Education may be a fundamental human right, but girls in Pakistan face many barriers including poverty, cultural and religious beliefs and gender inequality that continue to keep them out of classrooms.
Growing up in a small village in rural Pakistan, school wasn’t an option for Sunia*.
Her lack of education limited her life choices and made her vulnerable. Unable to earn an income, Sunia has raised six children on the meagre living her husband makes as a labourer. She can’t read her household bills or the labels on her children’s medicines.
“We never had the chance to study, and we didn’t even understand how important education is.”
~ Sunia *
The Cost of Excluding Girls from Education
It’s been a struggle, but Sunia didn’t think life could be any different for her daughters. Like all mothers in her village, she only sent her sons to school. She didn’t understand how important education for girls was.
“No girls in our village were educated,” she says.
But excluding girls from school comes at a high price. Girls without education face limited opportunities, early marriage, and fewer life choices.
When Act for Peace’s local partner, Community World Service Asia (CWSA), came to Sunia’s village, she learned how education for girls brings incredible new opportunities to their lives.
CWSA raised awareness of the importance of education for girls in Pakistan and how it can open doors to a brighter future. And that new future is brimming with possibilities. It’s a future where a girl has the skills and knowledge to become self-reliant. A future she can choose for herself. And a future where she has opportunities her mother never had.
Anaya’s Story has a bright future
After learning about the brighter future that education creates for girls, Sunia wanted to make a difference in her community.
Her first step was to enrol her youngest daughter, Anaya*, in school. CWSA then encouraged and supported Sunia to become a champion for girls’ education in her community.
“When my daughter began attending school, I organised several meetings with the women in my village. I encouraged them to send their daughters to school as well,” she said.
“I explained that through education, they could improve their lives. As a result, over the past two years, many girls have started going to school.”
Attitudes are shifting, more and more girls are going to school, and communities are realising the long-term benefits of education for all.
Ten-year-old Anaya* walks an hour to get to school in the morning because she knows how important education is for her future.
“Before the CWSA program, parents focused more on boys’ education, while girls were kept away from education.
“Now, both boys and girls have been given equal opportunities.
“I want to become a doctor and help people.”
~ Anaya*
Education has opened a door to opportunity and hope for the future for Anaya.
Since CWSA’s education program began in 2009, they now support disadvantaged children to learn and thrive in 25 primary schools in Pakistan. But the work of partners like CWSA is at risk.
Threats to the progress of Education for Girls in Pakistan
CWSA is one of many of Act for Peace’s local partners who have been significantly impacted by the devastating worldwide cuts to government humanitarian aid funding.
These pressures are threatening lives, dignity and decades of humanitarian progress – including in girls’ education in Pakistan. We stand to lose so much of the positive change and progress.
Educating girls drives lasting impact. It’s one of the best ways we can shape a more just and sustainable world.
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With your support, CWSA, can continue to break down the barriers and open the door to opportunity for generations to come.
Please act for peace by giving a tax-deductible gift so girls like Anaya can go to school and hope for brighter future.
* Names have been changed to protect the identities of individuals
