First anniversary of the passage of the ‘KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act’; PYCA calls for immediate implementation.

Areebah Shahid, Executive Director of Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) shared her views on 15^th January 2022 which coincides with the first anniversary of ‘KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act’, which was passed by KP Provincial Assembly last year on 15^th January 2021. She said; “after almost 22 years in the process, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the landmark ‘KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act’ last year on 15^th January 2021 and with the passage of this legislation, domestic violence across the province was proclaimed a punishable offense. Apart from physical and sexual violence, the law also brought economic and psychological abuses under the umbrella of domestic violence”.

She showed her concern by saying that; “even a year after the passage of the ‘KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act’, the province-wide implementation of the law is still awaited. There is no doubt that the passage of the law itself is a huge feat in-itself but without actual implementation, there is little reason to celebrate”.

She feared that; “in the past, we have seen social sector laws, such as Article 25-A, which pledges free and compulsory education for every Pakistani child to see no progress at the implementation level despite 12 years having elapsed since its passage. We fear the ‘KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act’ might face the same fate.”

PTI leaders and members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Madiha Nisar, and Ayesha Bano during their recent appearances in a web show had shared that the rules of business of the law were being drafted and they remained hopeful about its provincewide implementation within the next few months.

Ayesha Bano – MPA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Madiha Nisar – MPA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PYCA is currently running an awareness campaign around the law so more women become aware of its various provisions. Hisham Khan, Senior Program Officer at PYCA shared his views by saying; “our purpose is to ensure that women and girls across the province understand how the law is designed to protect them and what provisions are being offered under it to keep them safe from all forms of violence inside the four walls of their homes”.

About PYCA: We envision a diverse Pakistan where the value of education, good governance and ultimately human life and well-being reigns supreme. Since 2013, PYCA has successfully established a deep footprint in 20 districts across Pakistan. Since our inception, we have directly reached over 1 million people across the country with initiatives focusing on education, social cohesion, citizen journalism, effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for good governance, and promotion of greater pluralism in Pakistani media.

Enhancing girls’ access to education top priority for Ministry of Education – Wajiha Akram

“It seems that even though the law of free and compulsory education (Article 25-A) was passed over a decade ago, the government departments are under the assumption that this law cannot be implemented and so, no coherent effort in this regard is necessary”. This concern was raised by Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) during a round table discussion in Islamabad with the members of the Standing Committees of Senate and National Assembly. 

This parliamentary roundtable was organized by civil society organizations including CPDI, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) and Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) in collaboration with Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS). 

Ms. Zehra Arshad, National Coordinator, PCE while providing an Analysis of Article 25-A, SDG 4 and Ehsaas program shared, “Pakistan has the second largest number of out-of-school children in the world. It is then not surprising that Pakistan stands last in the Human Development Index among South Asian countries. To add to this crisis, it is feared that an additional 1 million children might have dropped out-of-schools”. she emphasized on the importance of not merely ensuring the swift implementation of Article 25-A but also aligning it with the SDGs to ensure at least 12 years of free and quality education for all.

PYCA’s Executive Director Areebah Shahid commented on the progress towards SDG 4 goals and provided recommendations to achieve Agenda 2030. “There is a dire need to align Pakistan’s commitments under SDG 4 with the actual spending taking place under education. At the federal level this year, we allocated almost 90% of the monetary resources for tertiary education and merely 1.04% for school education. This huge disparity in funding priorities will only make us lag in terms of meeting our SDG commitments”. She concluded by saying that; “there is an urgent need to introduce gender responsive education budgeting on the same lines as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to achieve the promise of equitable education.”

Ms. Ghazala Saifi, Member of the Standing Committee for Education and the Parliamentary Secretary for National Heritage & Culture pledged greater collaboration between the government and civil society organizations. She shared her views as; “the standing committee will look forward to conducting meetings in the presence of civil society stakeholders so that there is a sustainable platform for the exchange information, ideas and expertise”. 

