More schools for girls
Recently Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan has made the provision of free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and sixteen a fundamental right.
However, this is not being followed in spirit. Recently, I visited Nowshera district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In villages covered by the union councils of Zara Maina and Pir Sabaq there are no schools after the primary level for girls. Those who want to study beyond primary schooling have to travel on a boat across the Indus River. The ones from Zara Maina have to travel to Akora Khattak, while the ones from Pir Sabaq have to go to Hakimabad.
In these areas there is prevalence of child protection issues, such as kidnappings and harrassment. Due to these concerns and cultural barriers, parents are reluctant to send their girls to middle and secondary schools. The existing schools are also situated on extreme ends of the union councils, as a result of which the children have to travel long distances which makes it all the more difficult.
Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child assures children the right to a quality education. Twenty-one years have passed since Pakistan ratified this Convention. But does mere ratification entail that a state has performed its duty? What can one do in a deplorable situation where parents are willing to send their daughters to get education beyond primary level but fail to do so due to lack of institutions and a proper infrastructure? In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a law titled the NWFP Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1996, is already present but has never really been implemented.
The state needs to take immediate steps to make more middle and secondary level schools for children, especially girls, all across Pakistan.
Sabeen Mohsin
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2011.