Aniqa Batool
Human beings, irrelevant of gender, have equipped themselves with the knowledge of their surroundings which has immensely contributed towards the development of mankind as of today. With the passage of time, men and women have developed occupations in line with their knowledge and capabilities garnering fuel to the engine of societal progress. Contrary to the fact that women are able to develop their cognitive skills and behave accordingly, the education of women has been among the most neglected human practices. Women have been given different stereotypical roles of which acquiring education has ever been disregarded.
Prophet of Islam, Muhammad Mustafa (Peace be upon Him and His Progeny) while explaining the importance of education said:
“Acquire knowledge, because one who acquires it, in the way of the Lord, performs an act of piety; who speaks of it praises the Lord; who seeks it, adores God, who dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and who imparts it to its fitting objects, performs an act of devotion to God.”
The Tradition explicitly informs about the significance of education in a societal structure as the hierarchy of acquiring education has been exalted in it. The essence of this Tradition indicates the crucialness for the followers of divine religion of Islam to not only acquire knowledge but also work for its access and quality. At many occasions acquiring education has been compared with worship of God that too irrespective of gender.
Sadly, Land of Pure having 96% of population as Muslims is blatantly negligent of education especially for women. It is no wonder that Muslim societies are lagging behind when they have low school enrolment rates especially of women.
If education of women is considered separately from religion even then it is evident that a child since its birth is dependent on mother for development and improvement of its cognitive skills. That is why a mother is considered as the first institution of a child. Undoubtedly, sharp cognitive behaviour that a child adopts is imparted through its well-educated mother. Evidence clearly suggests that the advent of Industrial Revolution coupled with women participation through education has brought us to the unprecedented development of nineteenth and twentieth century which is continuously being expanded.
Generally, societal sentiments towards betterment are biased. People prefer boys to girls in almost every aspect of life. When it comes to education of girls, people believe that utilising resources on their education is not only a monetary burden but also wastage of time and opportunity. There are numerous households across Asian and African countries where boys would attend school but girls would remain in homes and help with domestic chores. Even if parents are willing, the poor infrastructure and access to school makes it even dangerous for girls to attend school. Consequently, social, cultural and religious barriers along with deplorable law and order conditions and poor infrastructure have severed the education of women in these countries.
Pakistan has been witnessing gender disparities in education since its inception. A demographically blessed country with women contributing to 49% of total population is among lowest performer in South Asia on Human Development Index which alarmingly impedes the economic progress because 48% of women population is literate while Female Labour Force Participation is 25%. This figure is staggeringly low. On the other hand, evidence suggests that Female Labour Force participation has increased along with Gross Domestic Product (GDP i.e. the value of economic activity in country) over recent years (World Bank). These statistics implore full concentration of government to improve education conditions for women in Pakistan so they can contribute actively towards economic expansion of our country. Lamentably, public expenditure on education is 2.2% of GDP in 2017 compared to 2.3% in 2016. However, Provincial Governments have allocated a substantial budget in their Annual Development Plans on education. The Federal Public Sector Development Programme 2018 has allocated a generous budget to ten ongoing and three new education programs(Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18). Such efforts of government aim to reduce gender disparity to improve social indicators of Pakistan. Access to education together with equity and quality of education, improvement in physical infrastructure and up gradation of educational system at regional and national level is the need of the hour.
