By Warda Malik
We all have fears. It takes paramount courage to overcome
those fears and make it to school with the desire to be educated. This desire,
this will, this commitment and this perseverance is what we owe to our parents
and, most importantly, to our country. Surprisingly, there is an alarming
number of children who drop out after primary level and absolutely refuse to
take another step towards any place called ‘school’. After all, what are the
factors which are able to hamper their way to this milestone on the way to
their dreams?
Indeed, the very first factor is violence and the brutal ways
of teaching naïve children. In the city of Lahore, Pakistan a young child Bilal
Javed, 10 years of age, refused to even peek through the gates after five years
of schooling. The reason being the barbarous ways with which his science
teacher punished him although he was quite intellectual in Mathematics and
other subjects. Now the boy spends his precious time by helping his father out
with cleaning. More than 35,000 children in Pakistan dropout of school only due
to corporal punishment.
Another reason for the dropout rate after primary level is
that somewhere we have supportive parents, on the other hand, there are parents
who condemn their children to continue with schooling after primary level.
Probably due to extreme poverty and illiteracy; they consider it more
beneficial for everyone that the children ought to be part of the labor force
and earn reasonable wages from this age.
As a result, a child’s future is wickedly destroyed and thrown away with
not much hope left for his prosperity and that little string of hope also
continues to fade away.
Last but not the least, gender inequality refuses to perish.
The female gender suffers terrible injustice at the hands of education. In the
rural areas they are not looked upon as innovative beings with the capability
to strive for the betterment. In most stereotyped rural areas they are a
‘burden’ from the day they are born and the better it is to ease the burden by
getting them married off. The parents who face the challenge of sending their
daughters to schools in these areas are not looked upon as conservative and
their reputation suffers as a result. In this scenario, what does it take for a
girl to be educated? She deserves this right as much any other son does. The
inevitable consequence is for most girls to give up the battle at the hands of
their prosecutors.
These factors call upon for a revolutionary change in the
education system and for increasing awareness in rural areas in particular. If these dropout rates cannot be completely
erased then they can surely be decreased. It is for the privileged to take up a
bold stand for our fellow beings who are being denied of their right. It is a
great pity when we look at a child selling balloons from our car window and
wonder maybe he could have been the next Stephen Hawking.
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