Zubair Qureshi
As of 2022-23, around 21 million girls were enrolled in educational institutions, yet the number is far low as compared to 25 million boys. Although efforts have been made to close this gap, gender disparity still exists. These facts have been revealed in the report ‘Girls Education in Pakistan: Statistics & Trends for 2022-23’ launched here Wednesday.
Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, officially launched the report which is prepared jointly by the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE) and Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE). The launching ceremony was held at the Allama Iqbal Open University’s (AIOU) auditorium.
According to the report, notably, around 13.71 million girls are still out of school, and they are 7pc less likely to attend school compared to boys.
With regard to the number of educational institutions, there are 238,718 institutions in Pakistan, of which 28pc are for girls, 41pc for boys, and 31pc are co-educational.
The report highlights that 21 million girls were enrolled in educational institutions in the past year. The report also proposes concrete measures to address the challenges identified in adequate learning opportunities for girls.
The ceremony was attended by Additional Secretary of Education, Hassan Saqlain; Director General of the Pakistan Institute of Education, Dr. Muhammad Shahid Saroya; Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University, Professor Dr. Nasir Mahmood; Executive Director of Pakistan Alliance for Girls’ Education, Fajr; and representatives from other stakeholders.
In his address, Federal Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui praised the report on girls’ education by the PIE, stating that girls played a pivotal role in achieving excellent academic results across the country, including Islamabad.
He emphasized the need to further empower young girls to achieve even better outcomes and highlighted that Islam also commands equal opportunities for the education and training of girls. He remarked that data is the world’s greatest wealth, and future conflicts will also be based on data. Therefore, there is a need to not only prepare data according to ground realities but also to protect it effectively.
