JUST a few weeks ago, my colleagues at work were complaining about the challenge of managing their children at home — again — as some children returned to school following their long winter break in parts of the country. On March 9, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced a two-week break for schools and a shift to online classes for all higher education institutions. Along with many others, these measures were taken to manage the skyrocketing fuel prices triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

This is not the only instance in which the government decided to shut down schools. If one reviews the news archives, one can find reports of repeated closures of educational institutions for reasons ranging from security risks to the Covid-19 pandemic, crises driven by climate change and smog. The school closure announcement was just one instance in a recurring pattern. Despite schools having reopened, there is no guarantee that it will not happen again.

But what about the implications of this persistent cycle? For a country where, according to the latest report released by the Pakistan Institute of Education, 77 per cent of 10-year-olds are not able to........

© Dawn