Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
170
Gender: Societal norms may impact boys’ schooling levels as families expect them to start
contributing to the family’s livelihood at a certain age and thus the demand for education for their
older boys decreases.
In terms of female education, the disparities in education between girls and boys can be attributed
to society not viewing women as economic contributors or providers and usually confined to
housework or low-skilled jobs. As such, their education is not viewed to be as important as boys
and, in large families, they will tend to send boys to school more than girls. For older girls, it may
seem unsafe to travel too far in order to protect them from violence and preserve their
‘respectability’. For these girls, the presence of single-sex schools, with female teachers and within
a short distance distance are pre-requisites for enrolment. The strength of the patriarchal norms
vary widely within Pakistan and it is traditionally stronger in poorer and more rural areas and
less prominent in urban settings and upper socio-economic classes.
Early or force marriage. In many rural and remote communities, young girls are promised in
marriage, affecting their attendance to primary education, or get married early, affecting their
attendance to secondary school. Once married, girls often drop out as they assume their
traditional roles of homemakers which either makes attendance and performance in schools very
difficult or simply makes intermediate/advanced education skills seem irrelevant for their roles.
Political Issues. In KP almost 10,000 schools have been blown up. The FATA have experienced
challenges that has led many children to fall behind their academic schedules and there has been
a rise in crime against young girls428. Many girls’ school in particular have been destroyed and the
families have been threatened with death for sending girls to school429 .
Health and nutrition: According to UNICEF (2013), malnutrition is a serious contributor to low
access to schools, impeding enrolment in some cases and increasing drop-out risks. Children in
rural areas are more likely to be stunted than children in urban areas. According to the National
Nutrition Survey 2011430, 1/3 of all children are underweight, nearly 44% are stunted, 15% are
wasted, half are anaemic and almost one-third of these children have iron deficiency anemia.
These rates have hardly changed over two decades according to the findings of a maternal and
child nutrition study group published by Lancet in 2013431.
Cost of schooling/Transport/Distance to schools: In Pakistan, public schools are free. Low-
cost private schools charge, as their name suggests, a low fee to parents. Direct costs thus include
schools fees, school materials and transport costs. These can act as barriers to access for children
from poor households or households living in remote or unsafe areas. Indirect costs include the
opportunity cost of attending school and thus not contributing to the household’s livelihood. As
wage-earning opportunities increase for older children, the opportunity cost of attending school
increases and so do the incentives to drop out.
428 AEPAM (2015)
429 CGNP (2016)
430 from article:
431 from article: