BANNER: The Original Sin: Two Reasons that indicate female education is in shambles in the land of pure

By: Waqar Azeem Jappa

Numbers don’t lie. It sounds cliché. But few clichés have the potential to open your mouth if not eyes and mind. Reportedly, there are as many children out of school as the total population of Lahore. Rings a bell? No. What if I tell you that 60 percent of those are female students? Ok. Drop it. Another study says, our current female literacy rate is about 50 % in urban areas and close to 25% in rural areas despite our all efforts to boost up women education in the country. Things in rural Sindh, Balochistan, tribal areas and South Punjab are messy. This is serious business that needs solid action with tangible results and not urgent attention only.

Such a state of affairs is nothing short of a Grand National Crisis.  I mean it’s a question of liability of more than half of your total population. Though it’s a silent one and doesn’t seem to be on the national priority radar like water crisis and corruption thing. Yet, we are talking about a great silent majority of people who seems to have no role in the socio-economic development of the country. This is not on. This is the original sin behind the many ills in the land of the pure. There can be no national development in real sense without equal participation of the other half of the country-our women. As simple as it is.  Following five reasons are the stumbling blocks in the way of female education in our part of the world.

1. Under-implementation of Education Policies

Call it by any name. Interpret it by any way.  Lack of political will, vision and commitment towards the implementation of educational polices is a major factor behind the sorry state of women’s education in the country. None of the successive governments have realized the grave consequences of not educating other half of the population in the country in real sense.

During the past seventy plus years of its independent life, Pakistan have had nine national education policies, five, five years plans, one free and compulsory education act, a constitutional amendment ( 18^th) and dozens of other schemes, seminars and conferences aimed at improving the women education in the country. But, unfortunately, the state of women education in the motherland remains in shambles. The reason is obvious; “under-implementation” of education policies. Ironically, women education has really made a great progress in Pakistan but on papers only.

2. Inhospitable attitude of the society

The state of Pakistan undoubtedly, has been unable to provide sufficient education to women leave good quality alone. The Pakistani society too, has contributed in one way or another towards the appalling condition of female’s education in the country. The deep rooted social and cultural taboos attached with an educated woman are yet another reason behind the perpetual awful condition of the sector in the country.

In a chauvinistic society like ours, an educated woman is seen as a threat to the social norms and cultural values. Education brings freedom- freedom to choose one’s own life partner. Education enlightens the mind and an enlightened mind questions the very legitimacy of  social and cultural taboos and other of brutal practices such as Vani, Karo kari, Honor killing and marriage with The Holy Quran which are quite prevalent in the rural areas of the country.

An educated woman knows her rights well. She can demand her right to inheritance. This is not acceptable in a patriarchal society like Pakistan. Consequently, women are kept away from education.

Also, girls are not sent to schools because parents see no sense in educating their daughters when their primary job is deemed to keep the house clean and raise the children. This is partly because of illiteracy among the parents so they do not realize the importance of education and partly because of the fear of losing the family honor. Yes, the honor of the family ( Ghar ki izaat) is associated with girls in the rural areas.

The parents think that their daughter might interact with opposite sex while going out to school and thus may cause a great harm to family honor. So, they choose not to send the girls to school in order to save the family honor. This is how social and cultural norms restrict the growth of women’s education in the country.

That said, the sorry state of women education lies at the heart of multiple challenges faced by Pakistan. It is the result of decade’s misplaced priorities and criminal negligence towards underestimating the potential of half of the country’s population. Both the state and the society are equally guilty for providing an inhospitable soil for the growth of women education in the country. It has disastrous human, social, economic and political consequences for Pakistan.

The time has come for the political leadership to leave their petty politics of non-issues and concentrate on real issues. The time has come to realize that Pakistan’s transition into the global knowledge economy of the 21^st century critically depends on improving the state of women education in the country.

The writer is a part-time actor, occasional blogger and a regular dreamer. He has an M.Phil in media studies from University of the Punjab. He can be reached at waqarfcc@gmail.com.