Education is a major problem within
Pakistan and for many reasons at that. The education system there also has a
significant gender gap, leaving many women uneducated. In the article I read,
it starts off with a story about a 15-year-old girl who was shot through the
head on her way home from school and survived. The reason is even more shocking
though, she was shot because she was going to school. At that time the Taliban
had a ban on female education where she was living at that time. Since then she
has moved and wrote “Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl” and done numerous
interviews on TV. The article explains how many would place the blame on the
Taliban for the inability to educate women, but that’s not the issue. It’s not
just the education of females that is affected in Pakistan but also boys. The
percentages of children attending primary school for girls is 67 and boys 81
percent. When it comes to secondary school we see a big problem it’s 38% for
boys and 29% for girls. Another shocking statistic is that only 60 % of women
and half of men are unable to read or write. The ones who are creating these
nuclear weapons are unable to sign their own names. The sad part is that the population is above
180 million and a large number of those are children who cannot attend
secondary school. Much of the resources that could be used to improve the
school are used on the conflict with India over the area of Kashmir.
The figures say that in the years
of 2012-2013 that 54 percent of public spending went towards loans to buy
weapons in which they loaned money for defense. Also, many citizens there are
avoiding taxes. The statistics say less than 880,000 pay income taxes and a good
amount of the cabinet members are not paying as well. The classes in a lot of the remote regions
stopped having classes but the teachers were pocketing money and the officials
in the area were given some of the money for reporting that everything was
running smoothly at the schools. There
is also a problem with keeping children in the schools because many of the
areas need the help of their children to work in the fields and they often feel
being in school is not profiting them. Many who are in school typically stop
attending during the time of harvest, because their families need the money. Also many still carry the traditional views in
believing women should not be educated.
How is this creating problems
within Pakistan? There is barely if at all many children being educated. There
is a lot of criminal activity with the teachers there who aren’t teaching
because the attendance is low, yet the teachers are pocketing the money and the
official are keeping quiet about it, so they can’t fix the problems. This is
effecting the youth of Pakistan, many won’t go on to college and will be stuck
working for their families. The growth of their country is threatened without
the education of the children because the country will stay behind in
comparison to others. The money there is being used the wrong way, their
priority is obviously not on education but war over territory. The cycle of being
poor will also continue if the parents don’t see the need for education but
what they don’t realize is that if the children were educated they would be
able to receive better jobs and a better life than what they had and they would
no longer be poor. The families need the
children to survive but if the education system there was better they wouldn’t
be in the place they are now. Another problem is income tax it’s not being paid
and if it was there would be more money to put into the education system. There
are several things Pakistan could do to fix their education problem, but they
have created a cycle that must come to an end.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/in-education-pakistan-is-failing-its-children-20131009-2v8hg.html
Name: Sarah Vestrat
Date: 10/10/2013
Time: 9:12 PM
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