Educational inequality persists in Pakistan.

• Author: Kazmi, S. Kamal Hayder

Byline: S. KAMAL HAYDER KAZMI

For changing the existing state of a nation into a distinguished position in the community of nations, education is one of the major factors; it is recorded by the Government of Pakistan in its annual survey. Furthermore, so far the educational advancements which have taken place and the expertise which has been attained in due course of time are not only benefiting our country but also the surrounding regions.

It becomes in our country, even more, indispensable for its socioeconomic development through the effective transition of its vast proportion of the population such as youth. Transformation of 63 percent of youth into real wealth requires optimum capitalization by organizing a high-quality and market demand-driven basic, secondary and higher Education.

According to Labour Force Survey 2020-21, literacy rate trends showed 62.8 percent in FY2020-21, more in males (from 73.0 percent to 73.4 percent) than females (from 51.5 percent to 51.9 percent). Area-wise analysis suggested that literacy increased in both rural (53.7 percent to 54.0 percent) and urban (76.1 percent to 77.3 percent).

The male-female disparity seems to be narrowing down with time span. The literacy rate has gone up in all provinces, Punjab (66.1 percent to 66.3 percent), Sindh (61.6 percent to 61.8 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (52.4 percent to 55.1 percent) and Balochistan (53.9 percent to 54.5 percent).

Education in Pakistan unluckily is facing multiple crises and deep-rooted long-term issues and these emergencies interact to form a poly-crisis, said a government official. It also emphasized the severe impact of the 2022 floods on education in Pakistan.

Statistics showed that over 34,000 public education institutions were destroyed or damaged. In Pakistan furthermore, the floods have affected at least 2.6 million students. Approximately 1 million children may drop out and not return to school as a result of the flood damage to education.

Different studies found that education is a human right, a powerful driver of development, and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. It delivers large, consistent returns in terms of income, and is the most important factor to ensure equity and inclusion for individuals, education promotes employment, earnings, health, and poverty reduction.

Globally, there is a 9 percent increase in hourly earnings for every extra year of...