Synopsis
Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children with an estimated figure of 22.8 million

athar khan/Bol News
KARACHI: In 2010, Article 25-A was introduced to the Constitution of Pakistan that stated “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”.
Yet more than a decade later, and despite significant noise about educating every child, the situation has not changed much. According to UNICEF, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC) with an estimated figure of 22.8 million.
The term ‘out-of-school’ includes two sets of children, one is that of those children who have never been to school and the other is of those who attended school but left afterwards or dropped out. According to the PSLM 2018-2019, 24 per cent of the children age 5 -16 years in Pakistan have never been to school; this percentage is highest in Balochistan with 54pc, followed by Sindh (35pc), KP (22pc), KP and merged areas (25pc), and the lowest in Punjab with 14pc.
The introduction of Article 25-A in 2010 was not the first time that a law regarding education was introduced to the Constitution. In 1973, Article 37-B was created that stated, “The State shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period”.
Article 38-D of the Constitution, also created in 1973, says, “The State shall provide basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, housing, education and medical relief, for all citizens, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race. …”
Despite its commitment, the state has apparently failed to provide adequate educational facilities to its children and the result is more than 22m out-of-school children in the country. The reasons are varied, depending on the location, economic status of the family, and the status of girls in society and the importance given to their education. Since women and girls have a low social status in our society, girls are more vulnerable to miss out on enrolment for primary education and also have a higher dropout rate.
Accessibility issues
Sughra, a 10-year-old girl, is a victim of inaccessibility or non-existence of a school, which keeps many children out of school, especially in remote areas. “There was no girls’ school in the village where I lived, so I never went to school, as going to the neighbouring village was out of the question”, said Sughra. She has recently moved with her parents to Karachi from Punjab. “I want to go to school but my parents say they can’t afford to send me to a private school and the government school is too far away and they cannot allow me to go that far all alone”, she said.
The falling standard of education, especially in government schools and the lack of job opportunities is a reason why many parents do not send their children to school and prefer them to learn a trade at a young age.
Majid is just 10, and works at a mechanic’s shop as a chhotoo (trainee). He is learning to repair bikes under his ustad’s (teacher’s) guidance who thinks his training will make Majid a technically sound individual. “I want to go to school, but my father who himself does not have any education, wants me to continue at the workshop”. According to his father, “Majid is learning a trade and earning his pocket money, and there is no point in sending him to school for an education that does not guarantee a decent job”.
His mother, also illiterate, wants her son to get a good education and would have sent him to school but is powerless against her husband’s wishes. In between his father’s stubbornness and mother’s helplessness Majid’s dream has no chance to be fulfilled.
There is no fee at government schools and books too are provided free of charge, though the uniform has to be arranged, yet poverty often limits children’s access to education. Often the child is not sent to school but is put to work as soon as he/she is able to do any kind of work and so their income becomes important to the family. Household’s poverty forces many children to drop out from school and start earning in order to bring food to the table. Girls are often needed to take care of the house and younger siblings when the mother is out for work, so they are either not enrolled or taken out of school after a few classes to help at the house.
Besides poverty and schools being at a distance, there are other factors too that keep children out of school, such as calamities, emergencies, conflicts, and internal migration. These factors are especially responsible for high dropout rates. The Annual Status of Education Report, 2021, by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), states, “Communities affected by natural disasters and influx of migrants experience higher dropout rates. The conflict in KP between 2008-10 led to almost 3.35m people being internally displaced, of which 60pc were children. Most of the IDPs stayed with host communities where local schools were unable to accommodate the influx of children”.
It has been noticed that when a family moves from rural to urban area for work, they are not able to settle immediately; it often takes three to four years to settle and figure out things and in the meanwhile, children often miss out on schooling.
Covid’s impact
During the past two years due to Covid-19, schools have remained closed for long periods of time. While private schools arranged online classes, it was not possible for government schools to do so. Also, all the children do not have access to the means for online teaching. The long closure of schools is said to impact education, especially for primary schoolchildren who are more vulnerable to dropping out. Those who had not yet been enrolled remained out of school.
According to the ASER report, “Enrolment for the 6-16 age group has dropped by two per cent in 2021 as compared to enrolment for the same age group in 2019”. It is feared that many of these children will not get back to school or be enrolled as the families may have slid further down in poverty or lost interest in educating the children.
- Nazir’s six-year-old daughter Fatima has not yet started going to school. A driver by profession, he wants all his children to be educated and had enrolled his sons and wanted to do so with his daughter when she reached school-going age. But then came lockdowns amid the Covid-19 scare. “When the schools closed down during the pandemic, the boys could not keep up with their studies; the mother could not help them with their revision as she was busy with household chores and younger children. So, when the schools finally reopened, and exams were held both the boys flunked and had to repeat the course”, said Nazir.
Not sure that the schools will remain open long enough or another Covid wave would force them to close down, he is yet to enrol his daughter as, according to him, the boys’ last year’s fee has already gone in vain and he does not want the same to happen again. He cannot afford private tuitions for his sons to ensure that they pass the next year’s examination if the schools again close down for a long period. “I will have to take them out of school if they fail again as I cannot keep on paying the fees while the children are not progressing”, he said. His daughter is already losing on education and it is feared that the sons too would have to drop out.
Clearly the successive governments have failed in their responsibilities; their commitment to education is reflected in the budgetary allocation which, according to the Economic Survey 2020-2021, was only 1.5pc of the GDP for 2019-20.
While education is considered a provincial matter under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, like at the federal level the provinces have not fared better in their budgetary allocations. During 2020-21, the government of Punjab allocated an amount of Rs34.6 billion, the Sindh government allocated Rs23.4bn, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa allocated Rs30.1bn, and the Balochistan government allocated Rs9.1bn for the ongoing and new development projects in the education sector.
While it is the government’s responsibility to provide education facilities to all the children, the gap is too wide. To fill the gap, private schools jumped in and are providing opportunities but they are limited for those who can afford to pay their huge fees. Some private enterprises such as The Citizen’s Foundation, The Garage School, etc have been providing a chance at education to the underprivileged. Their efforts have changed the lives of many children but they have their limitations as educating the huge population of out-of-school children is not an easy task.
The government is also making efforts which is evident in the form of schools run under the education foundations where the government pays, but does not manage these schools. According to reports there are about 3.5m students enrolled in these schools. Yet, a lot needs to be done to educate all the children to fulfil our commitment of ‘Education for All’.
The writer is a freelance journalist.
Twitter @naqviriz
Read More News On
Catch all the Pakistan News, Breaking News Event and Latest News Updates on The BOL News
Download The BOL News App to get the Daily News Update & Follow us on Google News.