RIGHT
TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN
By:
NOOR ALAM KHAN ASC
Member KPK Bar Council,
Member Executive SCBA Of
Chairman Voice of Prisoners
In
the Divine Holy book, the Quran, Allah Almighty has declared the superiority of
Adam over the angles because of knowledge and emphasized as under:-
“And he taught Adam the nature of all
things; then he placed them before the angles, and said, “Tell me the nature of
these if yes are right”.
They said, “Glory to thee: of
Knowledge we have none, save what thou Hast taught us: in truth it is thou Who
art Perfect in Knowledge and Wisdom.”
In Sura Taha the
Prophet (P.B.U.H) has been asked to pray in the following words: “Lord increase my knowledge [20:114]” Similarly,
the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) has emphasized on acquiring knowledge in the
following words “Seek Knowledge from the
cradle to grave” in another Hadith, it has been said “Seek knowledge even as far as china.” While comparing an “Alam”
with a martyr, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) has said: “A drop of sweet of the brow of thinker is better than the thousand
bold drops of the martyr”. On another occasion it has been said: “Whoever seeks a way to acquire knowledge
Allah will make easy his way to paradise” [Sahih Muslim] stressing on the
need of knowledge, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) has said: “Seeking Knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim”. [Sunan
Ibn-e-Majah].
The education for the development of
society/nation had also not escaped from the vision of Quaid-e-Azam, the
founder of
In the successful life of an
individual, the education plays an important role. Generally it is considered
to be the foundation of society which brings economic wealth, social
prosperity, political stability and maintaining healthy population. In case of
deficit of educated people, the further progress of the society is stopped.
Education individuals enjoy respect among their colleagues and can effectively
contribute to the development of their country and society by inventing new
devices and discoveries.
Main purpose of education is to
educate individuals so that they get prepared to form the next generation of
leaders. It will yield strong families and strong communities. Education plays
an important role to promote knowledge and understanding of rural communities.
In almost all societies, receiving education and attending School is necessary
to achieve success. It is the key to move forward and ultimately succeed in
life. For preparing the children and young people to effectively participate in
the development of the society, the schools play a vital role. The knowledge
and wisdom can only be gained through the experience of learning. It is
important to note that the teachers are most important factors for an
innovative society because teachers’ knowledge and skills not only enhance the
quality and efficiency of education, but also improve the pre-requisites of
research and innovation.
Right to education was a fundamental
Right, enforceable by the superior courts in exercise of jurisdiction vested in
them under Arts. 199 & 184(3) of the Constitution.[1]
Without education, life is not
human, but animal or vegetative. In to-days era of technological advancement,
development of nations is linked largely with the education of their citizens
and availability of trained human resources for the economy. Education not only
nurtures talent and personality of children from the beginning of their
childhood, it also prepares them for their role as responsible and productive
citizen. Education enables nations and local communities to gradually evolve
and strengthen their systems of social justice, democratic institutions, and
foster values of peace, harmony, tolerance and mutual respect among their new
generations. Education is a fundamental right of all human beings, and an
unequivocal path to sustainable socio-economic development. No society can
dream development if sustainable proportion of its population is illiterate and
a considerable ratio of its children are not in school. Rates of literacy and
participation of children in primary education are two important indicators of
Human Development Index (HDI), which is globally used to rank Human development
status of different countries on annual basis. Education promotes individual
freedom, empowers people and is the most effective vehicle for upward social
and economic mobility for the disadvantaged groups.
Humanity
is facing certain global problems unfortunately, the problems are many, from
the determination of proper economic strategies to solving various ecological
issues. The internal world of a human being, his ideology, education, science
& culture are signs determining his existence and internal state, as well
as the fact that his rights shall be protected by society. First, we are all
responsible for the life of every person: if terrorism jeopardizes one human
life, then our civilization is in danger. All of us can resist the intentions
of dark, evil and destructive forces supporting extremism, terrorism and
aggressive separatism by finding common language for mutual dialogue among
cultures & religious just for the sake of all people’s future and for the
sake of the future of human civilization.
