| December 4, 2003 | Thursday | Shawwal 9, 1424 |
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Needlessly harsh measures
Special people’s needs
FEW would believe the federal education Secretary’s claim that Pakistan will achieve a literacy rate of 84 per cent by the year 2015 — the deadline for the millennium goals set at the education conference at Dakar in 2000. Islamabad’s claim is grossly exaggerated. It is plain that the sweeping statement was made by the government in response to Unesco’s strident charges a day earlier that Pakistan was lagging behind in achieving the literacy goal. Though one would like to believe what our policy makers say, the situation on the ground belies many of their claims. The two key goals for the millennium are the enrolment of all primary-age children in school and the elimination of gender disparity by 2015. Another major objective is to halve the number of adult illiterates.
Where do we stand in these areas? The gross primary enrolment has gone up from 40 per cent in 1990 to 126 per cent (which includes those outside the primary school age group but are enrolled as primary students) in 2000. Impressive though these figures are, they do not tell the full story. With a drop-out rate of 50 per cent, the majority of Pakistani children are out of school — their number being 7.7 million. Gender disparity has not been eliminated either, with only 74 girls in school for every 100 boys. As for adult illiteracy in absolute numbers, it has grown from 41 million to 46 million in the year 2000. All this is very disquieting because it testifies to our lack of commitment to educating the young. The Unesco representative blamed the country’s failure to allocate the required funds to this sector. All the brouhaha about education notwithstanding, the government’s budget for this sector is shockingly low and is barely two per cent of the GDP, when Unesco recommends a spending of four per cent of the GDP. It is true that a government’s failure to allocate sufficient funds affects the expansion of its education and literacy programmes as well as the quality of education. But that is not the only factor responsible for our inability to attain the millennium goals
It is important that policy makers have the commitment to promote the spread of education and to make it their first priority. The education secretary spoke about education sector reforms and how they have been integrated into the poverty reduction strategy to make an impact. It is a pity that the political will, which is the most important element in any programme for social change, is missing in our thrust towards education for all. In the first place, there is need to implement the various education plans which are mooted from time to time. The gap between what is said and what is done is evident from the phenomena of ghost schools, absent teachers and inoperative/dysfunctional institutions. It is surprising that the education department cannot even monitor the working of its own personnel. The result is that the little money that goes into this sector is wasted or misappropriated. Moreover, the government should not disengage from the primary education sector as has been its policy. By passing its responsibility in the field to the private sector and NGOs it has sought to reduce its own role. This slowdown in the expansion of the public sector school system has made education less accessible for many people and made the goal of education for all more elusive.
THE US government’s decision to end a programme requiring visitors from mostly Muslim and Middle Eastern countries to register themselves while in America is a positive move. It should be broadened in scope to phase out other more rigorous aspects of America’s strategy for fighting terrorism. The move suggests that Washington has eventually come around to the widely held view that the programme has done little to address its valid security concerns and has not helped to catch terrorists and in fact created an atmosphere of fear, mistrust and alienation among America’s sizable Muslim community. The decision does not mean that visitors to the US will not be fingerprinted but, according to a senior official, the focus will now be on “individuals” and not “broad categories” of people. The registration scheme was extremely harsh, so that it led to the arrest and eventual deportation of hundreds of visitors who had lined up to register. Critics say that it was not publicized properly and was riddled with bureaucratic and cumbersome procedures. Most of those who suffered came from Muslim countries, including many from Pakistan, and were not allowed access to lawyers while in jail. Since the programme required only males between the ages of 16 and 45 to register, many women found their husbands or sons suddenly deported from America. Hundreds ended up fleeing to Canada and many students chose to return to their countries rather than risk being arrested or deported.
Washington will, hopefully, broaden the spirit in which this particular decision has been taken and initiate a comprehensive review of its counter-terrorism strategy and security measures since 9/11. A fitting case for a policy overhaul is the much reviled policy of indefinitely detaining so-called “enemy combatants” at the Camp X-ray military facility in Guantanamo Bay. Detained for long, the prisoners have been refused access to legal aid with the Pentagon claiming rather brusquely that the enemy status of the detainees — something that has yet to be proved in a court — means that they do not have the right to due process. Such policies are among the factors responsible for widespread anger and resentment felt across the Muslim world over America’s anti-terrorism policies and actions and should be replaced by policies that are more sensible and actually needed to fight global terrorism effectively.
GIVING disabled people their due place in our society was the common thread that emerged from different events that marked International Day for the Disabled on Wednesday. Many disabled people in Pakistan have been reduced to objects of pity, despite the fact that they are more than willing to support themselves, only if opportunities of education and skill development are made available to them. The World Health Organization’s figures for the number of disabled in Pakistan are staggering. There are 4.2 million physically disabled, 2.8 million mentally handicapped and 4.2 million persons with hearing disabilities. Of the total, over 40 per cent are children.
The whole concept of helping special people out of charity needs to be changed. They do not need free meals at fancy restaurants as much as they need the support of the government and society that see them as human beings and treat them as equal citizens. There is a lot that can be done. The promise to increase the disabled quota in government jobs needs to be properly implemented. Also, the one billion rupees allocated under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) are inadequate for creating opportunities for disabled people. Most important, however, is that the education that special children receive has to have a professional or skill development orientation so that the physically handicapped persons are able to earn a living and not be dependent on others. Finally, we have to work on making our cities more helpful towards disabled people. A law for the removal of physical barriers is needed for the disabled to fully participate in daily activities in society. In the absence of such a law, public buildings such as government offices, schools and parks are built without ramps, lifts and special toilets. This bars wheelchair users from visiting such buildings. It also limits education and job opportunities for the disabled.