Invest in equality

We are approaching the end of 2019. The current government is desperate to bring about reforms and enhance women’s education in Pakistan.

There has been a leap forward in the right direction to boost the economy through inclusive growth and investment in capital enterprises; however, the problems that have been identified are not limited to economic disparities and lack of infrastructure only.

On the sidelines of economic and industrial development, an important sector of investment in women education, if ignored, will reduce the government’s efforts of strengthening the economy. The manifesto of the sitting government has helped prioritize women’s education in Pakistan but sustainable reforms to create impactful results are yet to be realized.

The government is posed to tackle the deep-rooted barriers to enhancement of women’s education encapsulated in poverty, infrastructure development and gender inequality. Despite the best efforts to lessen gender inequality, the World Bank ranked Pakistan as the lowest performing country in terms of education standards and the second worst in gender inequality.

The youth bulge comprises one-third of the country’s population and is expected to multiply twice. Pakistan must ensure steps to create windows of employment in order to deal with the population growth. If the government fails to take effective steps to educate this resource and wrestle with gender inequality, the situation could deteriorate to economic crises in near future.

Article 25-A of the constitution of Pakistan says that: “The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law”.

According to Unesco, among every 10 out-of-school children in the world, one is a Pakistani; 44 percent of such Pakistanis are women, while amongst 56 percent of those enrolled, 45 percent of the women, aged 10 or below, can read and write only.

Keeping the cultural barriers aside, lack of essential facilities such as toilets, boundary walls, restrooms etc are compelling parents to keep their children away from education facilities. The urban-rural divide is even evident from the enrolment ratio, where only 23 percent of women have the opportunity to attend school.

The World Bank reveals that 130 million children lack access to education facilities, and the picture is even worse here in Pakistan, where out of every 10 children five are out of school – 97 percent of which are women. It is imperative for this government to promote the belief that ‘if you invest in a girl she will become a woman tomorrow and then she will invest in everyone else’. Persistent steps in scaling up the enrolment ratio of the women’s population is vital.

On a global scale, 89 percent of women complete primary education (level 1-5), whereas only 77 percent have the privilege to complete secondary education (level 5-10). According to the 2016 Economic Survey of Pakistan, 75 percent women survive to complete level 5 or below, and goes down in higher classes beyond level 5 and touches as low as 13 percent – the percentage of women who survive up until level 10.

Without sustainable steps, as pointed out by the World Bank, Pakistan will also contribute its share of loss, which averages 15 to 30 trillion dollars annually that the world is bearing because of out-of-school girls, a resource wasted each year. These out-of-school girls grow up leaving a void towards economic development and their deficiency in cognitive abilities trickle down affecting their children, families and ultimately society and resulting in great loss to the national exchequer by wasting the potential gains from the skills of millions of girls each year.

Human Rights Watch said in its recently released report titled, ‘Shall I Feed My Daughter, or Educate Her?’: Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan’, 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. By ninth grade, only 13 percent of girls are still in school.”

The 2018 Economic Survey of Pakistan indicates that the enrolment ratios have slumped from 60 percent to 58 percent and pointing towards this worrisome stats and possible failure on part of the government, Liesl Gerntholtz, director at Human Rights Watch expressed that “The Pakistan government’s failure to educate children is having a devastating impact on millions of girls. Many of the girls we interviewed are desperate to study, but instead are growing up without the education that would help them have options for their future.”

The bottlenecks which were recorded by Human Rights Watch were lack of infrastructure, tuition fee, disparity and quality of education among private and public schools, and accessibility. In order to keep a watch and monitor these factors, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has introduced a ‘Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA)’ which is meant to benefit low-income families by keeping a check on tuition fees and guarantee provision of quality education.

More steps of a similar nature should be exercised and campaigns must be designed which create an atmosphere that promotes investment in women’s education as an investment in future. An inclusive growth strategy with equal employment opportunities and education facilities is the only way forward for the economic prosperity of Pakistan, and the entire region.

The writer works as an executive assistant at the Prime Minister’s Office, Board of Investment, Government of Pakistan.

Email: fariduk.anu@gmail.com