Pursuing Education: When Challenges Outweigh Aspirations
Poverty, combined with inhibiting social and cultural norms, creates an inescapable cage for young men and women coming from underserved communities in Pakistan. In 2024, an additional 2.6 million people fell below the poverty line in the country, taking the total toll to a staggering 40.5 percent of the national population. Across generations, people remain stuck in the cycle of deprivation and economic disparity. This is supported by the historical trend of the Gini Index: in 1987, the Gini Inequality Index for Pakistan was at 33.3 points and even after three decades of developmental efforts, it stood at 29.6 points in 2018.
The provision of quality education can be a panacea for the challenge of multidimensional poverty and, in the long term, can also be a cure against many sociocultural barriers, uplifting entire communities. In other words, investments in education yield economic and social returns, at the individual community and national levels (Valero, 2021; Marcus and Page, 2016). Yet, in Pakistan, millions of students from underprivileged backgrounds struggle to complete their aspirations. Their dreams, though vibrant, often fade under the weight of challenges. National dropout rates rise sharply as students progress through the system: 33% at the Primary level, 53% at Lower Secondary, and 77% at Higher Secondary, taking the total number of out of school children to 26.2 million.
Fig: Spread of out of school children across Pakistan
Considering this context, it becomes important to understand the intricacies involved in the educational journeys that students coming from underserved backgrounds face and to underline the uplifting role played by the welfare education system in empowering overlooked communities. Using two stories from our project, Investments in Education, we build a narrative about the systemic and societal issues that prevent a large number of students in Pakistan from reaching their true potential.
Hina’s Unfulfilled Dream of Wearing an Army Uniform
Hina, a 23-year-old from Hala, a rural town in Sindh, once dreamed of becoming an army officer.
‘فوج کی وردی اور اپنے ملک کی خدمت کا اعزاز بچپن میں مجھے بہت متاثر کرتا تھا۔’
حنا، حالہ
When, at 7, Hina expressed her future ambition for the first time, her parents took it as an unrealistic desire of a naive child. Her father, a Kashigar, expected his daughter to carry the familial legacy forward by learning the art. As time passed and the veil of innocence faded, Hina too began to realize the painful reality that the path leading to her dream was strewn with unsurpassable hurdles: the only college accessible to Hina after Matriculation was miles away from her home. Her parents, burdened by financial difficulties, could not afford the daily cost of transportation.
‘مجھے جہاں سے سکالرشپ ملی تھی وہ پھر وہاں سے تھوڑا دور تھا اور اس وقت ہمارے کچھ حالات ایسے تھے کہ مجھے وہاں تک پیدل جانا پڑتاتھا اور وہ تقریباً آئی تھنک 25 منٹ مجھے لگ جاتے تھے۔ میرے ساتھ کوئی لڑکی نہیں ہوتی تھی اور میں جاتی بھی اکیلی تھی اور تھوڑا ویلیج ایریاز ہیں یہاں پہ لوگوں کی سوچ لوگوں کی نظر کبھی کبھی میرے ساتھ ایسے سینز بھی ہوئے تھے راستوں میں کہ بہت زیادہ ڈر جاتی تھی کچھ لوگ ایسے ہوتے ہیں جو مطلب ہمارا سپائی کرتے ہیں-‘
حنا، حالہ
For female students like Hina, hailing from rural areas, the lack of nearby educational institutes at higher levels of education often becomes a major stumbling block. This scarcity further deteriorates as students progress through the system: 160,157 primary schools drop to 48,059 middle schools, shrinking further to 35,263 high schools, and nearly vanishing with just 8700 higher secondary institutions, mostly located in urban areas.
This disparity forces students to travel large distances to other villages and towns either on foot or via other transportation means. However, safe and affordable transportation options, especially for girls, are meagre in rural regions of the country, disproportionately affecting their education. Moreover, the pervasive issue of street harassment compels many families to restrict the mobility of their daughters. Thus, walking to school wasn’t an option for Hina either as street harassment had surged in the region.
Another pressing issue reported by Hina was not having a mentor who could guide her and clearly lay down the steps required ahead. From the requirement of having an Intermediate degree to filling the form online before the deadline, Hina had no one who could inform her about these conditions that needed to be fulfilled prior to applying for the army. This absence of a guiding figure at a crucial juncture in her life acted as the final nail in the coffin. Thus, Hina remained unable to pursue wider horizons.
‘مجھے ہمیشه سے لگتا تھا کہ میٹرک کے بعد میں اپلائ کر سکتی ہوں مگر جب میں نے اپلائ کرنے کا سوچا تو پتہ چلا کہ انٹر
ضروری ہے اور قریب کوئ کالج نہیں تھا-‘
حنا، حالہ
At 17, against her own will, Hina was married off to a man her family deemed suitable. Though marriage didn’t extinguish her desire to study, it added another layer of complexity as her in-laws dismissed the desire for further education.
The same issue–marriage leading to abandonment of education–was echoed by many female respondents in our project. This trend is also reflected nationally where 18% of girls currently aged 20-24 were married before 18, limiting their capabilities, as exemplified in Hina’s case.
