The Plan International Pakistan released a report on Thursday showing a slight improvement in the state of girls’ education in the country.
According to the report, titled Because I am a Girl, more girls are now going to primary schools. In 2000, it says, there were only 92 girls in schools for every 100 boys. By 2011, this had increased to 97 girls for every 100 boys.
The report was launched at a seminar hosted by Plan International Pakistan and the National Rural Support Programme.
It focuses on bringing a sustainable change for adolescent girls. The new edition is the eighth in the series. The report examines attitudes within families towards girls and their education, their leadership and empowerment.
It points to discrimination being faced by women across the world. It says over a third of women in the world experience gender-based violence from an intimate partner. One in three girls in the developing world is married by her 18th birthday, according to the report.
The Plan International had launched a petition a couple of years ago to urge the United Nations to place girls’ education on its post-2015 development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals.
Addressing the seminar, Plan International Pakistan Acting Country Director Imran Shami said efforts should be made to end discrimination and violence against girls. The government should increase the annual budget to educate them, he said.
“If given a chance, girls can excel in every walk of life. How can we ignore 50 per cent of our population?” Shami said. He stressed the need for empowering girls by providing them an environment conducive for their growth.
He said girls’ education had become a global priority.
Shami told the participants that the Plan International’s Because I am a Girl campaign aimed at providing education and skills to four million girls.
The campaign advocates at least nine years of quality education for girls across the world.
Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan said the government gave importance to children education. He praised the Plan International and the National Rural Support Programme for establishing more than 100 Early Child Education centres in three-flood affected districts of Muzaffargarh, Layyah and Rajanpur.
Khan said the government had passed a law for free and compulsory education.
He claimed that the Punjab was ahead of other provinces in terms of providing education to children. He said several challenges in the education sector had been addressed after the government had announced an ‘education emergency’ in the province.
Population Welfare Minister Zakia Shahnawaz said meaningful participation of women and girls towards progress and development of nations was vital. She stressed the need for educating girls.
Directorate of Staff Development Programme Director Ehsan Bhutta said there was a need to upscale the early child education model in Pakistan. He said all departments and education agencies should assist the government in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2014.
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