Rural women demand an education for poor Pakistani girls

Pakistani girls at a school in Rawalpindi, Punjab, which is helped by aid from DFID Picture: Flickr/DFID

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For years,听Fatima would wake up in the morning and dream of going to school 国产视频撎齜ut her hopes for an education were crushed.

Rather than joining her two brothers in school, from the age听of five Fatima would set off with her mother to work in the听fields of their village in Bahawalpur district of Punjab in听east Pakistan.

国产视频淚 wanted to go to the school and wanted to become a听teacher, so that I could help other girls,国产视频� Fatima, now aged听seven, said in a Skype interview from her home.

The daughter of a labourer, Fatima seemed destined to a听cycle of illiteracy and poverty and to remain one of more than听13 million girls in Pakistan to never see inside a classroom.

Nearly half of Pakistan国产视频檚 53 million children aged five to 16 are听out of school and 55% of those are girls.

Pakistan has the third largest number of out-of-school girls听in the world, a fact that hit headlines globally in 2012 after听Taliban militants shot 14-year-old schoolgirl and education听advocate Malala Yousafzai, now a Nobel Peace prize laureate.

Now amid this largely patriarchal society, Pakistani women,听be they educated campaigners or illiterate mothers, are at the听forefront of advocating for girls国产视频� right to school.

Fatima国产视频檚 luck changed when local community workers visited听her family and, after several meetings, backed her mother and听convinced her father to send her to the nearby school, breaking听the traditional norm of keeping girls at home.听

国产视频淢y wish came true and I was able to go to school. I like to听play with my friends. Teachers are very kind and they take care听of me,国产视频� Fatima said, her dark brown eyes glistening with joy.

Mothers from villages in Peshawar are encouraged to enrol their children into school Picture: Facebook/Alif Ailaan

She became one of 73,000 children enrolled in school due to听a joint project launched in 2013 by Alif Ailaan 国产视频� an education听reform campaign funded by the UK Department for International听Development but run by Pakistanis 国产视频� and local non-profit听organisation Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN).

The project has helped raise awareness in rural Pakistan听about the importance of learning as well as mobilise communities听to demand quality education for their children from their听political representatives and education department officials.

Despite a constitutional article guaranteeing the right of听every child in Pakistan to a free education, social researchers听blame poverty, a conservative culture and run-down school听facilities for the decision by many poor families to keep their听children, especially their daughters, from school.

RSPN says much of the success of the project is owed to its听grassroots community and village campaigners who use creative听ways to get their message across such as public walks through听the villages to raise awareness and coordinating with religious听leaders to spread the word.

Social workers report that the most frequently reported听reason for girls not attending school is their parents国产视频櫶齯nwillingness to send them, citing difficult access to听schools, poverty and cultural sensitivities.

A recent Oxfam report said 11% of young girls in听Pakistan are married before the age of 15, jeopardising their听rights to health, education and protection and fathers needed to听be convinced that education was a better path.

Uzma Nazir, a campaigner in Bahawalpur, found that in one听case she had to appeal to a father国产视频檚 sense of religious duty as听well as his guilt over spending excess cash on tobacco.

国产视频淚f you could afford to smoke daily and have enough money听for Dish TV, then it meant that you could afford to pay for your听children国产视频檚 educational expenses,国产视频� Nazir said she told him.

She added that every Muslim man and woman had the听responsibility for gaining an education. In the end she helped听him enrol his three daughters in school.

Source: Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement, 2013-14

Another effective argument that campaigners use are the听economic advantages to an education.听It wasn国产视频檛 hard to convince Sukhaan Mai to send all her seven听daughters and son to school.

Mai, who lives in a village 25 miles from Dera Ghazi听Khan city in central Pakistan, earns 8000 Pakistani rupees听($76) a month, working as a day labourer, picking cotton and听harvesting wheat in peak season.

Her biggest wish was for a better life for her children,听which included sending them all to school, especially her听physically-challenged daughter Memoona, 12.

国产视频淚f my children will get an education there will be so many听benefits in their future for better livelihood and they will听gain the knowledge about good and bad,国产视频� said Mai in a Skype听interview from her home.

According to the United Nations国产视频� International Labour听Organization (ILO), about 75% of Pakistani working women听aged 15 and above were in the agricultural sector in 2010-2011听where working conditions were harsh and the wages were low.

Global evidence suggests that one additional year of听schooling can increase a woman国产视频檚 earning by 10% to 20%.

So far, the project has raised the awareness of nearly 250,000 people about the value of education. Rural communities have also lobbied for improvements in 741 schools 国产视频� many of which were functioning without electricity, had no drinking water and were missing toilets and boundary walls.

But social workers say there is still much work to be done.

国产视频淚n Pakistan, there is a need of an environment where equal access to education is provided from birth. If we manage to do that .. I guarantee that will lead to a brighter and prosperous future,国产视频� said Mosharraf Zaidi, campaign director of Alif Ailaan.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women国产视频檚 rights, corruption and climate change.