Category: Women and Education

Wife of President Dr Arif Alvi, Begum Samina Alvi said guaranteeing equal rights to women, particularly their access to education and health, was critical for the development of society. Speaking at a painting exhibition by former ambassador NaelaChohan in connection with World Women’s Day in Islamabad on Tuesday, Samina stressed empowering women by providing them with equal opportunities to help them attain their full potential.

The solo exhibition titled “Art from the Heart” at the PNCA depicted the struggles of women. Chohan’s statement artwork named “Bosom” reflected the perils in the life of a woman in a ‘triangle of death, suffering and hope’.

SaminaAlvi emphasized raising awareness about the health issues con-cerning women, such as breast cancer and mental illness. She mentioned that breast cancer was one of the leading causes of death among women. Also, the country’s 24 percent popula-tion suffered mild to moderate psychi-atric issues, with the majority of it comprising women.

She mentioned that phenomenal work had been done by President Alvi and herself in the social sector, particularly breast cancer awareness, financial inclusion of women, persons with disabilities, and issues related to mental health.

Samina said the President’s House had also initiated the task of improving access to mental health facilities in Pakistan through a collaborative effort towards the prevention of mental health disorders across the country.With the help of various stakeholders, she said, a mental health helpline and Artificial Intelligence-based chatbots were being launched to provide coun-selling. She said a recent study by a screening centre in a public sector hospital revealed that 32 percent of the respondents mentioned that media was their prime source of information on breast cancer and the reason for getting themselves screened.

Samina said art could prove as an ef-fective tool of soft diplomacy and lauded the paintings by NaelaChohan that highlighted the issues pertaining to women.

Source: Pakistan Observer

Khyber – In the absence of a high school, students at Kam-shelman haji speen Kalley, a government girls’ middle school, are studying in the eighth grade consecutively. Kam-shelman is a remote subdivision of Landi Kotal with a population of about ten thousand people. eighteen female students were enrolled in the middle section of the institutions, while 148 female students were enrolled in the primary section. The girl students bemoaned that they had been studying in the eighth grade for the past three years because there was no high school for girls in the area and they couldn’t afford to travel to Landi Kotal girls’ high secondary school.

“I want to get a higher education,” an orphan eighth-grade student explained, adding that a lack of opportunities locally prevents her from realising her dream. agha, haji Jan, a Kam-shelman elder, stated that dozens of girls dropped out of school after passing their eighth-grade exam. Female students in the area, like girls in other parts of the country, were talented, but a lack of access to higher education prevented them from pursuing it, he added.

According to the students, only one of the two female teachers attended her duty, and two teaching staff members worked in the institution. Because of a teacher shortage, the affected girls were unable to attend even a single period of science classes. all of the students in the primary section were sitting on the bare floor, and even a mate was unavailable for them, they added, adding that the room’s construction was left incomplete due to a parent-teacher council fund embezzlement. When contacted, the District Education Officer samina Ghani, stated that the subordinate staff would be contacted to inquire about the school’s current situation.

Source: The Nation

Islamabad: Pakistan faces significant challenges in providing its citizens with quality education. The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) for primary education in Pakistan was only 61 per cent in 2020, and only 51 per cent of children complete primary school. Thus, Pakistan has one of the largest populations of out-of-school children in the world. While the exact number of out-of-school children is difficult to determine, but estimates suggest that there are around 22 million children who are not in school. It is pertinent to note that the majority of out-of-school children in Pakistan are girls.

The Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) supported by United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as a 12-year commitment to reach the most marginalised girls in the world.

In Pakistan, GEC funded International Rescue Committee (IRC) for the ‘Teach and Educate Adolescent Girls with Community Help’ (TEACH) project. Under TEACH, from 2019-2023 the project strived to support around thirty thousand out-of-school girls in Balochistan. During the last four years, through rigorous accelerated learning programmes the project transitioned of over 5,000 girls into formal public schools after completing primary education.

Moreover, around 7,000 girls were equipped with financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills along with a pool of teachers being trained and schools rehabilitated with adequate facilities.

To commemorate the success of GEC projects in Pakistan a close-out event was held in Islamabad with diverse stakeholders such as policy makers, academia, donor agencies, civil society representatives media and project beneficiaries, Shabnam Baloch, Country Director, IRC Pakistan, in her opening remarks noted that to eradicate the barriers to girls’ education, a collaboration of all the stakeholders- Policymakers, practitioners, academia, and civil society is imperative and calls for further investments such as the TEACH project. Speaking on the occasion Sarfarz Laldin (Country Director, ACTED Pakistan noted that Accelerated Learning programmes and Non-Formal Education has solutions for the million girls left behind due to pandemic, climate change and natural disasters in places those have been struggling to retain kids in school during normal circumstances. Through special initiatives by civil society organisations, donors, and government; the girls can be given a second chance to rejoin formal schooling.”

Adding to this Ian Attfield (senior education advissr, FCDO) opined that in collaboration with the provincial government of Balochistan and TEACH project partners, adolescent girls have overcome significant barriers to access credible learning opportunities, despite both Covid-19 pandemic and flooding disruption. It is heartening to see a cohort of young women teachers are now trained to continue girls’ education in remote border areas.

Deputy Director Programmes, IRC-Pakistan Zain-ul-abdin appreciated the recommendations from various stakeholders and stressed upon that girls’ education goes beyond just enrolling girls into schools.

Source: The News

The government of Japan yesterday agreed to provide new grant assistance worth 1,686 million Japanese Yen – equivalent to around $ 12.7 million for upgrading primary girls’ schools into elementary schools in rural Sindh.

A signing ceremony for the assistance was held yesterday at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Islamabad. WADA Mitsuhiro, Ambassador of Japan, KINOSHITA Yasumitsu, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and other officials from both countries attended this ceremony.

The project has been conceived keeping in view the facts that the number of middle/elementary schools is much lower (2,162) than the primary schools (35,377) in rural Sindh. This particular issue is also adversely affecting the primary school student’s retention & the biggest cause of student’s dropout from school.

The net enrolment rate for lower-secondary education (grades 6-8) is 49 percent (boys 53 pc, girls 45 pc). Girls in government schools drop out drastically from primary education as the middle or high schools are not available in close vicinity, particularly in rural Sindh. According to Alif Alan, the accessibility distance hinders girls’ education more (13 percent dropout due to access) than boys (5 percent dropout due to access).

This project aims to improve access of girls’ middle education by providing school facilities for female students in rural areas of Sindh province. This is the third grant aid through which Japan will be upgrading 20 new primary girls’ schools into elementary schools, which brings the total number of schools provided with Japan’s assistance to 74. The assistance contributes to improve the school enrolment rate and gender equality in the target areas, contributing to the SDGs Goal 4 (Quality education) and 5 (Gender equality).

Addressing the signing ceremony, WADA Mitsuhiro stated, “This project will also be implemented in the areas affected by the flood. I sincerely hope that this project will contribute to the reconstruction efforts of Pakistani people.”

Source: The Nation