Pakistan has approximately 3 million Afghan refugee population of which 1.3 million are registered (EUAA). These refugees include children of school-going age who lack access to public education due to a number of factors. It should be noted that 22.8 million Pakistani children are out of school which makes Pakistan the country having the second-highest out-of-school population in the world. In light of this context, the refugees’ access to education is even more limited.
They cannot enroll in schools as they do not have registration or documentation in some cases even 3rd generation Afghans living in Pakistan, and still don’t have documentation and thus can’t access public education. Of the registered population, only 18% of the girls are in school and 34% are boys. Almost 80% of the total population of refugee kids are out of school. Lack of documentation as well as the socioeconomic pressures that children face as refugees force them to stay out of school.
The curriculum taught in Afghan refugee schools also need to be designed in a way that meets the need of the population. The children in refugee schools funded by UNHCR used to study an UN-developed Afghan curriculum but after it was deemed anti-Pakistan by the state the schools started teaching the Pakistani curriculum in schools. This could potentially increase access to higher education for Afghan students.
As repatriation remains the major policy of the Pakistani government towards the Afghan people then the curriculum being taught to the kids is quite inadequate as they move to back to their countries. The schools also do not provide adequate knowledge of the conflict to the students and there is no engagement with the ongoing conflict as the parties involved in the conflict are the ones planning the curriculum. The state of the schools and the student-teacher ratio in the refugee schools are also very high. The low enrolment of girls can be overcome to some extent by having girl-only schools but that has not been possible due to an extreme lack of resources.
Great post
When we look into the situation of Afghan refugees, first of all, we need to provide them with psychological support as to the trauma that they have gone through and when the kids cannot go to school. Hence, the parents send these kids to madrassas under extreme conditions that can worsen their psychological health. Also, let's not forget how these madrassas can instill radical religious ideologies into these kids' minds. Also, have the government taken any steps to provide better education opportunities to Afghan kids, especially girls?
Initially, millions of Afghan refugees were accommodated on an ad hoc basis in refugee villages and camps. Educating Afghan refugee children is essential to protect them from social and political exploitations, and more to keep them at bay from militant activities. However, this was a challenge for the Pakistani government to provide elementary and primary education to Afghan children making around 44-50 % of the total refugee population. This is because refugees were settled in less advanced areas where even the local children rarely get a proper education. Lack of basic infrastructure and trained teachers, local burden, learning material, and low-quality education in government schools hinders the accommodation of such a huge number of Afghan refugee children
Thus, these children…
You highlighted how these refugee children do not have proper documentation to enroll in schools due to which they are unable to get education. Because these children cannot get formal education their parents are either forced either to not send them to school at all or send them to informal education centers, for instance madrassahs. This madrassah education may not be the best form of education for these children who have fled from their country. There has also been no aid given to them in terms of their psychological needs. Getting madrassah education may worsen the situation because they may be taught extreme religious ideas in harsh conditions. This may lead to worsening their mental health.
The state of affairs of the Afghan Refugees is very sad. Refugees are already marginalized and when we bring in the gender lens in it we see much more marginalization. However, community and home-based schools are proving successful options for girls who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn, as a result of geographic, economic or socio-cultural restrictions. Community-based education interventions, such as the girls’ school set up and run by Aqeela Asifi, are affecting lasting change within remote and conservative communities. In so doing, they are opening up long-term opportunities for Afghan children and youth.