There
have been some historical periods when the position of religion in social life
was not properly considered. Nowadays, when the totalitarian systems &
ideologies have failed, the role of religions in society is dynamically
changing. Along with the positive processes, there are a growing number of
occurrences where religions are used as an encouragement to terrorism and
extremism. To fully prevent the appearance of such events, it is necessary to
integrate all layers of society, in particular politicians, scientists,
believers and religious figures.
Along
with teachers who received salary but did not teach, other schools failed to
appoint teachers, were appropriated by wealthy landowners, or had budget
irregularities, such as “Paid for” computers which never arrived. The government & the bureaucrats
have no willingness to solve the problem. The money that the govt. gives to
school is consumed by bureaucrats. The budget might tell you what the money has
been used for in the schools, but you don’t see it get spent and then the money
is gone. School funds are “50-50” b/w feudal lords and bureaucrats, party to
ensure that there is no threat to the feudal lords power base by seeing the
poor receiving education. These politicians who are actively trying to raise
the issue say that it is not a priority for the govt. The existence of “Ghost Schools” also removes incentive for
poor families to ensure their children get an education. Instead many see more
value in sending them to work in the fields or bazaars.
The most important aspect of human
life, viz., imparting of education to future generations was being ignored;
that education was not being accorded the priority it deserved, which was
non-compliance with Islamic injunctions and non-enforcement of the
Constitutional provisions, particularly Art. 25A of the Constitution; that
physical inspection of Government schools throughout the country conducted
under the supervision of judicial officers brought to limelight the miserable
conditions and numerous problems that afflicted schools both in urban and rural
areas; that reports submitted before the Supreme Court during hearing of
present petition revealed that some of the Government schools in urban areas of
Province of Sindh had been forcibly occupied by influential persons, who were
using the same as cattle sheds; that the education system was facing problems
of existence of ghost school and absenteeism of teachers; that teacher’s
absenteeism, was one of the most serious forms of corruption in the education
sector; that absenteeism of teachers could be a
result of number of reasons including non-availability of transport,
lack of residential accommodation, absence of infrastructure like classrooms,
(of teachers) on considerations other than merit, lack of public recognition of
teachers in contrast to other professionals, e.g., doctors, engineers, lack of
motivation, especially at primary school level, etc.; that a number of
Commissions were appointed by the Government from time to time to suggest
reforms in the educational system of the country, but it seemed that no serious
effort had been made to implement the recommendations of said Commissions and
achieve their object; that spirit of commitment and dedication on the part of
teachers was urgent need of the hour to advance the cause of education; that
system of inspection of Government schools by the Education Department needed
to be revived because system of checks and balances in some form was essential
for good governance in any public
institution; that it was imperative for State functionaries at the district
level to sit together and spend their time and energy in finding out ways and
means whereby the mandate of Art. 25A of the constitution could be fulfilled in
the best interests of the nation. Supreme Court directed that Accreditation Boards
should be established in all Provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory with an
authority, inter alia, to improve current miserable condition of the
institutions and also to ensure removal of ghost schools immediately with penal
action against responsible person who had been receiving salaries and other
perks without performing their duties; that such Accreditation Boards should
continue to strive for achieving the objects and purposes for which they had
been established; that recommendations of such Boards should be implemented
forthwith by the competent authority so that improvement in conditions of
schools was made visible; that Accreditation Boards may also consider
approaching the respective Governments with the plea that teachers be allowed
to perform their task of imparting education, and respective institutions may
make alternate arrangements of Provincial Governments should be bound to
enforce Fundamental Rights enshrined in Arts.9 & 25A, of the Constitution
as in some of the Provinces legislation had already been made to enforce Art.
25A, therefore, same might be acted upon strictly; that Provincial Governments
and Islamabad Capital Territory must enhance budgetary allocations for
improvement of education system and should also provide mechanism to ensure
presence of students at primary, middle and high schools levels; that
Provincial Governments through concerned authorities must ensure recovery of
possession of school buildings, which had been illegally occupied by
influential person and if there was any litigation pending, the Registrars of
respective High Courts should ensure the decision of such cases expeditiously,
and that cases pending before the High Courts and Supreme Court concerning
school properties should be disposed of expeditiously.[2]
State to ensure that all children go
to school and remain in school. Duty cast upon the State was not even close to
fulfillment and amongst children the girls were being neglected the most.
