A System We All Failed — A Visual Guide To The Education Problem in Pakistan

There is a weird culture in Pakistan. We tend to conceal our failures by glorifying the victims. Can not strengthen the healthcare system? Call our health-workers heroes and move on. Can not protect the Hazara community? Call them martyrs and move on. Can not safeguard the rights of the laborers? Call them the backbone of the country and move on. We glorify heroes who became heroes only because we failed them.

There is another group we are failing — the children. I surveyed the state of education in Pakistan and observed upsetting patterns. I have listed those patterns and the infographics that I drew to visualize them below.

Out-Of-School Children

Pakistan has 22.8 million children between the ages 5–16 that are out-of-school [1]. Doesn’t sound like a lot? If the out-of-school children in Pakistan had a country of their own, it would be the 58th most populous country in the world.

It is not a secret that the market is becoming more demanding of workers. Automation in most fields is forcing the workers to pursue specialized education. According to a study by Bessen et al., even though highly-paid workers are more commonly affected by automation, the effects are more severe for the less educated workers, who will struggle more to find another job [2].

What do we think these 22.8 million children will do when they’re adults and have dependents? What do we reckon would be an appropriate career for the adults without school education? What are we doing to safeguard their future? Sadly, not much.

Female Enrollment

Another unfortunate statistic I came across is the dropping number of female enrollment from elementary to higher education. At the primary level, 68% of girls are in school. The number drops to 41% by grade six. And by grade nine, the number drops to an embarrassing 13% [3]. So it should not be a surprise that we rank second-to-last in the South Asian region for female education.

Providing girls with equal educational opportunities is a fundamental right that the state owes them. According to the World Bank:

Better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, have fewer children, marry at a later age, and their children are usually healthier, should they choose to become mothers. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and earn higher incomes. All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty.

School Infrastructure

We’ve talked about the children who are out of school. Now, let’s focus on the ones that are in school. To be more specific, let’s take a look at the elementary school infrastructure in Pakistan.

Only 54% of the elementary schools have electricity. Clean water access stands at a mediocre 67%. And only 68% have latrines installed [4]. Not only have we failed the children who are out of school, but we’re also failing the ones in school. The elementary school enrollment rate, while unimpressive, is still greater than the secondary and higher one. So one can only imagine how the infrastructure at those levels could be.

So here we are with 22.8 million children out of school. A dismal female enrollment rate. Grossly inadequate school infrastructure. How are we going to glorify the victims here to conceal our shortcomings? The game plan here seems to ignore the problem altogether. You don’t see the major political parties confront each other on the topic of education. You don’t see debates on education in the media. You don’t read enough about these problems in the newspapers. No matter how much we ignore it, the problem is present and is only getting worse. If we don’t do anything about it, it will have far worse consequences than we can imagine.

References:

[1] Yousafzai, Arshad. “‘22.8m Children Are out of School in Pakistan’.” Thenews, The News International, 19 Nov. 2020, www.thenews.com.pk/print/745659-22-8m-children-are-out-of-school-in-pakistan.

[2] Bessen, James E., et al. “Automatic Reaction — What Happens to Workers at Firms That Automate?” SSRN, 5 Feb. 2019, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3328877.

[3] “‘Shall I Feed My Daughter, or Educate Her?”.” Human Rights Watch, 13 Nov. 2018, www.hrw.org/report/2018/11/12/shall-i-feed-my-daughter-or-educate-her/barriers-girls-education-pakistan.

[4] “Education in Pakistan.” WENR, 2 Feb. 2021, wenr.wes.org/2020/02/education-in-pakistan#:~:text=Education%20in%20Pakistan%20is%20free,25%20A%20of%20the%20constitution.