Heedless of the future, regardless of all the damning statistics pertaining to out-of-school children in Pakistan, criminal negligence in the education sector continues unabated.

A recent report in this paper offered a glimpse of the dire situation that prevails in Sindh’s Shaheed Benazirabad district, a long-time PPP stronghold.

For example, in the area’s Long Khan Brohi village, there are three schools — two primary and one middle — none of which have teaching staff (apart from, curiously enough, an art teacher) and hence, no students.

Only 30 of the 150 children of school-going age here are getting an education, for which they have to trek to the only primary school in the next village. But while the latter institution actually boasts a teacher, classes are held in the open because the school building was rendered dangerous after the floods a few years ago.

At another school in the district, there are again no students because the sole teacher appointed here takes advantage of his connections in the local power circles to remain absent from duty. Neglect of girls’ schools is compounded by parental apathy towards girls’ education.

The conditions in this district encapsulate the multiple problems that bedevil the education sector to a greater or lesser extent all across the country.

The indifference of the ruling elite towards the constitutional right of all children to education, the lack of accountability of teaching staff, ‘ghost schools’ that exist only on paper, the politicised and irrational system of teachers’ postings, and the shockingly high dropout rate, particularly among girls, are just some of these.

However, given that Sindh back in early 2013 was first among the provinces to pass legislation to make education until Matric free and compulsory, the appalling education infrastructure here — particularly in a place where the PPP-led provincial government could easily take steps towards achieving that objective — makes a mockery of such efforts.

While increasing literacy rates takes time and sustained effort, there is scarcely any evidence that this journey has even begun.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014