The Issue
An estimated 164 million children of primary school age live in South Asia, but 42 million (25 per cent) do not attend school. Of these, 38.4 million (91 per cent) live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and approximately 23 million (55 per cent) are girls. The Millennium Development Goals call for 100 per cent enrolment in primary schools by 2015, and eliminating gender disparity in all levels of education by that year. India is furthest from meeting its MDG targets, with 26.8 million of its primary school-age children out of school – 23 per cent of global absentees. Pakistan contributes 7.8 million to the rolls of missing students, and Bangladesh added 3.8 million. Women in South Asia make up 21 per cent of the world’s female population but 44 per cent of the total number of illiterate women. The single greatest factor keeping girls out of school is gender discrimination, compounded by the caste, class, religious and ethnic divisions that pervade the region. Sanitation facilities in schools are woefully inadequate, affecting girls far more than boys. Lack of appropriately private and sanitary facilities contributes to decisions on whether girls ever attend, and directly influences how long they will stay in school. One study in Bangladesh indicated that providing a separate toilet could increase the number of girls in school by 15 per cent. Education in South Asia has also felt the impact of armed conflicts and natural disasters – most recently the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake – that have closed or destroyed schools, left teachers and students dead, and destroyed the stability essential to learning. Poverty is another great factor. Indeed, the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society can often be identified simply by asking which children are not in school. Even when schools are within reach, the poorest are faced with stark choices between education and activities related to economic survival. For girls this often means the domestic work usually assigned to the female sex. Fees and indirect charges for education are an obvious barrier to the poor. Access depends also on whether schools can be easily and safely reached by girls and disabled children, whether the timing of classes is appropriate for the lifestyle and working patterns of the community, and whether schools are acceptable to the community. Once children are enrolled and attending school, the quality of their education must make it a worthwhile experience. Contrary to popular belief, even the very poor make sophisticated judgments about the quality of education offered at their local schools and will make extraordinary sacrifices if it is perceived to be relevant to their lives, needs and aspirations. It is difficult for parents to justify sending children to schools blighted by teacher absenteeism, corporal punishment and poor facilities when they could contribute to the family income. The special needs of girls call for special measures, as do the needs of all the children caught up in situations of conflict and emergency that plague the region.
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