There are at least two categories of out-of-school children—those who have never been to school, and those who may have enrolled at some point but dropped out later. Out-of-school children are not all "street" children. There are numerous reasons for dropping out of school: However, none of them are unexpected.
For instance, a 2014 study conducted in Lahore found that among families with children, poverty forced some families to take their children out of school and place them in work, which sometimes proved to be too much for the families, forcing them to flee. There are many different reasons, but one of them is the risk of sending kids to school.
When it comes to children who have families, the factors at home that cause them to live on the streets are poverty, which forces some families to keep their children out of school and force them to work, which can sometimes be more than they can handle, forcing them to leave. When children are otherwise expected to work and earn money for their families, sending them to school results in a loss of income for these families as well as the cost of food, shelter space, school fees, and supplies.
Many children have dropped out of school. When asked why, they say that they were subjected to corporal punishment, that their families didn't have enough money to cover the costs of going to school, or that they were pressured to work with their parents to make ends meet.
Non-formal education is being developed in the Sindh province, including in urban slums, by UNICEF and the Pakistani government to ensure that every child has access to their right to quality education.
"No child should be forced to drop out of school and work," said UNICEF Senior Director for Pakistan Sanam Maher."It is a daunting challenge not only to bring them back to school, as well as to motivate them to remain there." UNICEF has been working with partners across the country since 2002 on improving access to education for all children, particularly girls.
In the past, the government was not required to provide education for all children due to this "lack of demand" for education. In some communities, the ratio of boys to girls in government schools was 10 to 1. However, these attitudes are shifting for Pakistan's current generation.
Parents want to send their daughters and children with disabilities to school even in the most remote villages. Some parents send their daughters to low-cost, varyingly good private schools run by entrepreneurs who profit from parents' lack of literacy and inability to evaluate the quality of the schools. The majority of schools do not have accessible entrances, restrooms, or teachers who have been trained to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In order to meet this new demand for girls and children with disabilities, we need to significantly increase resources by upgrading school facilities, hiring qualified teachers, and improving the quality of learning.
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