Loud Thinking

Posts Tagged ‘education’

No Law (except in Islamabad Capital Territory & Sindh) in Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB & AJK, for poor students free education, in private schools.

Late last year Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a law for compulsory free education of 10% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools of Islamabad.

This year in February 13, the Sindh Provincial Assembly also passed the same law for compulsory free education of 30% poor children in the near vicinity of private schools in the entire Sindh Province. I had specifically requested for this 30% figure to President Asif Ali Zardari and it was very kind of him that he accepted my proposal.

It is very strange that no such law has been passed by the Provincial Assemblies of Punjab, KPK, Balochistan, GB and AJK governments.

Here, it must be noted that millions of school going age children are not able to join the schools in Pakistan, due to various reasons; and if these millions are ignored today, our future is guaranteed to be ruined tomorrow.

Already, Pakistan is the lowest ranked country in the field of education in the SAARC region.

Attention Mr. Ishaq Dar, the IMF and the World Bank.

we paid $37.2 billion as debt-servicing alone in the last eight years. This is many times more than the principal amount that we borrowed during this period.

An Eye Opener by Mr. Naeem Sadiq

Dear Bank

Naeem Sadiq
TheNews
Friday, July 12, 2013

Many thanks for the $5.3 billion loan. One small step for a bank, a giant leap for a chronic borrower. I can proudly claim that my debt, steadily rising every year, has now reached $66.17 billion. This would mean that every member of my family must cough out $366 to repay this loan. This can only happen if we all stop eating, drinking – in fact living – for the next 10 months. Is that what they also call collective suicide? I made sure not to consult my unenthusiastic family, on whose behalf these loans were taken. They never seem to agree with my lifesaving – or should I say death-delaying? – initiatives. You too must be equally ecstatic. After all you end up gaining the most. You will retain most of this amount as repayment of the earlier loan, while my unflinching yearly debt-servicing will keep you charmed for a long time to come.

You had raised a number of questions before you approved the loans. Why is it that despite such massive borrowing, my family shows no signs of getting any better? Why are 50 percent of the family members illiterate and 60 percent below poverty level? Why are half the children out of school? Why is there no electricity half the time? Why does no one in the family have access to clean tap water?

You also wanted to know the reasons for the striking disparity in the lifestyle of some other members of our family. They move about with armed guards in obscenely large vehicles (often smuggled), live in luxury homes, have properties and cash stacked in foreign lands and drink corporate soda or water only from those neat-looking plastic bottles. It is only this segment of the family that is forever pushing for more loans. They are the ones who justify the bank’s slogan of ‘poverty alleviation’ – since this is the only group whose poverty gets truly alleviated.

My sixth sense tells me that you already know the answers to all these questions. You were merely going through the motions, filling forms, giving an impression of officious formality and appropriateness. The fact that I earn little, waste a lot and pilfer the most, makes me an ideal customer for the sort of business you are in. I have learnt to plead my case by closely studying beggars who flock the streets of Karachi during the holy month of Ramazan every year. I use exactly the same techniques with only three minor variations – dress, language and location.

Now, some bad news for you. My entire family, except those very few who gained the most from your loans, got together last night to say that they would no longer tolerate being pushed into this bottomless cesspool.

When I gave them your message that they needed to tighten their belts, they said they were too poor and did not have any belts to tighten. They said they were fed up of the loans taken on their name – the loans that make the elite of the family get richer and have still more fun. The mounting loans have made them poorer than before and taken away the last shreds of dignity that covered their half-naked bodies. Getting crumbs like 0.8 percent for health and 1.8 percent for education made them still more unhealthy, and yet more uneducated.

In simple words, my family has decided not just to stop seeking any further loans but to also stop any further debt-servicing. An unemployed maths teacher in my family spent some time to calculate that we paid $37.2 billion as debt-servicing alone in the last eight years. This is many times more than the principal amount that we borrowed during this period.

We are absolutely sure that there is no law that can force us to close our schools, starve our children, privatise our resources and abandon our welfare, simply because our selfish elders borrowed huge sums on behalf of those who cannot even spell the word ‘loan’ or have ever seen a bank from the inside.

Having paid off the principal amount several times over, we have a good reason to ask for total debt cancellation and an immediate freeze on any further debt-servicing. Do you realise that discovering a new mode of dying – by getting trampled while struggling to receive free food donations – speaks volumes about the poverty that your loans have been able to alleviate?

Sincerely,

Issac.dare@gmail.com

naeem sadiq
twitter : @saynotoweapons
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How the state promotes crime and militancy. Look at the yearly average for prohibited bore licenses (PB) and non prohibited bore licenses (NPB) issued in last 10 years to the rich and powerful, to friends and relatives and to party men and criminals.

Yearly average of PB licenses, from 2003 to 2007………361
Yearly average of PB licenses, from 2008 to 2012 ………13895

Yearly average of NPB licenses, from 2003 to 2007………15261
Yearly average of NPB licenses, from 2008 to 2012 ………240494

Ref: official info obtained by using FOI and SC Suo moto case 16/2011

IS THIS THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ISLAMABAD OR OF PAKISTAN?

