Every living person has the right to an education and denying them that right is a sin. Moral ethics and religion strongly say that education should be provided to every living being no matter what gender. Sadly, a greater number of families in countries like Pakistan continue to oppose educating their daughters. The majority of them state that women are conditioned not to work but rather to get married and clean houses. Most of them don’t realize that the well-educated women of today are CEOs and software engineers and powerful politicians and marketing heads of some of the top-notch companies across the world. Greater opportunities come with education and experience, but some people have failed to recognize that.
Pakistan's literacy rate ranks among the lowest worldwide. In Pakistan, educational conditions are precarious. Over forty percent of young women have never attended school. Due to societal and cultural barriers, the situation is especially alarming in rural areas. Particularly, educational constraints and biases severely restrict women in KPK and Baluchistan. For 14 to 18 hours, they mostly participate in producing, reproductive, and community work. Therefore, the literacy rates of women in these countries are 15% and 25%, respectively. Female religious education was also strictly forbidden in the northern tribal regions. Boys' attendance rates at primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions are lower than those of young women.“This is a complete and utter misinterpretation of Islam.
The major cause of this unfair treatment of females regarding their education in Pakistan, especially in rural and tribal areas is due to the conservative thinking of extremists. These people are against Islam's rules and regulations because they think that women's education is unnecessary and pointless. To get rid of the flaws, this way of thinking needs to be reviewed. Therefore, women who are denied access to education ought to be accorded equal rights so that they can become civilized and later contribute to the economic empowerment of the nation.
While Pakistan is making considerable progress in several aspects of human development, it’s still lagging behind when it comes to education. Those who have attained a certain level of education on their own are considered well-educated and are fairly taken advantage of because they also know how it feels to be discouraged or betrayed by society. There are millions of females with less than primary education in Pakistan who would love to go to school but for some reason aren’t allowed.
In recent Covid years, the world collectively saw how doctors and the paramedical staff fought as front-line warriors against the Coronavirus. The outcomes would have been disastrous without them. The highest form of patriotism bestowed on a soldier is the designation of "shaheed" (martyr) in Pakistan for health care workers who gave their lives saving us. What we are oblivious to is the fact that globally, the health workforce is primarily composed of women—the marginalized segment that we choose not to educate or prioritize under the name given to social norms, practices, and occasionally religion.
We have failed to comprehend that educating women has a butterfly effect on the economy and is more financially feasible. This is especially critical given the current state of the global and Pakistani economies. The value proposition of educating a woman is one too many. If we educate a woman, the family, the children, and the community as a whole benefit. Better socioeconomic outcomes are eventually the result of this. The impact of girls' education on national economic expansion cannot be overstated.
The sad reality is that, despite such a straightforward proposition, governments have not really attempted to address these issues. And even when there is some effort, the rate of change is extremely sluggish. To top it all off, the ongoing pandemic is expected to impact further progress negatively.
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