How the World Reacted on Peshawar Massacre

On Tuesday December 16, our homeland drenched in blood yet again with Taliban gunmen attacked Army Public School Peshawar, killing almost 150 people including more than 130 children and taking other hostages for hours. This incident has trembled our souls and I’m sure of any human being who keeps a heart of compassion. I’m failed to make some words in condolence for those little innocent souls. It’s a shameful occasion and our hearts go out to the families and children who have been affected by this tragedy. When the siege finally ended, Pakistan was left reeling and the world was wondering, who would do such a thing? And what do they hope to achieve? The tragedy of 16 December massacre is unimaginable and compelled us to raise some serious questions regarding the struggle of children and their parents to get education in a safe environment here in Pakistan especially in tribal belt and KPK. First the Pakistani Taliban bombed and burned over 1,000 schools. Then they shot Malala Yousafzai along with three other girls and this time they have come up with something which is unspeakable and abominable. The Pakistani taliban are notoriously famous for their stance against education for children and the employment of women. Not only this mindset which you call Taliban, extremist or whatever but the State of the Pakistan too is equally responsible for this unending struggle of the parents and students in getting education in the safe atmosphere. As United Nation’s correspondent wrote on the Twitter, that going to school should not have to be an act of bravery as getting education is the basic right of the every child on this earth. “Getting an education is every child’s right; going to school should not have to be an act of bravery”. Now we will illustrate by figures how our past governments are responsible for all the mess that is being created these days in order to discourage the education and off course many other things. According to UNICEF, the rate of national secondary school enrollment for girls is 29.2% in Pakistan. The enrollment rate for boys, by comparison, is 39.7%. 21% of Pakistani children aged 6 to 16 were out of school in 2013, according to the Annual Status of Education Report, which is issued by a coalition of NGOs. Poor children, and particularly girls, are much less likely to attend school. Among the poorest quartile of people surveyed by ASER, 53 percent of girls in this age group were out of school, compared to only 20 percent in the richest quartile, stats presented by Huffington Post. Pakistan spends only 2% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) on education, the lowest proportion in South Asia, according to the ICG report. In contrast, neighboring India, a historic rival of Pakistan, spends 3.1 percent of its GDP on education. The percentage of government-funded primary schools in Pakistan that had computer labs is very low, though at provincial level, Punjab govt constructed IT labs a few years back but the fruits of them still not reach to public. Those labs are not fully operational and the maintenance system is pathetic too. But there are speculations that govt indents to revamp the education system in near future by introducing digital methods and planning is being made in this regard. But currently, the situation of govt schools in remote areas is worst. It’s high time that state of the Pakistan, along with dealing with the menace of terrorism, pay special attention to the education sector and initiate special educational programs in tribal areas to bring those people in the national stream which will help curbing terrorism. After the incident, the Prime Minister announced a 3 day countrywide mourn. During those three days and even after, everyone looked dismayed and sad, while observing silence, everyone was piling up with some hard questions inside themselves. Read Also: Tech Bloggers Mourn Peshawar Incident The attack was so deadliest and the bloodiest that even Afghan taliban, the fathers of Pakistani Taliban condemned the attack. We even saw condemnations and solidarity gestures from all over the world. In India, many schools observed silence in the memory of departed souls. Indian Parliament, under the Prime Minister of Narendra Modi, observed a two minute silence on this atrocious act of killing. In short, this incident left even our rivals in a state of shock and dismay. Turkey on Wednesday observed one day mourning for martyrs of Peshawar massacre as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called up Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and condemned the brutal act of terror in a Peshawar school killing. Let’s have a look what sensible voices across the globe found saying upon the Peshawar carnage.