The National Assembly of Pakistan has at last unanimously passed the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2012; which is related to free and compulsory education for all the children from the age of five to sixteen, as a fundamental right; and its provision is a responsibility of the state. 

However, our NA passed the aforesaid bill which is only applicable to the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Now the general public is right in  asking the question to the Pakistani National Assembly members, whether other areas of the country does not come under the Parliament? And why they have limited the partial and vital scope of the bill to the capital areas of Islamabad only. 

The bill also bounds private schools. to give free education to 10% of the poor children in the vicinity of their school. In India. this ratio is 25% and since, we are much behind India and all other SAARC nations in the field of education, this percentage at least should have been 30%, and that too FOR SCHOOLS ALL OVER PAKISTAN AND NOT ONLY IN ISLAMABAD. IS THIS THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ISLAMABAD OR OF PAKISTAN?

May be, our NA members are afraid of the private schools owners? So much for the love of the poor, by our parliamentarians.

May be, such performances of our Parliamentarians has created hatred for politicians and democracy in the minds of the general public, which always, repeat always welcomes military takeovers in Pakistan.

The degree of the sovereignty of a country, is directly proportional to the state of economy of that nation. Actually, in constant growth & development lies our salvation. Secondly, we Pakistanis must know, that without any doubt, the easiest and surest way of moving ahead, is to stand on our own feet.

Foreign aid, can keep us afloat, but won’t allow us to swim.

Now the time has come to separate the growth, development, education, eradication of poverty & security of Pakistan, from the politics, forever.

In this regard, it is suggested that, we should aim to bring Pakistan, to the level of Singapore of 2010, by the year 2030. All politics & other considerations should be made subservient to this target for 2030, even if we have to abolish weekly holidays for the next 20 years & reduce our daily sleeping time to 6 hours.

All stake holders in Pakistan must immediately come forward for deciding about the direction of the future of the nation.

Biggest factor in any victory is self-confidence. Anti-thesis of terrorism is education, coupled with economic emancipation.

As such, the nation must embark upon the following agenda, to resurrect our economy without any further loss of time.
 
1. Request to all foreign donors for a 5 years moratorium, on all debt repayments by Pakistan, which is a frontline state of the world’s war on terror.  
 
2. 20% per annum reduction in all non-developmental government expenditures, plus total freeze in all perks paid from the national exchequer, involving foreign currency.
 
3.Maximum tax rate on each and every type of income in Pakistan should be fixed at 10%. This will not only bring huge revenues to the government but will also discourage the tax evasion tendencies.
 
4. Increase in productivity & exports with liberal tax relief  to industry, commerce & trade.
 
5. Set a target for 20% per annum increase in foreign remittances, by offering innovative incentives to expatriate Pakistanis.
 
6. Abolish FBR (which will alone increase income by Rs.500 billion) & impose flat 10% tax on all & every type of income (as already mentioned at 3. above), without any exemption (except for the security forces personnel, whose salaries may be doubled with expected receipt of un-precedented  increase in revenue, due to this formula). This will not only reduce income tax burden on salaried class (with max. tax rate of 10%) but will also result in so much increase in revenues, to the extent that government will not require any tax imposition  in the budget. Plus, the government will be able to give tax free salaries to all armed forces, rangers, police and other security agencies personnel, who are shedding their blood, in fighting the menace of terrorism, for our safe tomorrow.
 
7. Initiate steps (by imposing economic emergency) to bring each and every economic activity under document.  

I am more than confident that by the dint of sheer hard work, sincerity & honesty, which is imbibed in the bones of Pakistani work force, we can surely bring Pakistan, into the comity of 20 developed nations of the world, in the next 15-20 years.

The degree of the sovereignty of a nation is  directly proportional to the state of economy of that nation. Actually, in constant growth & development lies our salvation. Secondly, we Pakistanis must know  without any doubt, that the easiest and surest way of moving ahead, is to stand on our own feet. Foreign aid, can keep us afloat, but won’t allow us to swim.

Biggest factor in any victory is self confidence. Anti-thesis of terrorism is education, coupled with economic emancipation.

As such, the nation must embark upon the following agenda, to resurrect our economy without any further loss of time.

1. Request to all foreign donors for a 5 years moratorium, on all debt repayments by Pakistan. 

2. 20%  per annum reduction in all non-developmental government expenditures, plus total freeze in all perks paid from the national exchequer, involving foreign currency. 

3. Increase in productivity & exports with liberal tax relief to industry, commerce & trade.

4. Set a target for 20% per annum  increase in foreign remittances, by offering innovative incentives to expatriate Pakistanis.

5. Abolish FBR (which will alone increase income by Rs.500 billion) & impose flat 10% tax on all & every type of income, withour any exemption (except for the security forces personnel, whose salaries should be doubled with receipt of un-precedented increase in revenue, due to this formula). This will not only reduce income tax burden on salaried class ( with max. tax rate of 10%) but will also result in so much increase of revenues that government will not require any tax imposition  in the budget. Plus, the government will be able to give tax free salaries to all armed forces, rangers, police and other security agencies personnel, who are shedding their blood, in fighting the menace of terrorism, for our safe tomorrow.

6. Initiate steps (by imposing economic emergency) to bring each and every economic activity under document.