Merely constructing a school and providing free textbooks was not enough to get
children to school. Environment was needed to be created whereby there was
desire on the part of parents to send their children to school and the school
environment was such that it beckoned children who would be unhappy to miss
school.[3]
The
ability to exercise freedom may, to a considerable extent, be directly
dependent on the education we have received. When you hear there are 6 million
working children in
Everyone has the right to
education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental
stages elementary education shall be compulsory…………………….
(Article 26(1), United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).
It is evident from the above
quoted provision that education is a fundamental human right and essential for
the exercise of all other human rights. Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC), adopted by General Assembly on 20 November 1989, explicitly recognized
this right in the following Article.
States
parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to
achieve this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they
shall in particular.
Make
primary education compulsory and available free to all;
Encourage
the development of different forms of secondary
education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child and
take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and
offering finance assistance in case of need;
(Article
28, Convention on the Rights of the Child-1989)
In
April 2000 more than 100 participants from 164 countries gathered in
Ensuring
that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities have access to and
complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
(Article 7, Goal No. 2,
In September 2000, world leaders
adopted United Nations Millennium Declaration, consisting of 8 Millennium
Development Goals. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No. 2, envisaged to ensure
that by 2015, all children complete good quality primary education. MDG 2
committed to achieve following:
“Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere,
boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary
education.”
All these global commitments
indicate that international community and worlds nations have recognized the
importance of education for the society and for the individuals, and they have
recognized the right for free elementary education.
Almost
all human rights are incorporated in the Constitution which are enforced
through Courts. Education is an
unavoidable and integral part of a human life, which has various valuable and
gracious purposes.
Education
played an important role in the successful life on an individual. Absence of
education impeded progress of the society. Education played an important role
to promote knowledge and understanding of rural communities. Education person
was in a better position to contribute in the development of the society.
Education was a key to move forward and achieve success in life, and in such
regard, teachers played the most important role in educating children and
developing their capabilities and skills to meet the challenges of future life.[4]
The
Constitution of Pakistan approved in 1973, contained commitment of the State
for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free education up to secondary
level. Under the section of principles of policy, this determination was
reflected in the following words:
“The state shall:
remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within
minimum possible period;
(Constitution of
Implementation
of above article of the chapter on ‘Principles of Policy’ has practically
remained slow which resulted in low literacy rate in the country and exclusion
of millions of children from their fundamental right of free basic education.
Parliament of
”The State shall provide free and Compulsory
Education to all Children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as
may be determined by law.” (Article 25-A, Chapter NO. 1 Fundamental Rights)
Although, Federal and Provincial
governments had started the process of reducing the opportunity cost during
2004 by abolition of fees and distribution of free textbooks to the students
enrolled in government schools, the inclusion of Article 25-A in the
constitution is a historical step. This new constitutional provision has opened
the door for making elementary education completely free, compulsory, and
bringing all out of school children into the school.
The picture of illiteracy in
After devolution of the subject of
education to the provinces (by way of 18th Amendment to the
Constitution), it was obligatory on the Provincial Governments to ensure that
children of respective areas received education as fundamental Right at all tiers of the
education system; and this was only possible if all the Provincial Governments
as well as the Federal Government assigned top most priority to the subject of
education because by imparting good education to children progress could be
made and prosperity of the country could be ensured.[5]
Free and compulsory education has
become a constitutional right of all the Pakistanis since the eighteenth
amendment has come into effect. The passage of Article 25-A and declaring free
and compulsory education as a constitutional right on papers is not enough.
Latest surveys and estimates indicates that over 55 million Pakistanis of age
10+ cannot read and write. Why the number of illiterates have increased over
the years? Mainly because education system in
Further legislation is needed to define
and elaborate different modalities and rules for provision of free and
compulsory education, as spelled out in last part of Article 25-A ………. “in such
manner as may be determined by law”. This law has yet to be framed and approved
by the Assemblies.
