The Constitution of Pakistan disallows its subjects to make children work in factories, garages, workshops and many other workplaces to bring financial stability for them if the children are below the age of 15, however, the situations differ in practical. Mostly, it is their drug addicted parent(s) who make their young children work for them, but in other cases it goes to their employers who make the wrong use of the innocence of the children by paying them little and making them work more for them. Dishearteningly, the higher authorities pay little attention to save the young generation which simultaneously results in 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 as out of school, which figures 44% of Pakistani children as 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 as 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 as away from schools, confirms UNICEF Pakistan; 78% of the children are girls with 68% boys.
There are multiple factors increasing the number of out of school children in the region one of which is long distances between schools and the homes. As per a report of Alif Ailaan, it takes 30 kilometers for one to reach to a primary school in Balochistan; the long journey of 260 kilometers makes one approach to a middle school, whereas, after traveling for 360 kilometers one finds a high school in the resource-rich province. How come the poor citizens of the rich Balochistan manage to journey this bit? They rarely get two times of food and hence cannot afford to hire transportation to send their children to schools; they cease their education.
On the other hand, child labor has stepped ahead as 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 other than educational institutions. They think governmental jobs are only for those who have recommendations in higher platforms, and they do not. They feel it is better to make their children expert in work other than education so that he may be able to generate income when he grows.
Another reason, which contributes to taking the children far from schools, is ghost teachers; it 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, empty. In such an environment, children get tired to eye on the way of the arrival of their teachers; their wait remains a wait solely. Presence of no teachers in their schools makes no use of their going to school, thus they leave_ haplessly and compellingly.
In simple words, government has to make long term policies to bring the out of school children into schools. As Balochistan majorly covers rural areas, the schools are very less in number and dysfunctional in the villages. In this case, government ought to build up as many schools as possible; separate schools for males and females_ particularly in rural belt_ can ensure better attendance of female children into school.
Besides this, government should set up teams to conduct various awareness programs regarding the importance of education. The teams must be trained well before they go out to the ground work so that they must be able enough to convince the parents to send their children to schools. Political leaders should also participate in these programs which would ultimately enhance the interests of the parents to enrolling their children into schools.
In short, government needs to show total willingness to bring educational reforms in Balochistan_ specifically enrolling the out of school children into education. Secondly, 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 in providing 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 modernized era. It would be tougher to recover in the coming years.