Education is the most important tool for a developed and civilized nation. In every modern state, education is considered to be the most essential pillar that holds the nation, paves it’s path and leads it towards ultimate success.
Unfortunately, the educational statistics of Pakistan are nowhere near being satisfactory. Currently, Pakistan has a literacy rate of 58 percent. Female illiteracy is worse than that of men because of the overarching patriarchal culture and challenging conditions for females.
According to United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, about 49.2% population of Pakistan is female. But only 47% percent of this population can read and write and only 10% has access to quality education. 
Quality education can not only bring about a fundamental shift in our standard of living but also in how we think, act, and discharge our responsibilities toward one another and the planet. In Pakistan, however, it is merely a far-fetched dream.
40 percent of our women get education only till intermediate level while 25% of them do not even get to pass matriculation. What kind of future does ‘Naya Pakistan’ promise with 52 percent of its population deprived of proper education vocational or skills.
In the patriarchal system of the country, women are only trained for household work and no priority is given to their education and vocational training. That’s why many women are forced to live in abusive marriages or end up on roads doing labor work.
Due to this societal negligence, most women are unable to stand on their feet and look after themselves, if they don’t have a husband or a father to provide for them.
The other side of the picture is not very bright either. Among the male population of Pakistan, only 25 percent are educated enough to survive in the fast moving world of today. The rest lack any proper education and depend upon their skills to earn a living.
But even the demand for their times-old skills is diminishing rapidly due to continuous technological disruption. As a result, the most viable option for an average male citizen of Pakistan is to look for Middle East visas and spend a life of laborar in a far away land.
In contrast to our rival and neighboring country, Pakistan has almost no represention in field of science, technology, medicine, education and invention.
Teenagers dancing on item numbers on tiktok or virtually massacring people on pubg is an indicator of how we have failed our youth. Why shouldn’t they, if gaming and dancing have more scope for earning?
Pakistan can’t develop its soft image alone with cultural dresses, traditional dishes and national songs. Neither is downing a single aircraft of the enemy enough to win the hybrid warfare of the modern day.
Despite of this alarming situation, the current and the past governments have been focused more on providing loans and taxis to youth instead of creating educational opportunities. What does the future hold for our Gray-listed economy if more than 60% population of the country lacks quality education?
The father of the nation Muhammad Ali Jinnah called the education matter of life and death for Pakistan more than 70 years ago. Yet the educational future of our country is still nothing but an abyss.
It is now very clear that easy access to quality education is Pakistan’s only way out of the FATF’s gray list. Without education, there exist no possibility to achieve success. It is right about the time that we understand the enormity and value of education and make it in reach of every person.
This progress, though difficult, is not entirely impossible. What is needed now is a change in whole educational frame-work. We need to ensure that every youth in our country is educationally trained for ever-changing global economy. We need well-trained teachers, equipped with the appropriate curricula and resources.
Of course, we cannot secure this future in a matter of months. But, with a well-designed set of commitments and targets, we can move onto the right path. We need to instill future generations with effective educational programs.
If we can’t provide quality education to our youth, least we can do is to ensure vocational training for them. The next time before we complain about youngsters wasting their time on tiktok and pubg, we should provide them with effective education, economic opportunities and promising activities.
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