SPARC’s Message on Global Action Week on
Global Campaign for Education, 2008

Education is the Fundamental Right of All Children including those in jails, neglected, disabled and excluded from the mainstream. Lend your Voice to SPARC’s Demand for EDUCATION FOR ALL during this Action Week

45 Million Children Denied Right To Education in Pakistan; Report

In Pakistan 45 million children are deprived of education, including Children in Jails, Child & Bonded Laborers, Disabled, Minorities and Girls. And SPARC on the occasion of the Global Campaign for Education Action Week demands equal right to every child to quality, uniform, education said a Press Release issued by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) on April 25 in Islamabad.

Every year, SPARC celebrates the Global Campaign for Education Action week from April 21-27, with the world, to show solidarity for all those children who are denied their basic and important right to education. SPARC celebrates this Week nation-wide through its offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Hyderabad and through 30 Child Rights Committees at the district level.

According to Pakistan’s National Education Census (NEC) 2005, so far 23% urban areas and 21% rural areas have not any educational facilities. Primary Education is available to only 70% children of the country. UNESCO in its Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2008 says the education budget of Pakistan is still 2.7 of the GDP, which is among the lowest in any country.

Moreover, Pakistan, India and Nigeria receive 27% of international aid for education, and the results show that the drop out rate is highest in these three countries, while girls are denied education on the basis of culture and religion. From the above figures, it is clear that it will be difficult, rather impossible for Pakistan to attain 100% literacy and Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015.

SPARC organized the GCE week in different schools throughout the week. It held various activities which included a talk with teachers and students on the Importance of Quality education. The students shared that children could not go to school because they were too poor and had to earn for their own and family’s livelihood. Students felt that it is important for the government and the civil society to provide education for every child, including, the rag pickers, beggars, disabled, children in jails, minorities and also girls, who are denied their right to education because of various reasons.

The Union Council Nazim attended the biggest event of the Week on April 23 that was the biggest lesson, in which the teachers, students, parliamentarians, media personnel, and activists highlighted the importance of education for all and also for those who are excluded from the mainstream.

SPARC also held various activities such as walks, seminars, poster competition among the children, banner display all over the country, radio program and scrolls on cables to create awareness among the masses and to pressurize the newly elected government to place children and their issues particularly, education on top of their agenda for the betterment of the children and the country.

The Global Action Week 2008 theme builds on the previous theme of the right to education, calling for an end to all forms of exclusion from quality education. Over 70 million children of school-going age are not in school and access and retention levels particularly for certain categories of people for example, girls and children with special needs, are still low.

In Sub-Saharan Africa for example, fewer than 70 percent are in school. Partly as a consequence, over 800 million adults cannot read or write. Yet to ensure that Education for All is truly achieved, the challenge is not merely to guarantee universal access to education but equally to ensure that it is of good quality. This is essential because it is the right of all to have a good quality education, and because it will allow maximum economic, social and health benefits from education. Moreover, poor families will not make the sacrifices necessary to send their children to school if it is perceived to be poor quality. We don’t just want education for all but we want a quality education for all.