For Pakistan, being a pure democratic country is still a distant dream. One of the major reasons behind this is low literacy rate. As Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in South Asia after Afghanistan and a literate society is prerequisite condition for a democratic country. Education enlightens the society and encourages the people to fight for security and their fundamental rights. On average the literacy rate of Pakistan is 59 per cent. But if we go in age group between 15 to 24 the percentage is increasing dramatically which is 65 per cent. It means Pakistan is somehow on right course, as the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. But still this needs to be increased. For this, a long-term comprehensive policy and a proper legislation is required.
In Quran Allah says” Those who know and those who do not know are those equal? No, they will never be” Surah Zu mar [39:09]. This thing needs to be implemented in electoral system of Pakistan, where quality of vote matter instead the quantity of vote. How can we compare a PHD holder with an illiterate person? How can we compare a person who studied social, political, environmental, science and many other fields and did research and make projects with an uneducated person? Is it fair the rationality of both is consider to equal when it comes to census? Yes, they both must be equal before the rule of law. There should be no difference when it comes to the fulfilment of fundamental rights provided by state. But, in decision making an educated person must be on upper hand than an uneducated person.
Let take an example, if a person did PHD in particular field, his vote termed as 1, and a person completed master’s degree, his vote considered to be 0.8 of 1, then a person with graduate degree, his vote counted as 0.6 of 1. Finally, a vote of person with twelve-year education or less should be tantamount to 0.4 of 1. This proportion and parameters can be changed but the strategy should be the same. This thing will ultimately raise the level of education in our society. Our leaders will start giving more importance to education. They will talk about school, colleges and universities instead of providing other political benefits. This model might take time of ten to fifteen years but once the masses become educated, they cannot be easily deluded by false claims of politician. They will always talk about facts and figures instead of motivating by provocative speeches.
