Revamping Public Education in Pakistan: A Way to Combat Extremism?

In the wake of the momentous political events in Pakistan, an article on NPR sheds light on the collapsing public school system that the new Pakistani government must find a way to salvage. Currently, Pakistan spends the least of any of its neighbors on education, 2.4 percent of GDP as compared to the UN-recommended 4 percent in developing countries. The results are not surprising but entirely worrisome.

Over ¼, or 48 million, of the country’s 165 million people cannot read or write.

Due to these public education failures, a growing number of families are sending their children to religious schools and private schools. Nonetheless, the proportion of Pakistanis who can afford these alternatives is quite small. The vast majority who are stuck in the public school system often end up mired in poverty and resentful of their situations, and thereby become prime targets for extremist groups. As Mehnaz Aziz, head of the Pakistan chapter of Children Resources International, puts it,

“. . . the failure to modernize Pakistan’s schools is one of the major causes of religious extremism.”

Hence, reforming public education in Pakistan will not only improve the personal development and life chances of the country’s youth (who now make up 60 percent of the population), but could also dampen the influence of extremism.