School on Wheels

News Desk

Islamabad: My son was always very fond of learning new things, but my resources were not allowing me to get him enrolled in a school. But now teachers come to our vicinity regularly on the “School on Wheels” bus, and my son goes there with sheer excitement and joy, said Munawar Khan, a resident of Tarnol.

The federal coalition government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) launched a project named ‘School on Wheels’ that would increase the literacy rate in Pakistan, particularly in rural areas.

“I am a daily wager and have always wanted my children to get an education, but I cannot afford to send them to school. This initiative of the government has provided me with an opportunity to get my kids educated, and that too on my doorstep,” said Jamal Ahmed, a father of four children and a resident of the Nilore area.

The project aims to offer equal educational opportunities to children with mobile libraries, which would promote a reading culture among them. In the first phase, the mobile schools, consisting of eight buses, will provide primary-level education to the children of Islamabad and adjoining areas.

The buses have been equipped with computers, desks, whiteboards, smartboards, and LCDs to create an effective teaching and learning environment. Moreover, meals are also being provided to the students enrolled in mobile classrooms, fostering a culture of reading and nourishment.

The bright-coloured buses are decorated with balloons, and the windows are painted with alphabets and cartoons. The inside of the mobile classrooms is bright and clean; its interior is filled with images of alphabets, numbers, days of the week, and pictures of fruit and animals.

A Memorandum of Understanding is in the pipeline with the British Council under which around 20 more state-of-the-art buses would be provided to the Federal Education Ministry to decrease the number of out-of-school children, said Federal Directorate of Education Government Officer Muhammad Nadim, who is also looking after the project.

Muhammad Nadim further explained that some private organizations, like ‘Right to Play’, are also providing support to the government to make the project successful. These NGOs provide free teachers besides helping with discipline-related issues, the officer further stated, adding that the buses roam specifically in rural areas where no school is near, particularly attracting minor children for education.

It is important to mention here that the project was launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in February 2023. The government has a plan to increase the number of buses and expand the project to the rest of the country.

With a high percentage of youth among its population—almost 64 percent below the age of 30—Pakistan is blessed to have these numbers, which, if utilized properly and given the right direction and platform, can put the country on the path of development and prosperity in a matter of years.

With an overall literacy rate of almost 63 percent, the data shows that it is higher in urban areas (76 percent) as compared to rural areas (51 percent), prompting the need to concentrate more on the latter, which lacks basic educational infrastructure.

Pakistan spends only 2 percent of its GDP on education, which is quite low compared to other countries. Norway and Chile spend the highest percentage of their GDP on education (6.6), followed by Israel and New Zealand (6.2), the United Kingdom (6.1), and the United States (6.0).

Despite all the government’s efforts to raise the literacy rate and enrol more children in school, there is still more that needs to be done for the provision of excellent education and better infrastructure, particularly in remote areas of the country.

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