Hand it to Imran Khan for having the cause of the poor close to his heart. It is not for nothing that he wants to change the medium of instruction in all government schools across his provincial domain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Urdu to English. In time, English will ensure parity and the poor will have as much chance of getting a crack at the job market as does his elite counterpart. While letting the visionary bask in the glory of his vision, let us — the lesser mortals that we are — see if the government schools anywhere in the country are doing their core job — teaching, of course — regardless of the medium of instruction.

It doesn’t take much to know that they are not able to deliver, and they have not been able to deliver for an irritatingly long time. The leaders know that and they have been frivolous in their handling of the affair.

For taste of how frivolous it has all been, let’s revisit a recent happening. Ruling party MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, who doesn’t need any introduction beyond his surname, visited the University of Gujrat where, according to published reports, all schools underwent “forcible closure” to welcome the young Sharif.

“The EDO Gujrat had issued an order for a holiday … in all public and private educational institutions. The students and faculty were asked to reach the arrival venue (of Mr Sharif) and welcome him,” the report quoted Mian Imran Masood of the rival political force of the area.

The EDO, according to him, personally visited the educational institutions and issued verbal orders that all teachers would not only welcome the son of the Punjab chief minister, but also attend the public meeting. “He warned them of stern action in case of violation.”

The Sharif scion, after landing at the local air strip, went straight to the University of Gujrat where he inaugurated a two-day event and delivered a speech that included gems of wisdom about the primacy of knowledge in the modern world without which “no society can progress.”

The university vice-chancellor also picked up the thread in his speech, stressing that nations always make progress through practical and useful knowledge. “Pakistan is a unique country of the world which has the largest young population and in this way, Pakistan’s future lies in its youth,” the vice-chancellor said.

That Pakistan is a unique country is beyond doubt or debate. Had it not been a truly unique country, or if it had been a slightly less unique than it actually is, it would not have survived the tomfoolery of its leaders and their kith and kin and their dear and near ones.

It is actually so unique that it has survived all these years despite such blatant contradictions where leaders talk of the “primacy of knowledge” even when they are directly responsible for disrupting the process of knowledge acquisition.

This surely is not a one-off incident related to one individual or family or political party or even a province. It is as ‘blanket’ as it gets. A former Sindh Education Minister, who is even today holding a senior position in the provincial hierarchy, claimed that after three years in total command of the ‘education’ portfolio, he could say with confidence that the standard of education had “greatly improved”. Ironically, just a day earlier, it was the gentleman himself who had talked of “more than 7,700” ghost schools in the province and had added for good measure that 1,100 of such schools had been built as “political bribe at places where there was not even a single student.”

The minister naturally was not saying that he was behind the mess. He was obviously referring to what his predecessors had done. But the minister had been in charge for some three-and-a-half years when he made these remarks, which, in many eyes, was time enough to make those 7,700 schools functional.

As for the political bribes, the government should have done something to reclaim those 1,100 schools and use their buildings for some useful purpose. It is hard to imagine that there were areas where “there is not even a single student.” Were there no children in such areas, or were they not willing to come to school?

Regardless of the answer to this query, with thousands of non-functional schools under his control — and by his own admission — it takes some guts to claim any improvement in the education scene. But he did. And, his party once again came to power in the province, and the new education minister has time and again spoken of how neglected the education sector has been.

For a party that is already in the sixth year of constant rule, such a statement is an amazing act of self-indictment, but who cares? With ghost schools aplenty — and aplenty across the land — the medium of instruction should be of secondary importance; not primary.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com