A recent report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on state of education in Pakistan concludes that many girls simply have no access to education, including because of a shortage of government schools – especially for girls. Nearly 22.5 million of Pakistan’s children – in a country with a population of just over 200 million – are out of school, the majority of them girls. Thirty-two percent of primary school age girls are out of school in Pakistan, compared with 21 percent of boys.
Moreover, By ninth grade, only 13 percent of girls are still in school. Among the factors keeping girls out of school, Human Rights Watch found, are the government’s under-investment in schools, lack of schools, prohibitive school fees and related costs, corporal punishment, and a failure to enforce compulsory education. Human Rights Watch also found poor quality within both government and low-cost private schools, a lack of government regulation of private schools, and corruption.
Provision of education to children especially girls has never been the top priority of any government. Unfortunately, current ruling party despite ostensibly stressing on the basic right has failed to achieve any meaningful feat in this regard during first 100 days. PTI came to power riding on the promise of a myriad of economic and social reforms none which can be effectively materialized without first ensuring that every child in Pakistan is able to get quality education.
This is not only the moral and political responsibility of the government, but Article-25A of the Constitution of Pakistan makes it mandatory for the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years. It has become a kind of universal truth that no nation can prosper without educating its citizens. PTI with it’s immense mandate and popularity stands the best chance to get rid of illiteracy once and for all during its five years tenure provided it gets on the matter as early as possible.
