting infested with weeds. The increase in summer rains means more soil erosion, more land degradation and more floods.

The agriculture sector, which is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, is going to suffer badly. The change in the weather pattern is already having an impact on crops.

“The agricultural sector of this region is vulnerable to both temperature and rainfall,” says Dr Saboor. “The rise in temperature is hampering the per acre yield of the wheat and maize crops. There is also a serious impact on fruit and vegetables. The net farm revenue, as gauged from farming business, is the lowest in the region which is substantially attributed to climate change given all the other factors. There is an element of micro-climate change in the Barani region. For instance in Fateh Jang, it has been observed that some insects have started attacking livestock, thereby reducing the growth of animals and milk production. The frost phenomenon is also shaking the very fabric of plantation in some regions.”

But policymakers here don’t seem overly concerned. “India set up eight different institutions to tackle the climate change trend in 1971,” says an expert on agriculture. “But we have done nothing practical. We’ll be facing the worst sort of situation if we don’t take steps urgently.”