A Dangerous Journey in Search of Education

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: For generations, the road to education in Pakistan has carried a danger that no child should have to face. Students climb onto overcrowded buses, cling to the backs of vehicles and travel in conditions that turn an ordinary school journey into a gamble with life.

The sight is familiar across the country. Children are packed into vehicles already filled beyond capacity, while some travel on rooftops or hang from the rear of buses. A sudden brake, a missed grip or a fall beneath the wheels can transform a family’s hopes into irreversible tragedy.

For parents struggling to afford transport, these journeys may be the only available option. For children, reaching school is a daily necessity. Yet the responsibility for making that journey safe belongs to the adults, transport operators and authorities entrusted with their protection.

Pakistan’s education crisis makes the danger even more disturbing. UNICEF estimates that 25.1 million children aged five to 16 are out of school, representing around 35 per cent of that age group. Poverty, limited access and inadequate public investment continue to obstruct the right to education. 

Governments have repeatedly promised reforms, curriculum changes and uniform education standards. But a uniform syllabus means little to a child who cannot reach school safely, just as a new curriculum offers no comfort to a family that loses a child on the way to a classroom.

Education must mean more than admission, textbooks and examinations. It must include safe transport, functioning schools and protection for every student.

A nation cannot claim to educate its children while leaving their lives at risk on the road to learning.

Photo Credit: APP