More than 85% females in slums of Islamabad illiterate

Islamabad: An updated data of Out of School Children (OOSC) and a special package for the families that could not afford to enrol their children in schools could help in reducing the number of OOSC children. In case of any drop out, the school administration and community members shall immediately contact the family for re-enrolment as almost 90 per cent people want to enrol and re-enrol their children.

There is also a need to adopt holistic approach by integrating technical and vocational education and training in formal and non-formal education schools particularly in slums. These recommendations were presented in two separate reports published by Ministry of Human Rights on, ‘Situation Analysis of Out of School Children’ in slums of Islamabad` and ‘Selected Rural Areas’ of the capital city.

The reports recommend CADD to device a policy and develop comprehensive plan for formal education of 100 per cent enrolment of children aged 5 to 16 years besides urging National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) to develop a comprehensive plan to enrol out of the school children in non-formal education at ICT level.

The studies indicate that most of the children were out of school because of meagre financial resources of the family, migration, lack of job opportunities, disability of child, parental negligence or lack of awareness about education rights and facilities. The study also depicts that a good proportion of drop out children is because of teachers’ harsh attitude, or least interest in class.

The finding of the first report “Situation Analysis of Out of School Children in slums of Islamabad are result of the comprehensive survey of 1,500 households. The survey shows that 1,022 households have children aged between 5-16 years with the total figure of 2,174 children. Among these children 1,524 (70.1 per cent) were never enrolled in school while 650 (29.9 per cent) were ever been enrolled among which 568 (87 per cent) later dropped out due to certain reasons.

The study says that Gross Enrolment Rate in ICT at middle level is 104 per cent which reduces to 49 per cent in secondary school certificate (SCC). It says that in total, there are 177 public schools for boys as compared to 171 schools for girls. The study estimates that 75.8 per cent of the total adult male population and 85.7 per cent of female population in slums is illiterate.

Likewise, “Situation Analysis of Out of School Children in Selected Rural Areas of Islamabad” pointed out that 1261 OOSC children were identified from the 732 households of selected rural areas. The sample children included Humak from 314, Sohan from 380, Noon from 373 and Alipur Farash from 194 among which 1079 (85.6 per cent) never enrolled in school while 182 children (14.4 per cent) dropped out and currently 1261 are still Out Of School (OOS). The study indicated that most of the boys were out-of-school in Humak, Noon and Sohan whereas the majority of girls were OOS in Alipur Farash and adjacent areas.

The studies suggested that teachers and community leaders’ training sessions may be conducted to guide the children and their parents regarding importance of education in their lives. Lastly, it was proposed that committee comprising Ministry of Human Rights, social Welfare Department of Capital Administration and Development Division, Director National Child Protection Centre, representatives of National Commission on Human Development and Federal Directorate of Education etc. may be constituted to develop and implement an action plan to mainstream the out-of-school children.