Senator Falak Naz Chitrali quoted the example of Chitral to highlight the malice of child marriages and she said; “suicide rate among young women in Chitral has increased over the last few years and the leading causes are either child marriages or marriages in which the woman’s consent is not entertained”.

While speaking about the flaws in our education system, MNA Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak pointed out that; “if we look back in the history, the majority of the national heroes like Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan studied in very backward village schools. He excelled not just because of his passion but the provision of excellent teachers who believed in educating with passion rather than with corporal punishment. Incompetent teachers are contributing to the very high number of drop-outs. To ensure retention of students in schools, we need to bring in good teachers”.

In the closing remarks, the Chief Guest, Ms. Wajiha Akram, Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training said; “the federal ministry is not just aware of the issues but we are very actively working to overcome them despite having very limited resources at our disposal”. 

She added by saying; “we are currently in the process of upgrading the list of beneficiaries under the Ehsaas Education Stipend Program to ensure that children from families that fell below the poverty line after COVID can also immediately benefit from this nationwide initiative”.

She further added; “enhancing girls’ access to education remains at the heart of our current strategy and we will actively engage with civil society to ensure a process of two-way learning that can make education possible for the most marginalized children in Pakistan.”

Being a woman I faced numerous challenges during my educational & political journey – MPA Madiha Nisar.

“Whoever says women don’t have the ability to perform as well as men need to get their records straight. As women we face many hurdles and challenges in our lives starting from our basic right to education. This struggle continues in our pursuit for economic empowerment. And yet, we continue to march on, equally contributing alongside men.” These views expressed by Madiha Nisar, Member of the Provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Higher Education during a workshop organized by Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA).

This workshop was carried out under PYCA’s initiative, “Increasing Girls’ Participation in Education in Rural Pakistan” which is being implemented with support from inHive Global. Under this initiative, strong female role models from rural Pakistan will return to their former village schools to engage with the currently enrolled students and their families. These female volunteers will serve as mentors and role models who will enable and inspire young girls to aspire for leadership roles as they tread forward in their educational journey.

“It is very exciting that such amazing young women have gathered in this workshop to collectively work on the noble and important cause of girls’ education,” said Madiha Nisar while speaking with the young female volunteers present at the workshop.

Ms. Sana Ahmed, Program Officer at Blue Veins also participated as a guest speaker at the training and shared, “My family was not very flexible when it came to girls receiving education. Still, I fought for my right and today I am a practicing lawyer, member of the civil society and an advocate of women rights. I am grateful that when my younger sister wanted to pursue her higher education, she did not have to face the same challenges as I had and my troubled journey paved a smooth path for her.”

Lead facilitator of the workshop, Mr. Hisham Khan, Program Officer at PYCA stressed on the importance of girls’ education and stated, “It is a bitter reality that there are currently 22.8 million children out-of-schools in Pakistan. 53% of these out-of-school children are girls.” He further added that civil society organizations should come up with innovative, low cost and sustainable solutions to help more girls get enrolled in schools. “Creating alumni networks is one such innovative solution. The alumni role models will not only help the school-going girls but will also help to motivate their parents to enroll their daughters in schools and keep them there. In the current time, at least 12 years of education is the basic need of every Pakistani child, especially the girls.”

About PYCA: We envision a diverse Pakistan where the value of education, good governance and ultimately human life and well-being reigns supreme. Since 2013, PYCA has successfully established a deep footprint in 20 districts across Pakistan. Since our inception, we have directly reached over 1 million people across the country with initiatives focusing on education, social cohesion, citizen journalism, effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for good governance, and promotion of greater pluralism in Pakistani media.

‘Punjab Free & Compulsory Education Act’ will soon be implemented across Punjab – Aisha Nawaz Chaudhary.

