Educational Emergency: Surab Needs Attention

Adil Nazeer Hassni

Kalat – Surab, a town of Kalat district, is facing severe educational problems, learnt Balochistan Point.

Surab town is located in central Balochistan with a population of over 90,000 people.

There are only 5 Boys High Schools and Only one Girls high School in Surab Town.

“Literacy rate of Surab is very low due to Lake of facilities in Schools,” Hashim Ali, a resident of Surab told Balochistan Point. He added, “One School is not enough to fulfill the educational needs of girls.”

Students of Surab town also express their disappointment with education facilities provided by the government.

“We are being deprived of our right to receive education due to lack of availability of proper educational infrastructure in Surab,” Khair Baksh, a student told Balochistan Point.

In a period where government of Balochistan has imposed educational emergency, Surab does not seem to be beneficiary in anyway.

Dropout ratio of students from schools in Surab is very high claims a government teacher who requested not to be named. He said that there is no data available but the dropout rate is increasing rapidly.

This claim can be backed up by the fact that large number of school Boys can be seen working at Tea Stalls, Tailoring Shop, Carpenters, workshops and welding shops.

“Lack of access to education has caused an increase in Child Labor activity in Surab,” claimed the government teacher.

Another major complaint by the students is that there is not a single library in Surab to fulfill the needs of students.

Article 25-A of constitution of Pakistan bounds the state to provide free and compulsory education to the citizens under 18 years old.

“Apparently Article 25-A doesn’t apply in Surab or most parts of Balochistan for that matter,” said Nadeem Khan an educationist based in Quetta.

Students, teachers and civil society of Surab have urged government of Balochistan to take urgent measures to improve education by providing necessary facilities.

“Educational emergency would be deemed a farce if government still did not so anything to improve education in Surab,” lamented Khair Baksh.

Staff report

Published in Balochistan Point on November 24, 2015