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Making
schools closer to home boosts female education in Pakistan
By YesPakistan.com Staff
Writer
When we think of the constraints,
limits and obstacles to women's education in Pakistan, we tend to think in terms
of ideas and concepts: cultural traditions and discrimination against girls,
for example. However, sometimes, it's the small but concrete things that make
a difference. One of these is where a school is located.
This simple but significant
issue cannot be ignored. One major factor in parents' reservations about girls'
schooling, after the issue of not being able to pay for the education, is that
their daughters will have to get an education at a place that is far from home.
This poses two challenges, especially in poor rural areas.
The first is the issue of
safety and security. The farther away a school is located, the more it is considered
by parents to be a threat to a daughter's security. This is clearly evident
in the example of primary schools in Balochistan, Pakistan. Interviews with
parents and students revealed that the closeness of the school to their homes
was a major factor in girls attending primary schools there.
The two percent female literacy
rate in Balochistan can be partly explained by the fact that, in 1983, only
33 percent of the province's villages had girls' primary schools within a distance
of one kilometer.
Another study conducted
in Algeria makes the case even more clearly. Findings revealed that the enrolment
rate for girls was 84 percent when a school was less than one kilometer away.
However, girls' enrolment dropped significantly, to 25 percent, when the school
was more than five kilometers away.
Another issue that is important
to consider when discussing the issue of girls' schools being located within
a shorter distance is opportunity cost. Not only is a girl's safety compromised
when she must go further for an education, but the household suffers since she
is usually the one taking care of household chores. The more time it takes for
her to leave home, go to school and come back is more time spent outside of
the domestic realm, where the burden of the work falls on her shoulders traditionally
and culturally.
A World Bank study in India
reported that the two main reasons given by the households in the state of Haryana
for girls not enrolling in schools were: girls' responsibility for domestic
work and that parents could not afford the school expenses. Interestingly, in
the same study, when the girls were directly interviewed, 87 percent said domestic
work as the main reason for their not being enrolled in school.
It is clear then that in
the drive to boost female literacy and education in Pakistan and South Asia
in general, girls' schools must be constructed and administered in areas as
near to residential areas as possible. This proximity will reassure parents
of their daughters' safety while reducing the time spent in travel to the detriment
of household responsibilities.
Finally, where possible,
innovations such as satellite schools, cluster schools and multi-grade classes
must also be used to increase the availability of schooling facilities while
retaining parental confidence and support for female education in Pakistan.
These measures have worked successfully in some parts of South Asia and maintain
the same idea: keeping daughters close to home while educating them.
Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:44:40 PM
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