The last decade has seen some extremely rapid advances in information sharing as well as academic tools. We have witnessed the birth of Google, Amazon, Kindle, Facebook and many such groundbreaking methods to immerse ourselves in learning as well as social skills. While the world advances at breakneck speed we, in the hinterland of Sindh and Balochistan, are yet to make any upgrades to the books and supplements used in the public sector schools for the past eleven years.

Kind of puts everything into perspective, does it not? As private schools all over this province become shinier and more high-tech, the institutions which educate more than 70 per cent of children in the country are descript, teaching with books full of spelling errors and have no practical teaching aids or even a well-rounded curriculum. Reams upon reams of articles have been written on the importance of education and how it is the basic building block upon which nations can rely on for progress, but it seems as though in this region of Pakistan, we are stuck in a twilight zone – assuming that we can grow without any reliance on proper books and study aides.

I say this region because at least in Punjab and Khyber Pakthunkwa the education boards have with the help of the GTZ (Deutshe Gesellshaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit) published some new books and given the go ahead for 37 others to be published as per the requirements of the guidelines put forth in the 2006 national curriculum.

However a very pleasant and surprising change is afoot. Unlike what is fed to us in a daily diet of negativity, it seems that certain individuals in the present government have pulled up their socks and are taking things to task. An initiative has been taken by Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq and Secretary of Education Naheed Durrani to reform the curriculum in government schools as soon as possible to meet at least the aforementioned 2006 standard. The Sindh Education and Literacy Department and the Sindh Textbook board, under the National Textbook and Learning Material Policy and Plan of Action 2006, will be following a transparent process inviting private publishers to submit books for English (class 1-6), mathematics (class 1-6), general knowledge (class 1-3) and social studies (class 4-6). Private publishers being involved is a first in this respect. This agenda also includes teacher training workshops which are sorely needed, so that not only are better textbooks introduced in government schools, but also better trained teachers.

These transcripts will then be reviewed by a panel of government and private experts to ensure that they are selected from and published in time for the academic year 2012. Once this takes place, perhaps the standard gap between the public and private schools of this province can be reduced from the yawning chasm of disparity it is currently in.

Full marks to the people who have initiated this endeavor and, good luck to them. I am sure they will encounter many hurdles in their way, but every step that leads to a more educated country will bring with it the promise of a brighter future. A future some of us still hope and dream for.