Islamabad: Since the creation of Pakistan, none of the education policy could produce the desired results and address the grave situation of the sector.

It was stated by renowned educationist Javed Hasan Aly during a seminar titled 'Education for all: Role of Media' organised by Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) and Society for Access to Quality Education (SAQE) in Islamabad.

He said that the government educational institutions were facing virtual collapse and the reasons were many which needed to be taken care of on urgent basis. He said: "In America 90 per cent of the children go to public schools whereas in Pakistan only those opt for them who cannot afford private schools. This lack of trust is the outcome of multiple factors, such as missing facilities in the schools and the imbalanced student-teacher ratio, etc."

Mr. Aly said unfortunately the culture to acquire knowledge could not develop in Pakistan ever since its creation. Even before
the partition, the Muslims were among the most deprived class in terms of acquiring education among all the ethnicities in India. He stressed the need to reject the established thoughts and develop quest for knowledge leading to truth.

He further said that in 1950, Pakistan and Malaysia were enjoying the same growth rate which consistently deteriorated in Pakistan while in Malaysia, it accelerated due to the social preparedness. Countries such as China, Malaysia and South Korea invested adequately in human capital therefore during the last 10 years; they achieved milestones in terms of progress.

He said: "With a cumulative 57.7 per cent of literacy and highest dropout rates in the world, Pakistan is second in terms of highest number of children out of the primary schools. Mushrooming of Madaris is just because they provide food, shelter and education to the children. This hunger-stricken nation cannot afford to breed mindsets not to accept difference of opinion."

Zaigham Khan, a journalist, referred to the research work of Amratiya San and Dr Mahboobul Haq in which they showed how Asian tigers covered 100 years distance in just 10 years by giving importance to education sector. Dawn.