18 Years of PPP Promises, Enough Time to Build a School?
Opinion
This is written by Erzah Ather.
Eighteen years in power, billions of education budgets and millions of children are still waiting for a proper classroom. This promise could have built schools and Sindh would probably have the finest education system in Asia by now.
Unfortunately, the system needs to understand that speeches do not come with desks, classrooms, teachers or with the education system at all. Sindh’s children and their promised classrooms have now been courting for eighteen years, mostly by letter because the two have never actually met. The span of eighteen years is enough for a child to begin school, complete university and enter professional life. In Sindh, however some development projects appear to be competing for a lifetime achievement award in delay.
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Since 2008, Pakistan’s People party has governed Sindh for most of the time with the calm of tenant who stopped worrying about the landlord long ago. But speaking of PPP, let admire the numbers that are the only thing in Sindh that grows on schedule. Having the ample time to improve public education, Sindh still struggles with unfinished school projects and millions of children outside the education system. Every fresh budget pass brings fresh announcements and ambitious targets but what about the reality of progress for with families and children waiting to experience it.
This year, Sindh aside Rs 446.958 billion for school education. According to UNICEF, around 7.4 million children are still out of school, so the mountains are either very well hidden or very far from the children. Now consider the school buildings. Data given to assembly showed that only about 32% of Government schools have electricity. The rest follow an old-fashioned method of learning: sit in the dark and think hard. Barely half have boundary walls, so students enjoy the freedom of open-air education. Stray goats are welcome to join the lesson, though sadly not to mark the exams. The situation is particularly different and difficult in rural areas of Sindh, where families face ling distances if schools and shortage of teachers. Girls often face additional barriers including the safety concerns and absence of nearby secondary schools. Meanwhile the political leaders continue discussing development as tough announcing a project and completing it are practically the same thing and sadly children cannot study inside an announcement.
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Why Must Every Decision Travel So Far? Sindh's education problems also reveal a deeper issue: excessive administrative centralization. A village school in Tharparkar does not necessarily face the same challenges as a crowded school in Karachi. One may need additional classrooms and drinking water; another may need more teachers and better sanitation. Yet when decisions, budgets, and approvals remain concentrated at higher levels, local problems can take far too long to resolve. Smaller administrative units and empowered local governments deserve serious consideration. District authorities with clearly defined budgets, trained staff and independent oversight could respond more directly to local educational needs. Of course, simply drawing new boundaries will not automatically improve education. Decentralization must include financial authority, transparent spending, and measurable responsibilities. Otherwise, Sindh risks replacing one large collection of excuses with several smaller ones.
But what would children will say? Probably something short, since many have no classroom to practice speeches in. But the demand is not complicated. Publish the spending. Name the projects. Finish the building, let elected local councils run schools, water and sanitation with real money and let independent auditors check the books without needing a permission slip. Eighteen years is long enough for a baby to be born, grow up and vote against the government that promised her a school. Perhaps that is the secret plan: finish the building just after she turns eighteen, so she finally learns what she is voting for.
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This article has been shared by Erzah Ather.
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