“The constitutional amendment of Article 25-A, pledging free, quality and equitable education for every Pakistani child occurred in the year 2010. The Punjab Assembly passed the Free & Compulsory education Act in 2014. However, despite the lapse of seven years since the passage of this provincial law, it is yet to be notified. What then was the point of passing a law that the government did not intend to implement?” This question was raised by Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) during a round table discussion in Islamabad with the members of the Standing Committee on School Education, Punjab.

This parliamentary round table was organized by civil society organizations including Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) and Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) in collaboration with Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS).

Chairperson of the Provincial Standing Committee on School Education Punjab, Ms. Aisha Nawaz Chaudhary chaired the roundtable. Responding to Mr. Mukhtar Ahmed’s question she assured the civil society stakeholders that the standing committee was in constant coordination with the provincial education department and the law would soon be notified. She said; “the notification of the ‘Punjab Free & Compulsory Education Act’ is a top agenda item for this standing committee. We will soon begin its phased implementation, starting with the most vulnerable districts in Punjab.”

Public finance expert and author of the recent published white-paper “Public Invest in Education: An Appraisal of SDG 4 in Pakistan” Mr. Asim Bashir Khan while providing an overview of the findings and recommendations of the white-paper said; “both the federal and provincial governments understand the fact that the current state of public investment in education is not up to the required mark. This is evident from the majority of the sector plans as well as the Vision 2025 document which pledges to allocate 4% of the GDP to education. However, in actuality Pakistan has been unable to allocate more than 2.5% of its GDP in the last 20 years. The COVID crises have led to a further decline in public investment in education with merely 1.5% of GDP being allocated for education in the fiscal year 2020 – 21.”

PCE’s National Coordinator Ms. Zehra Arshad while talking about equitable access to education said; “although our international commitment according to SDG 4 is to attain 100% literacy, we still have 22.84 million out-of-school children of which 12.16 million are girls. This number is further expected to increase by at least 4.2% in the aftermath of the pandemic. With merely eight years remaining until the conclusion of the United Nations Agenda 2030, Pakistan was on the verge of missing its targets under SDG-4 (i.e., quality equitable education) by a huge margin”.

Commenting on the institutional and cultural barriers limiting girls’ education in the post-pandemic context, PYCA’s Executive Director Areebah Shahid urged the parliamentarians to revisit the data of the beneficiaries of the EHSAAS Education Stipend Program, which is based on the lists of vulnerable households prepared almost a decade ago. She said; “thousands of households have fallen below the poverty line as a direct impact of the pandemic and it is imperative that the EHSAAS Education Stipend program also takes stocks of this new situation. members of the Punjab Assembly should also adopt gender-responsive budgeting on the same lines as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that educational planning and spending could effectively prioritize girls’ access to quality education cross the province”.

The civil society stakeholders also asked the parliamentarians to take-up the issue of the absence of the chapter on out-of-school children in this year’s Pakistan Education Statistics report. Given that Pakistan hosts the second largest population of out-of-school children in the world, eliminating the chapter on out-of-school children deprives both the decisionmakers and the civil society from valuable data that is imperative to frame policies aimed at addressing the educational crisis in Pakistan.

Mr. Muhammad Rashid Zaka, Director General Research at PIPS shed light on the key role of the parliamentary committees to hold line departments accountable. He said; “the implementation of education across Punjab can be made manifold more effective by strengthening parliamentarians’ oversight in the implementation process”.

MPA Shamim Aftab, while talking about the need to curtail learning losses pointed at the need for piloting small digital and hybrid learning initiatives to make the country’s education system resilient and better prepared in the face of emergency situations such as the current pandemic.

In her closing remarks MPA Aisha Nawaz Chaudhary said; “the best way to move forward is to have greater engagement between legislators, education department officials and civil society activists so that the consequent policy direction is both participatory and inclusive.” There should be similar round tables in vulnerable districts of Punjab to learn about the challenges in the education system directly from the district officials and community members”.