world-teachers-day-5th-october

World’s teacher day is celebrated all over the world on 5th of October every year since 1994. Due to the busy schedule and long day in the office I failed to be part of any celebrations, walk or conference and to send wishes to some of my most inspiring teachers on this very special day. A day which make us to remember the significance of our mentors and contribution of the persons in our individual academic and professional success but also their contribution in the wider perspective of national progress and development. As the teachers, the architects of the future, play a vital role in the social and economic development and progress of the country. While the world celebrated teachers for providing quality education at all levels on October 5, let us also not forget Pakistan’s over a million teachers in the public and private education sector. These teachers constitute a formidable workforce of the country, and they, despite their meager resources continue to nurture and promote education in Pakistan. But the nation’s expectation from this very respectable community are way higher in the prevailing crisis of educational advancement and in the pretext of population growth. Similarly, the sitting Government proclaims to be more concerned and focused about the educational development, one cannot shy away from the most pressing long-term challenge in the country – the education crisis.
The 18th Constitutional Amendment Act 2010 makes education a fundamental right for all Pakistani citizens, however, one in ten of the world’s out-of-school children is a Pakistani. To put this in numbers, a staggering 27 million out of Pakistan’s 75 million 5-to-19-year-olds are not in school. Considering that Pakistan’s population is profoundly youthful – with a median age of around 21 year, one can very well interpret the impact when this bulk of largely uneducated youth, with limited skills, will enter the workforce in the next 10-15 years. In the meantime, if the country’s population, estimated at about 195 million, continues to grow at the same rate, it will rise to 290 million by 2050. Under such circumstances, the future of this add-on youth population is anybody’s guess.
It is high time that a country like Pakistan, that has seen multiple advancements, pays heed to the educational sector. Pakistan spends roughly 4 percent of its annual budget on its military and less than 2.2 percent on education. Social sector services like education, health care, clean water, social protection, and police services seem to be the least of Pakistan’s priorities. To overcome these challenges, analysts believe that Pakistan needs to revamp its educational system.
On a non-governmental scale, lots of commendable work is being done to address the education issue in the country, however, still needed much work and focus on the development of educational infrastructure.  Similarly, philanthropic organisations have been actively involved in providing quality education to the less-privileged children across the rural and urban slums of Pakistan. These philanthropic organizations are making a vital contribution to help Pakistan fulfill the United Nations Millennium Development Goal to achieve universal primary education.
However, not all can be left to philanthropists. The crisis of the Pakistani educational sector cannot be dealt solely by non-governmental organisations. This crisis needs immediate government’s attention. It is always worth remembering and worth mentioning that the nations that are worth speaking about today have been built on the sole ground of their educational achievements and contributions.

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