• Education
• Wed 12 2025

Women Left Behind in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Education System

Women’s education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) presents a paradox that Pakistan can no longer afford to ignore. While official statistics show gradual improvements in school enrolment, deeper indicators reveal that gendered educational inequality remains entrenched. Nationally, Pakistan’s literacy rate hovers around 60 percent, but female literacy lags behind at nearly 52 percent, compared to around 68 percent for males. In KP, this gender gap is sharper in rural, merged, and mountainous districts, where cultural norms, weak service delivery, and insecurity intersect. The real challenge, therefore, is not access alone it is retention, quality, and transition of girls across educational stages.

A Stark Reality Check: Numbers That Demand Attention

Recent UNICEF and government-backed estimates paint a troubling picture. KP continues to carry a heavy burden of out-of-school girls, especially at the middle and secondary levels. Around 34 percent of school-age children in KP are out of school, with girls disproportionately affected. Census-aligned data indicates nearly 3 million girls in KP are currently not attending school, exceeding the number of out-of-school boys. These disparities underline an uncomfortable truth: where a girl is born in KP largely determines whether she will be educated. Provincial averages often mask district-level deprivation, particularly in merged districts and hard-to-reach regions.

Beyond Enrolment: Why Girls Are Still Falling Behind

Despite improved enrolment figures at the primary level, girls in KP are systematically pushed out as they grow older. This is driven by a combination of institutional weaknesses and socio-economic realities.

·         Acute shortages of female teachers, especially in rural and tribal districts, directly limit girls’ participation.

·         Girls’ schools are more likely to be closed, understaffed, or merged due to lack of personnel.

·         Poor facilities including lack of boundary walls, sanitation, and safe classrooms discourage families from continuing girls’ education beyond early grades.

At the same time, deep-rooted socio-cultural norms continue to shape educational outcomes:

• Girls are often withdrawn from school for domestic responsibilities or early marriage.
• Families with low male literacy are statistically less likely to invest in girls’ education.
• Mobility restrictions and safety concerns intensify after puberty, leading to high dropout rates at middle school.

Policy Signals That Offer Hope:

While challenges persist, KP has taken some notable steps that deserve recognition and expansion.

• The Insaf Female Education Card, supporting tens of thousands of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in accessing higher education.
• Stipend and school-meal programs in selected districts, which have shown measurable improvements in girls’ attendance.
• Partnerships with international organisations focusing on gender-responsive education planning and teacher training.

Yet these initiatives remain fragmented and limited in scale. Without sustained political commitment and province-wide expansion, their impact will remain symbolic rather than transformative.

What Needs to be Done?

• Recruit and retain female teachers in rural and merged districts.
• Scale up stipend and incentive programs, with proper monitoring of retention and learning outcomes.
• Engage communities, particularly fathers and local leaders, to shift norms around girls’ education.
• Invest in safe school environments, including transport, sanitation, and secure campuses.
• Track learning outcomes, not just enrolment figures, to ensure real educational progress.

Analytical Reflection

Women’s education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reveals a structural contradiction between policy ambition and lived reality. While enrolment figures and isolated initiatives create an impression of progress, they fail to address the layered forces that systematically exclude girls as they move up the education ladder. The persistence of district-level disparities, chronic shortages of female teachers, and socio-economic pressures indicate that the problem is not one of awareness or intent, but of governance capacity and prioritisation. Education reforms in KP have largely remained supply-focused, building schools, launching schemes without adequately confronting demand-side constraints such as household economics, safety, and deeply embedded gender norms. This disconnect explains why gains at the primary level collapse at middle and secondary stages. Unless policy shifts from symbolic inclusion to structural transformation grounded in local realities and backed by sustained political will, women’s education in KP will continue to reflect inequality rather than resolve it.