Pakistan: Education and Women

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A comment by Rana Muhammad Ahmad

Pakistan: Education & Women (2015) points to female literacy lapse in Pakistan. The film addresses the issues of about 75% historic lapse in female literacy and attitudes of Pakistani society towards women’s right to primary and secondary education in Pakistan. It hints at illiteracy explosion from 18.64 % to 55.24 % from 1951 to 2010. This increase in the illiteracy ratio is due to inability of Pakistan governmetn to provide basic access to education to 25 million children. It points to the causes of illiteracy explosion in Pakistan since Partition. They include failure in reaching millennium development goal by achieving 100% literacy rate in Pakistan by 2015. It offers authenticity in the form of experiential reality of the students, education workers and experts from four provinces of Pakistan, covering areas from Merrakachorri in KPK to Thatthi Bhanguan and Mandi Faizabad in Punjab, Sher Shah Colony Karachi, Manchhar Lake and Goth Kando Khan Bozdar in Sindh, and Quetta and Qilla Hizabzai in Balochistan. It highlights personal narratives of women who are struggling to acquire education in rural areas. Besides personal stories of the subjects from rural areas, it highlights interviews of urban women experts who are striving to educate female children. Sadaf, Sadiq and Kiran (2016) point to lapse in female education in Pakistan even if articles 25-A and Article-37 the Constitution of Pakistan guarantee women their basic right to education. Families hide their inability to fund female education behind stories of tradition rather than highlighting a lack of political will to provide free education for all.

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