How unstable Pakistan can sustain the educational needs of Afghan Refugees
- Sheheryar Amir - 23020498
- Jul 1, 2022
- 2 min read
Known for its hospitality, Pakistan is home to 1.44 million registered Afghan refugees and 0.6 million unregistered refugees. Out of these Afghan refugees, 52% are children and 80% are not enrolled in the schools. Pakistan, with the help of UNHCR, has ensured educational facilities for these refugees in many remote villages however the stability is far from now.
Bottlenecks in the Refugee Education:
Pakistan lacks a legal framework of protecting refugees, therefore, no strong policies are in place to cater to the huge number of Afghani people.
Multiple barriers- such as transportation costs, outdated teaching practices, low educational budget, travel and tuition costs are the hindrance in the Afghan refugees education.
The pandemic caused shut down of many physical institutes and with no online facilities in the remote areas - many children were forced out of education towards daily wage labor.
Limited access for girls' education is another hindrance. Only 35% of the Afghan refugee girls are enrolled in school.
How and Who can solve the problem:
Whilst Pakistan fights the economical war and the takeover of Taliban in Afghanistan - the education of refugees is more complex than ever. Pakistan Civil Society has identified numerous tangible steps to cater to the problem.
The remedies include construction of girls’ schools, solving transport problems for schools, putting efforts in teacher training, and, making reintegration programs for students that may have been compelled to drop out of school. These steps won’t end all existing challenges, but they will help in greater future enrollment and student retention.
However, the unstable Government of Pakistan cannot solve the problem alone. It needs the assistance of International Community, Donors, and United Nations to work on the solutions. In short, the world needs to step up in the effort of supporting Afghan Refugees in Pakistan.
A pertinent topic, given Pakistan and its unstable situation more often then not it is a very big deal that it acts a host country to one of the most conflict ridden countries in the world, though unfortunately it often falls short on fulfilling the safe haven that its supposed to act as, a specific point that is a long run issue is the lack of education fro the afghan refugee girls, this is rather unfortunate going Afghanistan holding girls back on purpose while girls who could live in Pakistan have a fair shot, a reform that could be taken is incentivizing children and them being sent to school given the importance the world has, Pakistan also receives large funding…
Those are some very efficient suggestions. I think another important aspect of teaching Afghan refugees is incorporating their histories and their culture into the curriculum. This might take more effort but for a group of children who have already been uprooted from their homeland, they should at least know where they come from so they don't feel alienated even further. Granted, this is a very time consuming and cost heavy endeavour and would require a bigger budget but it would also be more rewarding.
Some good points raised here. However, I don't agree with your point of Pakistan needs assistance from donors etc. The thing is, while it's true Pakistan can't fulfil requirements these refugees need alone, they have actually been getting millions of dollars in US aid for these refugees. So the question here to ask is, what's the progress? What has been done? Are there any significant improvements seen in the problems and are solutions implemented? Who was responsible for handling the budget and how was it spent. In my opinion, money isn't a very big issue as they have been getting aid to accommodate Afghan refugees.
Very well written Sheheryar. The Afghan refugee problem itself is a major tackle, let alone their education in Pakistan. Pakistan, where the education of the already citizens is quite low, needs to bring major policy changes regarding the education of the refugees. Also the reason why the refugees should be provided education is that in the future they can be an asset for the country and also the children do not tend to join the terrorism activities and other illegal activities.