Pakistan: A nation of 55 million illiterates

Islamabad, April 15: The government of Pakistan may be busy testing missiles, developing warfare's and spending millions of dollars it gets as international donations to plan attacks on India, but it seems that they have failed to face the grim realities afflicting the country. Or else, is there a better way to explain the recent UNESCO findings that estimates the number of illiterates in the country to be around a whopping 55 million.

The News quoted Arshad Khan, UNESCO"s National Programme Specialist (Education), as saying at a conference in Islamabad, “The number of uneducated people in Pakistan has mounted to over 55 million and counting."

Online News quoted Kozue Kay Nagata, UNESCO"s Representative for Pakistan as saying at the conference, “Take examples of all the fast growing economies of various countries like South Korea, Japan, China and others who concentrate on education and literacy for improving their economies," and urged the country to focus on education to develop economically.

Arshad Khan was also reported by The News as saying that almost 41 percent of Pakistan's entire population has never attended school while nearly two-third of country's female population had no idea as to what education means.

Balochistan, the most troubled part of the politically unstable nation has the lowest literacy rate with 45 percent of the population knowing how to read and write. The more prosperous states of Punjab and Sindh have 59 and 50 percent literacy rate.

OneIndia News