We are writing to you ahead of the 98th pre-session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (“the Committee”) and your attention to Pakistan. This proposal focuses on the right to lax and compulsory schooling and the coverage of schooling from attack.
Right to lax and compulsory schooling (arts. 2, 19, 28, 32 and 34)
According to Pakistan’s constitution, schooling is flexible and compulsory for young people between the ages of five and 16[1], but dropping out of school remains a major challenge. Government data indicates an overall retention rate in the fifth year in 2020-2021 of a consistent 79. concent[2]; with the disparity between final students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with 86 per cent and 67 per cent for boys and women respectively. Retention rates fall further at increasing levels: overall retention up to grade eight stands at around 60 percent, with the minimum observed was only 33 percent for women in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, while the overall retention rate up to grade 10 (the end of the compulsory school year) remained at just 50 percent. [3]
Pakistan offers flexible or compulsory pre-school education. Lack of school readiness contributes to the highest dropout rates in the early grades, according to Pakistan’s 2018 National Education Policy Framework. [4]
In 2018, Human Rights Watch documented several other barriers to women’s schooling in Pakistan’s four provinces. [5] These are accompanied by insufficient government investment in schools, lack of schools, prohibitive tuition fees and related costs, corporal punishment, and lack of enforcement of compulsory schooling. Other disorders come with the poor quality of education in cheap public and private schools, the lack of government regulation of personal schools, and corruption. In addition to those points within the school system, women are prevented from attending school due to external points, adding to child labor, gender discrimination, child marriage, sexual harassment, and attacks on students. teachers and schools. [6] According to the World Bank, long journeys and difficult roads have a disproportionate effect on women’s access to education, especially in mountainous regions such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. [7]
In a global report on the effect of COVID-19 on children’s access to education, Human Rights Watch also found that living in rural areas of Pakistan without sufficient skills and access to electricity and broadband connections, as well as a limited circle of family resources, coupled with a lack of access to or ability to pay for web and virtual devices, It has created barriers to children’s access to online learning. [8]
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee request Pakistan to:
Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on Pakistan to:
Protection of schooling (arts. 2 and 28)
In 2022, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) uncovered at least seven attacks on schools in Pakistan by non-state armed teams during the 2020-2021 reporting period. Armed teams attacked women and women in several incidents. Security forces arrested at least 240 academics and school staff for participating in education-related protests. [9]
For the 2017-2019 reporting period, GCPEA collected approximately 50 reported incidents of attacks on schools (nearly a portion of which occurred in front of girls’ schools) and at least 27 reported incidents of attacks on students, teachers, and other school personnel. ] Non-state armed teams and unidentified attackers are believed to be guilty of targeted killings, kidnappings and indiscriminate attacks against high school and number one students.
The Pakistan Field Range-Shooting and Artillery Practices Act of 1938 states that “the military forces engaged in. . . maneuvers” may not “enter or interfere with an educational institution” and may not “over, camp, or build an army. “installations “works of a transitory nature, or to carry out army manoeuvres” in such areas. [11]
The Safe Schools Declaration[12] is an intergovernmental political commitment that provides countries with the opportunity to make explicit their political support for the coverage of students, teachers and schools in times of armed conflict; the importance of continued schooling in armed conflict; and the implementation of the Guidelines for the Protection of Schools and Universities against Armed Conflict with Military Use. [13] In June 2022, the UN Secretary-General encouraged all governments to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration. [14] As of January 2024, 119 states had backed the declaration, adding 31 of Pakistan’s other members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. [15] Pakistan did not support the statement.
In November 2023, Pakistan contributed 4,021 troops to UN peacekeeping missions, ranking fifth in terms of contributions consistent with the country. [16] Pakistan has deployed significant numbers of peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Abyei, South Sudan, and Mali, all countries and regions where attacks on schools have been documented as a problem. [17] The 2017 Child Protection Policy of the United Nations Department of Peace, the Department of Field Support, and the Department of Political Affairs states: “UN peace organizations refrain from any action that prevents young people from accessing education, adding that “[18]
In 2017, the Committee called on Pakistan to “prevent. . . access to schools through armed teams” and suggested that Pakistan “monitor non-state armed teams and deny them access to educational institutions. ” [19] The United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Committee also in 2017 called on Pakistan to “immediately and absolutely prohibit the use of schools by military forces” and called on Pakistan to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration [20].
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee request Pakistan to:
Human Rights Watch encourages the Committee to call on Pakistan to:
[1] Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Article 25A.
[2] National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE), Federal Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Pakistan Education Statistics 2020-2021, November 2022, http://neas. gov. pk/SiteImage/ Downloads/PES 2020-21. pdf (accessed 15 November 2023), p. 23.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Federal Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Pakistan, National Education Policy Framework 2018, November 2018, https://mofept. gov. pk/SiteImage/Policy/National Eductaion Policy Framework 2018 Final. pdf (accessed November 15, 2023), p. 4.
[5] Human Rights Watch, “Should I Feed My Daughter or Educate Her?”: Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2018), https://www. hrw. org/report/2018/ 12/11/should-feed-or-educate my daughter/barriers-girls-education-pakistan.
[6] Human Rights Watch, “Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Pakistan Review,” January 10, 2020, https://www. hrw. org/news/2020/01/10/submission-Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against-Women-Review-Pakistan.
[7] World Bank, “Paving the Way for Education and Opportunity in Pakistan,” September 8, 2022, https://www. worldbank. org/en/news/feature/2022/09/08/paving-the-way -to-education-and-opportunity-in-pakistan (accessed November 15, 2023).
[8] Human Rights Watch, “The Years Don’t Wait for Them”: Growing Inequalities in Children’s Right to Education Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2021), https://www. hrw. org/report/2021/05/17/years-dont-wait-them/increased-inequalities-childrens-right-education-due-covid#_ftn109.
[9] Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Education Under Attack 2022, https://protectingeducation. org/wp-content/uploads/eua_2022. pdf (accessed 14 November 2023), p. 164.
[10] GCPEA, Education Under Attack 2020, https://protectingeducation. org/wp-content/uploads/eua_2020_full. pdf (accessed November 14, 2023), p. 190-194.
[11] Law on Maneuvers, Field Shooting and Artillery Practice, Law No. V of 1938, March 12, 1938, art. 3.
[12] Safe Schools Statement, May 28, 2015, https://www. regjeringen. no/globalassets/departementene/ud/vedlegg/utvikling/safe_schools_declaration. pdf (accessed May 12, 2023).
[13] Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict, March 18, 2014, http://protectingeducation. org/sites/default/files/documents/guidelines_en. pdf (accessed May 12, 2023).
[14] UN Secretary-General, “Children and Armed Conflict,” A/76/871-S/2022/493, June 23, 2022, para. 291.
[15] GCPEA, “Supports for the Safe Schools Declaration” (webpage), 2024, https://ssd. protectingeducation. org/endorsement/ (accessed February 14, 2024).
[16] United Nations Peacekeeping, “Troop and Police Contributors” (webpage), https://peacekeeping. un. org/en/troop-and-police-contributors (accessed February 14, 2024).
[17] GCPEA, Education Under Threat 2022; GCPEA, Education Under Threat 2020.
[18] United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Department of Field Support and Department of Political Affairs, “Child Protection in UN Peace Operations (Policy),” June 2017.
[19] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Pakistan, CRC/C/PAK/CO/5, 11 July 2016, paras. 62(f), 64.
[20] UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Pakistan, E/C. 12/PAK/CO/1, 20 July 2017, paras. 79-80.