Identifying trends and barriers to girls’ secondary education in Pakistan to influence schools and legislators to improve governance and accountability

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Evidence-based advocacy for girls’ secondary education: how Malala fund partners advance local approaches to reach global goals

Proposal

Zehra Arshad is a researcher, writer and advocate for education and women’s rights. She leads Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) as national coordinator and represents civil society on the Global Partnership for Education board. Under her leadership, PCE conducts evidence-based public policy advocacy on education and policy reviews.

In 2018, Malala Fund selected Zehra as a Gulmakai Champion. With her Gulmakai Network grant, Zehra advocates for a constitutional amendment that would increase the national requirement for education from 10 to 12 years. As part of its campaign, PCE collects statistical evidence on gender gaps, conducts media outreach and trains young women to speak out for their education.


It is estimated that 22.6 million children are out of school in Pakistan, of which half are girls. PCE initiated a well-researched intervention in the most underperforming districts of Sindh province. Focus group discussions were organized with girls and mothers to help identify the various reasons of high drop-out ratio of girls from schools and get their uninfluenced views in this regard. These focus group discussions, accompanied with school profiling data, helped curate trainings and capacity building sessions with local government, School Management Committees and head teachers to improve education governance and enhance accountability to ensure transparent allocation and spending of school funds. In this regard, PCE also developed a Social Accountability Framework which was shared with legislators and relevant stakeholders at a national consultation held in the capital, Islamabad.

PCE has designed a campaign to address the various cultural and social obstructions to girls’ education. The platform was used to bring forth stories of individuals who have been through adverse circumstances yet did not give up on education. These inspiring individuals - be it a student, a teacher, a child, a parent, or a government representative - fought against all odds to make access to education a possibility for a girl, a school or an entire neighbourhood. PCE has also made continuous efforts to advocate for greater financing for girls’ education. In this regard, PCE put together a budget tracking study and held various consultations with policy makers and Standing Committee Members at both provincial and national levels. These consultations also hosted girl champions of education who shared their experiences in light of gender specific issues.

Author

• Kaneez Zehra, Society for Access to Quality Education