Fig: Percentage of drop outs by gender
The bar chart above represents the gendered breakdown of the national and provincial percentages of drop outs. Nationally, 63 million children are of school-going age (5-16 years). However, only 43 million are being catered to by public and private institutions combined. The seemingly minute difference of 0.1% at the national level for drop outs between males and females expands into 4,300,000 more girls out of schools than boys. This phenomenon is also validated by the World Bank where they find out that 22 percent girls in poor families are less likely to attend school than boys. However, moving towards the wealthiest households, the gender gap shrinks considerably, increasing the enrolment to 87 percent for both sexes.
These findings underline the painful reality that female students on the whole are more vulnerable to socioeconomic challenges and are more likely to drop out of school as compared to their male peers. Hina was also the victim of these difficulties and had to ultimately put a hold to her educational journey.
For young men, on the other hand, distinct sets of gendered cultural expectations create their own specific difficulties as depicted by Ismail’s story.
Ismail’s Sacrifice for Family Survival
Ismail’s story portrays a vivid picture of the inescapable challenges faced by young men in Pakistan, often forcing them to sacrifice their aspirations to fulfil the role of household head.
It is no longer a secret that men, including the male youth, also become the inadvertent victims of patriarchal social structures. Hence, the societal expectations and blueprints pertaining to the role and responsibilities of men as the sole breadwinners of the households, more often than not, force them into molds that they have no option but to adjust into.
‘دیکھیں ہم کو فیملی کو اثر پڑے گا، اتنا خرچہ کہاں سے لائیں؟ کچھ کہاں سے دیں؟ پیٹرول بھی دیکھیں آنا جانا ہوتا ہے گھر کا بڑا میں ہوں کام کاج میں کروں گا، میں چلا جاؤں گا پھر کون کرے گا؟ گھر کے بھی ایشو، یہ سارے ایشو ابو تو پورا نہیں کرے گا۔ گھر کی دیکھ بھال تو کچھ کرنی پڑتی ہے-‘۔
اسماعیل، خانیوال
Ismail is the eldest of five siblings. Born and raised in Khanewal’s struggling neighbourhood, he wanted to become a programmer and create his own game. Ismail envisioned a future where, benefiting from the modern avenues available, he could code his way into financial stability.
But life had other plans. His father, a van conductor and the sole earner, fell seriously ill, leaving the family without a stable source of income. The burden fell squarely on young Ismail’s shoulders–still just a 13 years old kid studying 6th grade.
تنگدست لوگوں کا جو یہ سوچ ہے جن کے گھر میں کچھ
نہیں ہے کھانے کو کیونکہ غربت میں رہ رہے ہیں ان کا سوچ یہی ہوگا پڑھنے سے کچھ نہیں ہے، اس سے اچھا تم کما ‘
اسماعیل، خانیوال
Poverty is a pervasive issue in Pakistan that forces many young individuals to prioritize survival over education. In Punjab, an overwhelming 59.8 percent of school children who remain out of school are held back by the harsh grip of financial troubles. Thus, thousands of students, beset with financial challenges, choose to work early on in their lives instead of continuing education. This was true for Ismail as well as he had to take the difficult decision of abandoning his education and continuing in his father’s footsteps as a van conductor to sustain his family, making him one of the 13.1% of children in Khanewal stuck in child labour.
Additionally, the visible failure of the majority of degree holders to secure jobs leads to further disillusionment, especially among boys. 4.5 million individuals are currently unemployed in the country, with the youth aged 15-24 having the highest unemployment rate of 11.1%. Parents question the practical value of years of education, asking their children to start earning at an early age. They believe this to be a safer and more practical option in the face of widespread joblessness.
Ismail too felt the same unease with regards to his future. Watching many remain unemployed even after completing bachelor’s degree appeared compelling enough for his family to conclude that he would fare much better with starting a job as opposed to wasting many more years and ending up jobless.
‘کچھ لوگ ہیں جیسے میں اپنے فیملی کے حوالے سے بات کر رہا ہوں کچھ وقت تک میرے والد صاحب جو ہوتا ہے مایوس ہو گئے ہمارے فیملی میں سے دیکھ کے کیوں کہ جاب کا بہت مسئلہ ہوتا ہے اس کے بعد کیوں کہ پڑھائی بہت یہاں پہ 16پڑھے بھی لڑکے پھر رہے ہیں یعنی کہ جاب نہیں ہے جاب کا ملنا بہت مشکل ہے سر میٹرک کے بعد کوئی کام وغیرہ سیکھیں ہنر وغیرہ ہو اس کا فائدہ ہے اس کو’۔
اسماعیل، خانیوال
Conclusion
Hina’s struggle against societal constraints and Ismail’s sacrifice for family survival reflect two sides of the same coin: a poverty-stricken social structure which fails at meeting the various needs of girls and binds boys to breadwinning, stifling dreams and potentials.
The most prudent way to prevent the same fate as that of Hina and Ismail for millions of other young individuals, is the availability of an inclusive, collaborative, tech-enabled, and sustainable system of welfare education that provides a helping hand to students belonging to deprived backgrounds. That being said, a vast network of welfare institutions does exist in Pakistan, disseminating education to thousands of deserving students. However, during our work on the project, we noticed several voids within this system that need to be underlined and resolved–a giant task we aim for in our upcoming blog.
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