Pakistan to Get $200 Million for Education from USA

I just finished reading a long report by Griff Witte at Washington Post website: Poor schooling slows anti-terrorism effort in Pakistan

If you are interested about Pakistani educational system then you should read as it will give you some food for thought.

According to Griff Witte, illiteracy is a big obstacle in the fight against terrorism in Pakistan. There are hundreds of religious schools called “madrassas” and often we reports that many of the extremists come from this background. However, Mr. Witte also stated that the general public schools are also in no better condition because of two factors.

First of all, there is acute shortage of funds for these schools and often conditions are not ideal for getting and giving lessons. For example, in the report, you can see a picture of a school with the following caption:

“Classes at Pehlvi High School, near Islamabad, are canceled when it rains because the roof leaks badly.”

The second problem is that the ruling establishment of the country is not eager to change the curriculum or philosophy of the public schools. The army, the religious groups and feudal lords are the major share holders of this ‘ruling establishment’ and they don’t want to increase the quantity and quality of public education of the country- this is what came out in the report of Mr. Witte.