Problem of Ghost Schools: Problem of ghost schools is another major problem in a reduced literacy rate, especially in girls.

A ghost school can be defined in many ways. A former minister for education in Sindh province, Anita Ali, defines ghost school as It is a school which is built only on paper, one which is actually there. It doesnt exist at all. Others define a ghost school as any school which is not functioning. There can be different reasons for a school turning into ghost school. Lack of building No teachers Very few students so teachers dont teach at all School building occupied e.g. by land mafia

One of the main reasons for the ghost schools to exist is that people, who are responsible to keep a check on schools, dont perform their duty. Nobody is there at all to observe the problem and report it so that counter measure could be taken. According to the Educational Committee meeting of Transparency International (TI) Pakistan September 2011, there are around 30,000 ghost schools all over Pakistan. This figure was told by Syed Adil Gilani, advisor TI Pakistan. 1 Most of the ghost schools exist in far flung areas or remote villages. These ghost school buildings are often used as shelters for animals, sometimes occupied by some Wadera or Jageerdar etc. The most interesting feature of these ghost schools is Ghost Teacher. Thousands of teachers, who serve in these schools, receive their monthly salary quite timely. So along with an educational loss of the country, there is also financial corruption attached to these ghost schools. Another aspect of this ghost school problem is concerns to international donors. Pakistans own budget for education is quite scanty compared to what is needed. So Pakistan gets aids from various international organizations and donors each year. They are also concerned with this high number of ghost schools existing in the system. Now we come to the main problem, due to which we came to ghost schools issue. As already discussed, most of the ghost schools exist in rural areas. This plays havoc for girls education in villages. Also the number of ghost schools is increasing each year. In case a school turns up ghost, boys (if they want to) can travel to a nearby village for getting education, but girls cant. So in this case they are forced to drop out. The means of transportations and the general culture forbids girls to travel far away from home for education.