The recent report released by an education advocacy organisation must be a cause for concern for the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa government. Despite its efforts over the years, it appears that the government still hasn’t been able to identify all factors responsible for children dropping out of schools.
The 2016 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has noted that the number of school-age children in the province who remain out of school has increased by a percentage point from 13 percent in 2015 to 14 percent in 2016.
Nonetheless, 86 percent of all school-age children (six to 16 years) are enrolled in schools across KP. This figure has been achieved after the provincial government undertook an innovative approach to increasing enrollment involving vouchers for girls to facilitate travel to and from school, and bicycles for boys. A second shift of classes has also been added to accommodate children.
The increase, albeit nominal, in number of out of school children must not be taken lightly. Experts must be consulted to explore all possible factors that may have led to this phenomenon.
In one of the reports, an education expert has alerted to the possibility of corporal punishment having a role in the matter. Our teaching practices have long involved teachers doling out harsh physical punishments to school children which discourage attendance as well as learning. A 2005 study by UNICEF and Save the Children had identified 43 different types of punishments given to children at schools, and 28 at homes. Though it has been 12 years since that study was undertaken, we do not have any other study available in the public domain to ascertain if there has been any decline in focus on corporal punishment.
The presence of such practices illustrates that our teaching methods are obsolete and in need of immediate revision. For starters, the syllabus taught at teacher training institutes as well as at masters level needs to cover lessons on the ill-effects of corporal punishment.
A focus on corporal punishment shows that instead of relying on positive reinforcement, our schools are still using fear-based incentives to make children learn. An anti-corporal punishment legislation is the need of the hour. The government in KP and across Pakistan need to integrate passage of such legislations into a comprehensive programme to identify factors that lead children to drop out of schools, and many others to not enroll in the first place.
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