by Fatima Qayyum 24 March 2023
Education is a fundamental step vital for any nation’s prosperity. Nations that have invested in educating themselves, are currently the leading drivers of the world. This reality was known thousand years ago by our Prophet (S.A.W) and thus highlighted the importance and directed us to pursue education at all costs.
However, Pakistan seems to be astray in this regard. As Pakistan in general and then Balochistan in specific has not been performing well in terms of the female education department. As suggested by the reports given by the economic survey 2021-22, Pakistan stands at 62 percent and Balochistan stands at 54 percent in terms of literacy rate.
Therefore, in light of the above stats, it would not be unfair to state that Pakistan has been neglecting Education that too of particularly women, repeatedly over the past years. Balochistan in specific has been demonstrating the lowest literacy rates specifically in the women population. Based on the recent reports by PSLM 2019-20, Punjab secures a literacy rate of 61%, Sindh 57%, and KPK 49%. Whereas Balochistan has 44%.
One of the fundamental causes of this lower percentage is that the majority of rural area, which accommodates 72 percent of the total population of Balochistan, is neglected significantly.
Furthermore, the Female population of Balochistan is 47 percent according to the claims of the Balochistan Government for the year 2017, which is very likely to have increased in recent years. The rural female literacy rate is only 17 percent, whereas the male literacy rate of this region is 54 percent. Which indicates that women are the prime victim of this negligence.
This stark division between rural and urban populations and a high percentage of illiteracy in women indicates the need for radical educational developments required in particularly the rural region. Ensuring this can also solve other relevant challenges of the province such as the increased migration from rural areas towards the limited urban region to acquire better opportunities.
Women of this region are often discouraged to pursue their higher studies due to the re-location prerequisite to peruse their further education. Which is mainly due to the absence of opportunities in the distant areas of Balochistan.
Furthermore, domestic obligations and inadequate freedom of choice, imposed by the patriarchal society, are other factors creating a barrier for women where they are unable to travel and avail the limited/scarce opportunities concentrated in the capital city of Balochistan that is Quetta.
However, the quantity pursuit should not overshadow the necessity and importance of maintaining quality which is of equivalent importance in the region.
Whereas quality can be assured in the form of ascending the standard. It is imperative to increase the minimum eligibility criteria of teaching staff for schools, to ensure the quality of education.
Another important step is digitization which is the most vital step required to ensure transparency in the system, which can guarantee the sustenance of quality in the education sector of this province. The current damaged transparency mechanism has caused teaching staff to be absent throughout the year. This has been mentioned in the reports given by provincial authorities, where the Balochistan Education Department failed to verify the presence of over 15000 teachers during the verification drive.
It can be argued that lack of incentives is often the driving factor of poor performance delivered by the teaching and administrative staff of these educational institutions, particularly in primary and secondary level education. The proper provision of facilities such as transport mechanisms, institutional equipment, furniture, and daycare health facilities for teachers with infants, would assist them properly in delivering their duties.
In order to achieve all the above, the government first needs to increase its budget for the education sector. Whereas, on the contrary, Balochistan from its total fiscal budget of 612 billion, for the year 2022-23, has allocated only 83 billion, which makes up to 13 percent of the total budget.
All things considered, it seems reasonable to assume that there is a demand for a re-shift of government’s focus more towards investing in Education and that too initiating from rural areas of this region. Only then the better outcomes can be expected.