Educational Emergency in Pakistan - Ishraq Ahmed Hashmi

After Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the implementation of an educational emergency in the country, making important practical progress in this direction, the establishment of a 19-member education task force, including international donors, headed by the Minister Azam himself, shows that behind this decision there is a strong commitment to a fruitful struggle. To adopt the highest educational standards for any country in today's world and to provide the best opportunities for the new generations to advance in the field of knowledge and research. It is not possible to travel on the path of development and prosperity without doing. However, since the early years of the establishment of Pakistan, due to the lack of political stability and the continuous overthrow of the constitutional and democratic system, the education sector, like other sectors of life, was deprived of a stable educational policy. The uncertain future of elected democratic governments. And due to the repeated derailment of the constitutional system and the long dictatorial periods, no permanent educational strategy could be established and the process of "building new buildings with each arrival" continued.

In the early decades, public educational institutions from schools to universities used to provide quality education to a large extent up to the level of , while the educational expenses were also nominal, due to which the lack of financial resources did not hinder the path of a worthy student, but then the government educational institutions declined like other government departments. have been accepted and the private sector has made education a highly profitable business, due to which the monthly education expenses of a two-and-a-half- to three-year-old child in nursery classes are in the thousands, while the expenses of higher professional education are in millions if not millions. Yet, according to the facts on record, Pakistan's education indicators are alarmingly low. About a third of primary school-aged children are out of school and 42 percent of the population is illiterate.

Last year, Quack Riley Symonds (QS), a British organization that monitors universities around the world, released the best universities. In the list, National University of Sciences and Technology of Pakistan was ranked 334th, Quaid-e-Azam University was ranked 363rd and Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences was ranked 390th. In this situation, the current federal government has actually lit a ray of hope by deciding to impose a national education emergency and then to establish a task force for this purpose. According to the announcement, the task force includes the Federal Minister of Education and Vocational Training, the Federal Minister for Information Technology, and the Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting, while the Federal Secretary Education will be the convener of the task force. Provincial education ministers and secretaries will also be part of the task force.

The important thing is that the institutions that provide financial resources are World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Commonwealth and Development Office, UNICEF, UNESCO, WFP, JICA, Pakistan Education Endowment Fund, CEVGI Institute, Agha. Senior officials of Khan U University, Citizen Foundation, Lums and Malala Fund are also among the members of the task force, so it can be hoped that the task force will not fall victim to the traditional government red tape and according to the agreed plan of action for education in Pakistan. Apart from formulating recommendations for projects on an ad hoc basis with regard to education system and literacy rate targetsIt will take important decisions and effective measures regarding the removal of barriers to attainment and the promotion and improvement of the quality of education in Pakistan.