By Emma Mujahid
The condition of female education in Pakistan is miserable. We as a nation have failed to provide good quality and equitable education to nearly half of our population. Although conventional views and social taboos have played an integral role in impeding its progress, lack of political will and vision among the persons in power, incompetent and insufficient faculty, and poor infrastructure can also be held accountable for the abysmal state of women education.
During the past 67 years, Pakistan has had nine national education policies, five five-year plans, one free and compulsory education act, a constitutional amendment (18th) and dozens of other schemes, seminars, and conferences aimed at improving female education in our country. Unfortunately, no progress has been made.
This is majorly due to lack of political will and commitment. Over the course of our history, not even a single administration has realized the dire need of educating the daughters of our nation. The noble and ambitious plans that were brought forth by various administrations have simply been attractive policies on paper with little or no practical execution.
Both the government and society have always been into misplaced priorities and criminal negligence, underestimating the potential of half of the country’s population.
After all of this, the result is before our eyes. Out of the many obstacles female education is facing today, the deplorable state of our schools, particularly in the villages is at top.
The Pakistan Education Statistics Report for years 2012 to 2013 states that there are 63,914 public schools for girls currently in place: 15.3% are without building, 7.1% are kacha (muddy) schools, 61% lack electricity, 42.4% lack latrines, 44.3 % lack boundary walls, 3.8% are declared dangerous, and 16.1% are in need of major repairs.
To make matters worse, apart from the obvious lack of infrastructure, we also have an acute shortage of motivated individuals who are willing to work as teachers in these schools because they do not see lucrative salaries there.
However, the problems do not just end here. The frequent attacks on women schools and a recent surge in the killings of teachers by the local terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in tribal areas has also stunted the progress of women’s education in the country.
If we look at all of the cited factors on a whole, these conditions simply show the criminal negligence of the state towards women’s education who make half of the country’s population. We must take a step to improve the deplorable conditions of these schools. The conventional mindset of our society may be something that will take decades to battle, but the lack of infrastructure for schools is something that can be addressed and improved immediately if we put our minds to it.