Masood Hameed Baloch
It is a real hassle for a poor peasant to make his kid walk for miles to a government school in a remote area of Balochistan.
The kid has only one single set of school uniform which is used whole year. In severe hot weather, when returning home from school he finds his uniform permeated and smeared with dust. As routine, the poor mother melts it in water and then washes it.
At next morning the kid wears same uniform and rushes off to school, which is in distance of miles away from his poor hut. Sometimes his shabby uniform tears to pieces and the mother stitches it. The mother says she could not serve her kid with heavy breakfast, sips only two cups of tea and then send him to school. They cannot afford to buy him books.
This is an awful example which reflects whole as such in the educationally-neglected province of Balochistan. Now it is 21st Century, but access to education to the people of Balochistan still looks as it looked some one hundred years ago.
It triggered up many chit-chats among the public. Before people dilate upon discussing a so-called education emergency, its fallacies and concoctions, they have yet bitter indication to delve into a gloomy condition of education in Balochistan.
More recently, a video went viral on social media. It showed a grim picture of a shelter less school in Gwadar district, which is virtually an example of other government schools in Balochistan either. In the video, it shows the children were sitting in open scorching sun. The teacher is asked how the children get on with this shelter less school for years. The teacher replied, they have not enough rooms, the school is comprised of only two rooms and it is difficult to adjust them all in these two. When it rains, the school boundary submerges with water. The whole schedule for classes goes on utter disruption for weeks and sometimes even for month. They have no extra room for office, for which they have arranged a wooden- built roof. They have no facility of clean drinking water, and use earthen-pitchers for water as it they look way back to Century old.
People from poor class can have desire and yearn for better education to their children whom they cross fingers as their future bread-winners. But the dismal condition of government schools shatters all their wishes once and for all. The fate of hundreds of poor children in such wretched educational atmosphere does not bode well for a bright future. All their ambitions for a better tomorrow fall at stake.
The underprivileged people can desire to send their children to quality standard and private schools but they cannot fulfill it as they do not have enough resources to translate their wishes to reality. A good quality school is too costly, not in reach of poor people.
There can be no two opinions, Article 25-A of the constitution, which says the State “shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manners as may be determined by law.
As we remember, soon after 2013 elections in Balochistan the nationalist leaders struck a deal and came to the throne for two and half years. In 2014, they imposed a so-called education emergency, the budget for education has been jumped to 26 percent. But it is still awful, the rough system & bad condition of education met unchanged even after imposing education emergency.
In Balochistan, it is always seen the policy of matters to education has gone through rough pitches.
No improvements ever witnessed on ground. Balochistan is rapidly ranked low on literacy because of severe neglect of education. The several drawbacks in government policies have always hampered real progress in education. Regrettably, even such sore statics fail to catch the attention of our political leaders. These grim realities ignite the sense of distrust among the public.
If we look at a recent statement given by an official, secretary education Balochistan Shan- ul-Haq said that at present 963 schools in Balochistan are not functional. Lack of buildings and teachers are said to be the cause of incurring non-functional schools. There are 500 one room, one teacher schools across the province. It is also admitted by the officials that most of the government schools in Balochistan are deprived of basic facilities.
Apart from this, also let’s have a look at a surprised statement revealed by education minister Balochistan Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal in May last year. He said there is no record of 15,000 teachers, 900 ghost schools, with almost 300,000 fake registration of students.
Despite the failures, the nationalist leaders leave no stones unturned while bragging about their performance for education emergency as political point-scoring. But in reality the so-called & ineffective education emergency has proven nothing more than a lie. The masses spit on such baseless slogan. Our leaders must acknowledge the fact that mere rhetoric words can no longer make any appeals to the public nor does it salvage the matters.
People are completely worn out hearing tall claims from their leaders. The public spurned all such false slogans and empty promises.
The nationalists who concoct themselves as middle class representatives, are not serious in progress of education in Balochistan. Instead, they should resolve the education crisis in the province, unfortunately their priorities lie elsewhere in perpetuating their vested interests. The inglorious leadership is now branded as irresolute as they have proven their incompetency and unsound policies on various public issues.
The nationalist-led coalition government in Balochistan hailed as failed & incompetent for its unsystematic policy on education.
The federal government and the nationalist leaders are equally to blame for trampling on basic rights of education to the people of Balochistan. The bogus leadership or so-called public representatives in Balochistan, whenever come to power or perhaps got pushed to power they are more influenced by vested interests than objective consideration of people. They are more prompt to flourish their business empires & other gimmicks in the veil of politics. It is because of this reason they are likely to see their inevitable unpopularity in the people. And gradually lost touch with masses. Now people have no soft corners for their leaders since they were exposed in many missteps.
Education is the fundamental right of every individual which cannot be glossed over under any excuses. The communities which are not in the habit of perpetuating progress in education, ultimately end at perils.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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