DUBAI: Poor Pakistani parents want to send their children to school, but the quality of public schools is discouraging them from doing so, said the co-founder of The Citizen Foundation (TCF), the largest charity school chain in Pakistan.
Mushtaq Chhapra, who started the education network in Pakistan with his friends more than 20 years ago, said the lack of good schools and academic facilities has been a major challenge.
He blamed the nationalization policy in 1973 that damaged the infrastructure of government schools in the country.
“Government schools are closing down. They are in a state of disrepair. Teachers don’t go to the schools. No toilets, no furniture, and even no books. Nobody is accountable which is the core of the problem in our system. In this situation, why do we blame poor students who are getting such a rough deal?” Chhapra said during a visit to Dubai.
“How can you expect them to go to the colleges? If there is no one to teach them, they will roam around the streets, get into militancy, drugs, and abuse.”
According to the Pakistan Education Statistics 2015-16, 44 percent of children between the ages of five and 16 were out of school. The statistics revealed that 21 percent of primary schools in the country were being run by a single teacher while 14 percent had only one room.
With regard to infrastructure, 4 out of 10 public sector primary schools were operating without electricity, 28 percent did not have toilets, 25 percent had no boundary walls and 29 percent had no access to drinking water. More than 40 percent of the schools were housed in unsatisfactory buildings, while 7 percent had no building at all.
Chhapra — a recipient of the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, which is one of the highest civil honors in Pakistan — was in Dubai to meet the Pakistani community and share the annual progress of TCF schools and their students’ success stories.
TCF is now running 1,482 schools in more than 700 locations throughout the country, and has a total enrolment of 220,000 students. It started in 1995 and is now the largest non-profit private education system in the country for the less privileged.
Chhapra is proud of the fact that 50 percent of TCF’s students are girls and that his organization employs women as academic staff and support staff, providing an excellent working opportunity for them.
“Wherever we go in the country, we never face problems or resistance regarding school admission, even for girls. We provide education to boys and girls together in the same class without any problem.
However, he said there were concerns by several students about male teachers.
“We realized the issue and decided to employ women teachers and school staff. In this way, not only the gender balance is taken care of but we are also giving the message to our girl students that whenever they finish the required education, there is a job waiting for them. It’s a win-win situation.”
Chhapra said TCF is ready to share the success of its education system with “any part of the world.”
“Education is the right of every child in the world. The education system we have developed at our TCF schools can be transplanted in any part of the world. The only difference will be the language.”
He said that while Pakistan may use Urdu, other countries can use their own languages.
“Other than that, the education system, teacher guide, books — everything can be implemented anywhere in the world.”
“We are open and prepared to help anybody who needs to take our system. We are prepared to train their teachers. We are prepared to help them to establish the education system in any way they want.”
He did, however, clarify that TCF will not be able to run the schools outside Pakistan.
“Only because our work is still unfinished in Pakistan. We have to meet our task in Pakistan first. There are many areas that still need a lot of work, especially when we are now working to adopt government schools.
“So physically, we cannot run the school outside Pakistan such as in Africa or Bangladesh, but we are ready and prepared to teach them, guide them and prepare them in the best possible way,” he said.
Poor education system deters Pakistanis from sending children to schools, says education charity
Poor education system deters Pakistanis from sending children to schools, says education charity
- Lack of educational infrastructure and poor educational facilities deter Pakistanis from sending their children to school
- 44 percent of children in Pakistan do not go to school
Canada PM Carney says can’t rule out military participation in Iran war
- Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”
- However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
CANBERRA, Australia: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.
Carney’s visit to Australia this week has been overshadowed by expanding war in the Middle East, sparked by a massive US-Israeli strike on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said, while stressing the question was a “hypothetical” one.
“We will stand by our allies,” said Carney, adding that “we will always defend Canadians.”
Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law.”
However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — a position that Canada takes “with regret” as it represented “another example of the failure of the international order.”
The Canadian leader reiterated on Thursday his call for a “de-escalation” of the conflict.
Carney’s trip is part of a multi-country tour of the Asia-Pacific aimed at reducing reliance on the United States — a hedge against what he has described as a fading US-led global order.
The Australia leg of the tour is aimed at bringing in investment and deepening ties with a like-minded “middle power” partner.
‘Middle power’ rallying cry
On Thursday morning he issued a rallying cry in Australia’s parliament to “middle powers,” urging them to work together in an increasingly hegemonic world order.
Nations like Australia and Canada faced a stark choice — work together to help write the “new rules” of the global order or have great powers do it for them, he said.
“In this brave new world, middle powers cannot simply build higher walls and retreat behind them. We must work together,” he said.
“Great powers can compel, but compulsion comes with costs, both reputational and financial,” the former central banker added.
“Middle powers like Australia and Canada hold this rare convening power because others know we mean what we say and we will match our values with our actions.”
The Canadian leader also said the two countries would together as “strategic collaborators” to pool their vast combined rare earth mineral resources.
And he detailed renewed cooperation in areas from defense to artificial intelligence.
“We know we must work with others who share our values to build solid capabilities,” he told parliament.
Otherwise, he warned, they risked being “caught between the hyperscalers and the hegemons.”
The Canadian leader has frequently clashed with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and slapped swingeing tariffs on the country.
In a speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum in January, Carney warned the US?led global system of governance was enduring “a rupture.”
