Pakistan's Ghost Schools

By Jessica Partnow on Tuesday, September 22, 2009.

Primary education is compulsory in Pakistan, but five million children don’t go to school. Literacy rates in Pakistan are about 50 percent and the Pakistani government has promised a renewed commitment to improving eduction.

But cronyism and chronic absenteeism on the part of teachers have left Pakistan with approximately 30,000 "ghost schools." They exist on paper, but not in reality. Corrupt local officials create long lists of pupils and teachers and send in fake exam results, all while pocketing government salaries.

The World Vision Report’s Jessica Partnow visited a ghost school in Karachi to find out more. Listen at the Public Radio Exchange.

View a slideshow of an abandoned government school in Pakistan.

(Photo by Edge of Space via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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