A recent federal government report on public financing in education contains embarrassing data on the low bar that we have set for the word ‘educated’, as some 77% of 10-year-olds surveyed across the country could not read or understand a simple text. Put another way, it means at least half of kids in school — all of whom are technically considered literate — can barely get past the nominal definition of literacy, which is being able to read and write one’s own name.
This number looks even worse when we consider that our 63% official literacy rate is the lowest in the region, and in terms of raw numbers, over 25 million children are out of school. The situation reflects what the World Bank calls learning poverty — the inability to read and comprehend age-appropriate material by age 10.
But as upsetting as the numbers are, they should not surprise anyone. We gutted education during the economic crash of the past several years, with average spending ranging from a paltry 1.4% to 1.9% of GDP, which is less than half the still-low UN-recommended minimum of 4%.
While the government proudly announces achievements such as electrifying dozens of schools and adding water and sanitation facilities on campus, take one step back, and it is obvious that these achievements actually show how bad the situation is — one-fifth of schools still don’t have drinking water, a quarter of schools only have one teacher, and one-third of schools lack electricity. Classrooms are also overcrowded and devoid of facilities. Entrepreneurs and inventors are considered drivers of progress and economic growth.
Without giving our kids the proper tools to hone those skills, we may well be raising a generation of ‘educated’ youngsters whose potential jobs will be made obsolete by AI by the time they reach working age. The only way out is obvious, but unfortunately, it requires money, which is something that we refused to spend even when it was available.
Editorial Published in Express Tribune on March 7th, 2026.
