It is disheartening to note that the PML-N led provincial government has decreased the budgetary allocation for education from 19 percent to 17 percent for the fiscal year 2016-17. Such a decrease will further exacerbate the educational backwardness of the deprived province.
The literacy ratio of Balochistan is already dismally low, which is around 40 percent and the female literacy rate in certain districts is as low as less than one percent. A large number of children aged between 5 to16 are out of school. Alif Ailan puts this number at 66 percent. Alarmingly, 42 percent of 10 to 18-year-old girls have never attended.
Education is the only invincible weapon a nation can employ to change its destiny. All great civilizations made education their first priority and ruled the world. The provincial government should reconsider allocating around 20 percent to the sector of education so that the quality and quantity of education can be improved.
Ayesha Abdul Nasir – Karachi
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