According to the most recent data published by UNICEF, the rate of youth literacy in Pakistan is a little over 60 percent. Meanwhile, the adult literacy rate is closer to 50 percent within the country.
The number of terrorist attacks on educational institutions within Pakistan has increased in recent years. Post reports there was 82 attacks from 2000 to 2008, and 642 attacks from 2009 to 2013. The Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP), established in 2007, has taken credit for many of these attacks. In 2014, seven gunmen killed over 150 people in a public school in Peshawar. The individuals responsible were found to have ties to the TTP. Through fear, these organizations discourage people living within Pakistan from receiving an education.
In Pakistan, over adolescents not enrolled in school are female. Young girls face many barriers to education within Pakistan, but none as significant as the threats of violence. In 2012, Malala Yousafzai became the face of Pakistan’s female education problem after she was brutally attacked by a Taliban militant for speaking out against the oppressive regime.
Pakistan’s constitution ensures the right to education for children between the age of five and sixteen. However, education accounts for only percent of the country’s total GDP according to the most recent data. Consequentially, schools are filled with unqualified teachers and crumbling infrastructure.
Families living in poverty often rely on their children to contribute to the household’s income. Unfortunately, this responsibility can impede upon their ability to attend school.
Over 50 percent of the country aged 15 and above are illiterate. Only 1 in 3 women can read and write.
For every 100 men, 57 women are illiterate giving Pakistan one of the highest gender disparities in the world.
By 2050, Pakistan will have the 4th largest population in the world behind, China, India and the USA, mostly uneducated and unskilled, if education is not provided.
Over a third of all public schools have no boundary wall, no toilet or drinking water facility on site. One in five villages have no school at all.
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