The Constitution of Pakistan forbids making children work in factories, garages, workshops and many other workplaces to bring financial stability for themselves, if the children are below the age of 15. However, the situation is different practically. Mostly, it is their drug-addicted parent(s) who make these young children work for them, but in other cases the benefit goes to their employers who misuse the innocence of the children by paying them little and making them work more. Dishearteningly, the higher authorities pay little attention to save the young generation which simultaneously results in the backwardness of the country.
According to a general estimate, Pakistan has the world’s second highest number of out-of-school children currently, with 22.8 million children out of school, which works out to 44 percent of Pakistani children being away from schools. When this number of children are far from schools, development in the state becomes a daydream. Sadly, the major affected region in Pakistan with so many of its children out of school is Balochistan.
Balochistan, the richest province of Pakistan in terms of natural resources, is said to be the home of out-of-school children with more than one million children away from schools, confirms UNICEF Pakistan; 78 percent of the girls are out of school and 68 percent of the boys.
There are multiple factors increasing the number of out-of-school children in the region, one of which is the long distances between schools and the homes. According to a report of Alif Ailaan, it takes 30 km on average for one child to reach a primary school in Balochistan; a long journey of 260 km to get to a middle school, and 360 km to get to a high school in the resource-rich province. How can the poor citizens of the rich Balochistan manage to journey such distances? They rarely get food two times a day,and hence cannot afford to hire transportation to send their children to schools; so they cease their education.
The government needs to show total willingness to bring educational reforms in Balochistan, specifically enrolling the out-of-school children. The concerned authorities must have frequent visits to schools to regulate them. They ought to be strict in this very regard for the future of Balochistan. They should also emphasize the providing of the best services so that students get inspired to join schools more and more. If not done now, Balochistan can lose a generation in the modern era. It would be tougher to recover in the coming years.
On the other hand, child labour has stepped ahead as being very critical in getting many other students to quit their education. It is because most families in Balochistan are suffering from severe poverty which is why they prefer sending their children to workplaces rather than educational institutions. They think governmental jobs are only for those who have recommendations in higher platforms, which they do not. They feel it is better to make their children experts in work other than education so that they may be able to generate income when they grow up.
Another reason which contributes to taking the children far from schools, is ghost teachers; this demolishes the educational desires of children, eventually leading them to step away from education. The report of Alif Ailaan unveils that 5,000 teachers in Balochistan are reportedly absent from their duties which leaves their classes, averaging above 120 students per class, unattended. In such an environment, children get tired of keeping an eye out for the arrival of their teachers; especially when their wait remains a wait solely. Presence of no teachers in their schools makes their going to school of no use, thus they leave haplessly and under pressure.
In simple words, the government has to make long term policies to bring the oriout-of-school children into schools. As the majority of Balochistan consists of rural areas, schools are very few in number and dysfunctional in the villages. In this case, the government ought to build up as many schools as possible; while separate schools for males and females, particularly in the rural belt, can ensure better attendance by female children.
Besides this, the government should set up teams to conduct various awareness programmes about the importance of education. The teams must be trained well before they go out to work on the ground so that they are capable enough to convince the parents to send their children to schools. Political leaders should also participate in these programmes which would ultimately enhance the interest of the parents in enrolling their children in school.
The government needs to show total willingness to bring educational reforms in Balochistan, specifically enrolling the out-of-school children. The concerned authorities must have frequent visits to schools to regulate them. They ought to be strict in this very regard for the future of Balochistan. They should also emphasize the providing of the best services so that students get inspired to join schools more and more. If not done now, Balochistan can lose a generation in the modern era. It would be tougher to recover in the coming years.
