The need to provide more female teachers in Pakistan

By YesPakistan.com Staff Writer

Improving the quality and motivation of teachers is not sufficient for reaching the goal of universal primary education in Pakistan. There is a critical need to increase the number of teachers in Pakistan, especially female teachers.

To achieve universal primary education by 2003, the number of working teachers must be increased by 36 percent. In addition, there must be a 144% increase in the number of female teachers. Currently in Pakistan, 75 percent of primary school teachers are men. Teacher training institutes graduate some 25,000 people each year. However, the current goal requires at least 36,000 new teachers each year.

These numbers fall in line with the pedagogically accepted level of 40 students per teacher within the five-year period between 1998 and 2003. These numbers, however, must be supplemented by national plans that account for regional differences in teacher demand, teacher attrition, as well as the need for teachers in remote rural areas with less than 40 students.

The need for more female teachers in this regard cannot be underestimated. The presence of women teachers boosts parents' confidence, encouraging them to send their daughters to school, especially in conservative areas. Numerous studies of south Asia have shown that enrolment rates for girls improve and dropout rates reduce significantly with female teachers in schools.

But attendance isn't the only positive outcome resulting from the presence of female teachers. Better academic achievement is another favorable outcome. For example, in a 1995 competency test conducted in Pakistan, girl students taught by female teachers scored 63 percent on average. In comparison, female students taught by male teachers only scored 51 percent.

However, Pakistan has among the lowest representation of female teachers in south Asia. An interesting footnote is that even if every single new teacher was a woman, overall women would still make up only 45 percent of teachers in the primary teaching corps. This calls for other measures to raise the number. One solution is to give preference to female teachers in replacing existing male teachers who either retire, leave the country or the profession.

Of course, one of the major challenges in increasing the number of women in Pakistan's teaching corps is how to teach would-be teachers. This requires a special effort especially in Pakistan's rural areas, where the number of educated women is limited.

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:44:47 PM

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