A stumbling block inhibiting the
expansion of education in
About
30% people in
Universal declaration of Human Rights
(1948) and Article 25-A contains the provision of making element and society
can introduce disincentives or punitive actions only when education has been
made completely fee and an enabling environment has been created by the
leadership. Disincentives and punitive provisions can though be legislated by
the Provincial Assemblies, but these should be enforced only after adequate
incentives are offered to the parents.
Even after legislation & provision of
incentives for education, factors like lack of awareness, conservatism, and
ignorance of parents about benefits of education may still impede enrolment of
all children into the school. Certain groups in some under developed areas or
pockets may be reluctant to send their children, particularly girls to school.
Here we need to launch a motivational drive for convincing local communities
and the parents to send their children to school. Political and religious
leaders, social workers, civil society organizations and all educated people
should participate in the campaign for enrolment of all children into schools
in their respective areas. Media can play an important role in this respect.
The dream of universal primary education
& a literate
The criticality & advantages of
early childhood education are now established from biological, social,
economic, cultural & human development standpoint. The need for quality
& encompassing ECE programmes is emphasized strongly because research
proves that it is positively impacts the physical, psychomotor, cognitive,
social and emotional developments of the child, including the acquisition of languages
and early literacy. Children are active learners from birth, and the early
years are vital to their success in school and later life. Most importantly,
investment in ECE & development programmes holds strong opportunities to
break the cycle of in equalities and poverty that has plagued million of lives
in
The situation is the most critical
in KPK and Balochistan where the literacy rate stands b/w 3% & 8%. Some
government organizations & non government organizations have tried to open
formal & informal Schools in these areas, but the local landlords, even
they have little or nothing to do with religion or religious parties, oppose
such measures, apparently out of fear that people who become literate will cease
to follow them with blind faith. Unfortunately, the government has not so far
taken any steps to promote literacy or education in these areas. It is even
reluctant to help NGOs or other small political or religious parties do the
job, because in order to make control, it needs support of these landlords and
chieftains who as members of major political parties are regularly elected to
the national assembly.
Devolution in
The Eighteen Constitutional
Amendment has passed the way for modifications in the constitution of
The multifarious amendments in
Articles of the constitution relinquished 47 subjects to the sole realm of
Provinces.
Education is one of the key subjects
which is being devolved to Provincial mandate. The incorporation of Article
25-A is another fundamental change introduced by the 18 Constitutional
Amendments.
The damage caused by “Ghost Schools”
across
Lack of education generally force
young generation to join hands of anti-social elements. There is a dire need to
create opportunities for people so that they could educate their children. If
the people are given education free at cost, or even minimizing the costs the
trend tilting towards extremism and terrorism can be reduced. The gouts should
open more & more schools for children & education should be made
available for everyone as it is necessary to make world safe from current and
future terrorism images of extremism have come to us at an almost
incomprehensible pace, markets, schools, places of worship, neighbourhoods and
communities torn apart by senseless act of violence. Strategies be made to
confront this terrible phenomenon-and in particular to reach young people and
to help them see a world of fairness & justice, of opportunity and
empowerment.
In 21st century education is a
security issue and not any education but education specifically that opens
young minds to “That other those who are culturally and religiously different
and shows them the only future that works is one in which people are respected
as equals whatever their faith or culture.” To see myself in you” peaceful
co-existence should be our aim.
Education plays an important role in the
successful life of an individual. Generally, education is considered to be the
foundation of society which brings economic wealth, social prosperity,
political stability and maintaining healthy population. Further progress of
society is stopped in case of deficit of educated people. Educated people enjoy
respect among their colleagues and can effectively contribute to the
development of their country and society by inventing new devices and
discoveries. Islam is a scientific religion emphasizing on the need of
scientific inquiry.[6]
Right to education has now been protected impliedly and explicitly in the
Constitution of Pakistan 1973 and it imposes dual duty on state and as well
parents. Parents must be obliged to provide an opportunity to their children
less than 14 and more than 6 years of age for compulsory education. Further
more, the state of education in
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