The author is a human rights activist and Tweets @QamarNaseemPak
UNESCO unveils new data in a factsheet on girls’ education. The data is published as part of the #HerEducationOurFuture initiative, which aims to accelerate action for girls and women’s education by leveraging political and financial commitments, as well as leadership for women and girls.Following the COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented disruption to education, UNESCO estimates that 11 million girls may not return to school. Girls aged 12-17 are at particular risk of dropping out of school in low and lower-income countries, whereas boys are more at risk in upper-middle and high-income countries.
To make progress in the coming years and with 2030 fast approaching, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must ensure strong multisectoral coordination that better links child marriage to other sectors, particularly education
Girls with no education are 3 times as likely to marry by 18 as those with secondary or tertiary education.Millions of girls in KP are not in school and millions are not learning. Some parents also do not see the value, or at least the long-term socio-economic returns of education for girls who will eventually leave home once they get married.
Coupled with the impact of child marriage on girls’ education, the world’s learning crisis is hitting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the hardest, particularly its girls. In KP 1.8 million children aged 5-17 are out of school in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Of these, 64% are girls while 36% are boys.According to an annual report of IMU, there isa total of 21,179 primary schools in KP where 12,593 boys and 8,589 girl students study. But for an utter surprise, there are only 2,242 high schools in the province and out of it 812 are for girls while 1,430 are for boy students, while the number of higher secondary is 643 in KP.
The root of child marriage is gender inequality, and education, in complement to other sector interventions, is a key strategy to avoid girls marrying before age 18. Child marriage and early childbearing are key contributors to girls dropping out of secondary school – and returning to school for those who have children can be difficult or even impossible.Yet we know that reduced girls’ educational attainment denies girls’ their rights, limits their potential and costs billions in lost earnings.
The provincial and federal govt has yet to realize that Girls can be the key to the human capital of Pakistan,when girls have access to safe, quality education, the benefits are widely felt for her as an individual, for the society and nation at large.Socio-economic dividends are higher when girls stay in school. And, universal secondary education (12 years of schooling) could virtually end child marriage and reduce prevalence rates of early childbearing by up to three fourths – as well as impact health, nutrition, fertility rates, agency (decision-making) and increase human capital wealth.
Eliminating child marriage today could save many governments 5% or more of their education budget by 2030. It’s clear: child marriage and girls’ education are two intertwined issues that impact each other.Giving girls better access to quality education and keeping them in school longer is a key to avoiding them marrying early, improving their outlook as well as the development prospects of nations.
In the given context of COVID 19, where drop out probabilities for the girls from school is high the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Govt must move to implement existing commitments and ensuring the adopting of laws and policies to end child marriage.
This can only be done in an environment where there is coordination among sectors. Child marriage is a hydra. Eradicating it requires strong partnership, both between stakeholders and sectors such as education, health, nutrition, gender, justice and child protection.