"Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without requisite advance in education, not only we shall lag behind others but may be wiped out altogether" (Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah). From 1947 till now, Education is most important for all of us, because education has the power to change our future. As Pakistan has many problems, out of them, the most important is education. The panacea of all problems in education. Pakistan has remained a victim of lack of education since independence; 85% of the population was illiterate at the time of independence.

Article 25-A states that The state will provide free and compulsory education to all children from five to sixteen years of age. Unfortunately, implementations on this article are not seen, because 55 million children of age 10 years are unable to read and write, 7 million children from age 5-9 years are out of school, hence Pakistan is considered as a country with the second-highest number of children out of school. It is wrentching to say that Pakistan is lagging far behind neighbor countries in literacy rate: "Pakistan's literacy rate is 60% in 2018-2019, Bangladesh's 70%, though it was separated from Pakistan in 1971. India's literacy rate is 74.04%, Bhutan's 65%, Nepal's 64%, Srilanka's is at the zenith of 92%, Maldives 99%" (The News, Sep 08,2017).

Pakistan Social and Living Standards(PSLM) conducted a survey in 2018-2019, It reported the province-wise ratio of education: Punjab’s 64%, Sindh’s 57% (excluding merged areas), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 55%(including merged areas), and Balochistan's 40%. (The International News, June 11,2020).

Drop out ratio is the main flaw that should be resolved. "Almost half (47%)of the children between the ages 5-16 years are out of school; 52% of girls and 43% 0f boys are out of school; 80% are government primary schools while only 9% are government high and higher schools." (Dawn News, February 25,2016). The cause of this flaw is poverty, no security, sexual harrasment, and low quality of education in government schools.

Poor infrastructure is another flaw in education. Such as: "18% schools are single classroom, 9% primary schools do not have a building" (Dawn News February 25,2016). Schools are lacking basic facilities such as 44 % schools have no electricity, 34% schools have lack of drinking water, 30% schools are without boundary walls, 28% schools are without a toilet. This type of wretched infrastructure is because of corruption and no proper management among the institutions.
Restrain on girls' education is much seen in rural areas because 52% of girls are not enrolled in rural areas. This problem with girls is because of lack of proper education in society and lack of security among schools since there is a danger of terrorism hence parents are afraid of terrorists.

The outdated syllabus is taught for many decades, and different educational systems are existing throughout the different provinces: (National Educational system has intermediate and matriculation; British Educational System has O level and A level); This is a prank with education. The world is advancing day by day, but we are still living in 19s! Inclusion of Scientific topics, doing practical work, exclusion of cramming culture, bringing new methods of teaching from international education institutions, and uniting different Educational systems throughout the world could help us to improve our curriculum.

Teachers are considered the backbone of our country, but, alas! untrained mentors have been appointed in bribery and favoritism, because of political influence. Teachers don't know the modern strategies of teaching, absenter teachers are employed, some teachers are doing more than one job at a time! In order to improve the conditions of teaching staff, we must appoint teachers on merit, proper training after appointment must be conducted, physical and psychological tests should be conducted as well.

Pakistan invests low Gross Domestic Production in education than neighboring countries; Pakistan spent 2.5% GDP in education in 2020, India spent 4.6% GDP in 2020, China spent 4.11% GDP in 2020. We spend 6% GDP on the military. More investment in education is a panacea solution to many problems.

The government needs to resolve these issues as soon as possible with the partnership of NGOs and the private sector in order to make a great education system. As a citizen of Pakistan, we must cooperate with Government to make Pakistan free from illiteracy.

|By: Kanwal Naz Abro|
Kanwal Naz Abro is a young writer pursuing her graduation in English Literature from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro. She can be reached at knaz6565@gmail.com