Educational emergency: now or never

“Let me read, let me grow,” a 10-year-old I met in Mirpurkhas told me. And above all it is the voice of all the children I met in Pakistan.

The first word uttered in Islam as a command of revelation to the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was “Iqra”; Islam began with the commandment to read. Education is obligatory in Islam. The Quran exhorts people to develop their abilities and character traits through education. It is said: “Allah will exalt those who believe and possess knowledge.”

Pakistan identified the need for education as a key priority for the nascent state right after its establishment. Seventy-seven years ago, in 1947, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah called for a national conference on education as “one of the first attempts in the field of education and literacy “.

In his message to the conference, he said: “…the importance of education and the type of education cannot be overemphasized…there is no doubt that the future of our state will and must greatly depend on the type of education. we give to our children and how we raise them as future citizens of Pakistan…we must not forget that we have to compete with the world which is moving very quickly in this direction.

Pakistan's constitution was further amended in 2010 with the introduction of Article 25A, which requires the state to “provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and sixteen years”.

Honoring the principle of the constitution, the judiciary has challenged the state and governments over the last decade and more, delivering key judgments and emphasizing the paramount importance of education as an enshrined fundamental right in the constitution. Some rulings are clear on the judicial mandate regarding educational equity; inclusive education and social justice; and the transformative potential of education, and how all of these will not only contribute to a more equal and just society, but also strengthen social cohesion and human capital and ensure sustainable national security.

And I can go on quoting from Islamic injunctions and rulings of the highest court in the land to my personal experience of interacting with children, without putting too much emphasis on the fact that every child, boy and girl, must be at school and learn.

Pakistan was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, guaranteeing education under Article 28. Pakistan has also confirmed its commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on the SDGs. 4.

And yet, in Pakistan, more than 26 million school-aged children are out of school – one of the highest rates of out-of-school children in the world.

This represents more than 10 percent of all out-of-school children worldwide; Pakistan's population is no more than 3.0 percent of the world's population. The country may actually have the largest number of out-of-school children in the world. Most of these children are girls; the disadvantaged; disabled people; and children in hard-to-reach areas.

Even when children go to school, 77 percent of them are not able to read and understand simple text by the age of 10. While investments in education should be increasing, they are decreasing. In 2019, this represented 2.3 percent of GDP. But for 2023-2024, it is 1.7 percent.

With these staggering figures, it is timely that a state of education emergency was declared in the country last week. However, a cynic may say: what's new? We've been here before.

Emergency conferences on education have been called since Pakistan's first day, this latest being perhaps the sixth or seventh, and constitutional amendments and challenges have been filed in courts with clear instructions to l the intention of the State, both at the federal and provincial levels. When will these calls move the issue forward and achieve a tangible result to tackle out-of-school children and the quality of education once and for all?

If the moral imperative does not affect us all, by denying millions of children the right to education, the learning crisis threatens Pakistan's future prosperity and national security.

This learning crisis manifests itself in other ways as well. For example, the World Bank defines human capital as “the knowledge, skills and health, including nutrition and cognitive development, that enable individuals to realize their potential as productive members of society.”

Pakistan ranks lowest in the South Asian region according to the World Bank's Human Capital Index – 0.41, compared to the regional average of 0.48. The only way to change this situation is to invest in children through nutrition, healthcare, quality education, jobs and skills.

Providing children with opportunities to play and learn in early childhood education classes; provide them with nutritious food and clean water; protect them from exploitation and abuse; and preventing them from falling into child labor or early marriage are vital measures that must be taken so that these children can contribute to a productive and prosperous Pakistan.

Pakistan is unique in many ways: it is one of three countries whose official title includes the word Islam – Islamic Republic – and the first modern state to bear such a name.

It is home to one of the three oldest civilizations in the world: the Indus Valley Civilization. Pakistan is a beacon of these civilizations, inheriting a legacy of Enlightenment that dates back millennia. During the Islamic Golden Age, our ancestors ushered in an era of unprecedented progress, leaving an indelible mark on human history.

It ranks 30th on the list of countries in terms of the number of articles in scientific/technical journals. It is one of 14 countries or entities to have sent missions to the Moon.

With the declaration of a learning emergency, this could be the start of better mobilizing leaders, partners and resources.

We need to get children back to school – raising awareness among parents, children and communities not only of the lifelong benefits that education can bring, but also of its importance for the economy and society; improve educational standards by equipping and supporting teachers; build climate resilient schools; ensuring schools with appropriate facilities for girls and children with disabilities; and send a strong message to children and their parents: we are ready to invest in their future.

We must invest intelligently in education: supporting teachers through structured pedagogy, providing quality preschool education for young children, reducing travel times to school, providing merit-based scholarships to disadvantaged children and young people, and many others.

For us, the government's development partners, it is comforting to know that the urgency of getting every child into school and learning has been taken into account. This synthesis of legal principles and societal imperatives highlights the urgent need for concerted efforts to ensure universal access to quality education, as required by the courts.

By holding the government accountable for ensuring universal access to quality education, the judiciary plays a central role in advancing the constitutional mandate to promote the well-being and dignity of all citizens.

Action is now expected: an action plan limited in terms of costs and deadlines, which is financed and implemented. The plan has ambitious but achievable goals: reducing the number of out-of-school children to less than 10 million by 2029; increase annual education spending by 0.5 percent of GDP; and ensure that all children in Pakistan can read by the age of 10 by 2030.

Before the children of Pakistan sue us all for denying them one of their basic rights, let's get them into school and learning – a start to building the productive, prosperous Pakistan we want see all.

The author is the Unicef ​​​​representative in Pakistan.