On April 19, 2010, the

Constitution Act also known as the

Eighteenth Amen­dment, received
the assent of then President Asif
Ali Zardari and was promulgated
the following day.
One of the monumental changes
introduced by the 18th amendment
was Article 25-A, that propagated a
child’s “right to education.” It reads,
“The State shall provide free and
compulsory education to all children
of the age of five to sixteen years in
such manner as may be determined
by law.”
It is noteworthy that the right to
education was inserted under
Article 25, which speaks about the
equality of citizens. It indicates that
the lawmakers wanted to assert
that education should be provided
to all children without any
discrimination.
In reverence of provincial
autonomy, all territories were
required to make their own laws
for the education of their
children.
First of all, after being passed by the Senate and
National Assembly, the ‘Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act 2012’ for the Islamabad
Capital Territory (ICT) was signed by the President
on December 19, 2012.
Next year, after being passed by the Provincial
Assembly, the ‘Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Bill 2013’ for Sindh was ratified
by the Governor on March 6, 2013. In the same year,
the governor of Balochistan, on 12th of March, 2013,
approved the ‘Ordinance on Free & Compulsory
Education for Balochistan’. The Act is now also in
place, titled the ‘Balochistan Compulsory Education
Act 2014’ and officially passed on February 6, 2014.
The Punjab governor promulgated the
‘Punjab Free and Compulsory Education
Ordinance 2014’ on May 13, 2014,
which was later introduced in the
Punjab Assembly. Subsequently, the
ordinance was referred to the Standing
Committee on Education for
consideration. The law was passed on
November 10, 2014.
The ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right of
Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act 2014’ was drafted by
the provincial (KP) government.
After the proposed amendments,
the bill was passed on February 5,
2017, by the KP Assembly and
named ‘The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Free Compulsory Primary and
Secondary Education Act, 2017.’
The enactment of the above laws
makes all children between the ages of
five and 16 residing in the relevant
territories eligible for free and
compulsory education. However, it is
very regrettable that the ‘Rules of
Business’ of these Acts still need to be
notified. KP has drafted the rules but
they have not been notified yet.
Pakistan, the fifth most populous
country in the world, has a third of its
population under 15 years, according to
the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA). It is imperative to ensure that
this young and dynamic population has
access to quality education, if Pakistan
wants to achieve its economic and
socio-political potential.
According to a study by the World
Bank, nearly 23 million Pakistani
children aged five to 16 do not
attend school, which is the second
largest out-of-school population in
the world. One of the major issues
confronting Pakistan’s education
industry is its lack of proper
resources.
According to UNICEF [United
Nation’s Children Fund], the country
has one of the world’s lowest
education expenditures, with only
2.8 percent of its Gross Domestic
Product or GDP dedicated to
education in 2022.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION

Because of poverty, a lack of facilities and other

social concerns, many children, particularly
those from low-income households, are unable
to attend school. Many rural schools lack
essential amenities, such as safe drinking water,
electricity and adequate sanitation. The lack of
infrastructure and resources in schools makes it
difficult for instructors to provide quality
education to their students.
Aside from teacher shortages, gender
inequality is another major issue. Girls
are particularly disadvantaged in
Pakistan, with significantly lower
enrolment rates and higher dropout rates
than boys. This is due to a variety of
causes, including cultural norms,
favouring boys’ education over girls’
education, early marriage and
childbearing, and a lack of safe and
secure schools for females.
Proximity to school and safety are the
largest barriers to accessing education
for girls. The Annual Status of Education
Report (ASER) in 2022 by Idara-e-Taleem-
o-Aagahi (ITA) revealed that, in enrolled
students in government schools, 64
percent were boys and 36 percent were
girls, whereas in private schools, 63
percent enrolled children were boys and
37 percent were girls.
DECLINING STANDARDS

Furthermore, ASER added that

because of the flawed education
system of the country, 45 percent of
the students could not read a
sentence in Urdu and their regional
languages, while 44 percent could
not read sentences in English.
The learning levels of children in Class
Five and Class Three have declined in all
three competencies — only 50 percent
of Class Five children could read a Class
Two level story in Urdu compared to 55
percent in 2019. Only 15 percent of
Class Three children could read stories in
Urdu as compared to 19 percent in
2019.
“English learning levels have
declined, as 54 percent Class Five
children could read sentences
compared to 60 percent in 2019,
while only 15 percent Class Three
children could read Class Two level
sentences as compared to 21 percent
in 2019,” reads the report.
Similarly, it added, arithmetic
learning levels have also declined,
with only 50 percent Class Five
children being able to do two-digit
division, as compared to 53 percent
in 2019, and only 11 percent
children enrolled in Class Three
could do two-digit division, as
compared to 16 percent in 2019.
ASER exposed another critical
factor: zero percent of the surveyed
government primary schools
reported having children with
disabilities, while 45 percent of the
surveyed private primary schools
reported the same.
QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Unfortunately, chaos in social, economic

and political realms has been plaguing
Pakistan for many years. Our unresolved
problems, such as communal distrust,
economic stagnation, political instability,
moral degeneration and foreign reliance,
need immediate attention. Beyond a
doubt, quality learning is one of the best
ways to get out of these crises.
But, having shown a lack of
interest in uplifting the education
sector, Pakistan has deviated away
from the road to success and
development. Therefore, a critical
examination of the problems in
the educational sector is required.
The roots of all the impediments Pakistan
encounters today lie in our failure to
prioritise our education sector. Investing in
our schooling and higher education is the
path to altering our destiny. If we cannot
advance our education system, the dream
of making Pakistan a self-reliant,
progressive and technologically advanced
country will stay a far-off dream.
The will of the government is very
important for providing free,
compulsory and quality education to
the children of Pakistan. The
Education Parliamentarians’ Caucus
Pakistan needs to play a vibrant role.
The system requires reforms in terms of
infrastructural improvement and curriculum
revision. The National Education Policy
should entertain the demands of the modern
age. There is an urgent need to raise
awareness and advocate for the necessity of
education for all Pakistani children. Parents,
teachers and community leaders all are
required to play a vital part in promoting
education and pushing for children’s right to
a decent education.
Pakistan may enhance education quality and
student achievement by investing in teacher
training programmes and providing greater
incentives for instructors. Another possibility is
the expanding number of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) working in Pakistan to
enhance education. NGOs like The Citizens
Foundation and Zindagi Trust are trying to
provide high-quality education in underserved
regions, give scholarships to students from
low-income families and improve teacher
training and support.
It has been 13 years since the Right to
Education was introduced. The need of the
hour is to reflect upon the rapidly
deteriorating status quo of learning and
explore new evidence-based approaches
for delivering accelerated quality
education to turn this vision into a reality.
We need to strongly advocate for 25-A and
celebrate the right to education in our
Constitution.
• The writer is a human rights activist and
columnist. She tweets @NabilaFBhatti
and can be reached at
nabilaferoz@gmail.com

• Published in Dawn, EOS, April 30th,

2023