In some rural areas of Pakistan, illiteracy rates among women remain at 90 percent, with some villages 150 km from the nearest school.
Reasons for a continued lack of education is a lack of investment in schools and the reluctance of teachers to venture into areas of the country which they deem to be dangerous.
Attacks on teachers, such as those reported by the New York-based Human Rights Watch in December 2010 where 22 teachers were killed, confirm this danger.
One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly these northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds.
Fazila Aliani, a social and education activist, stated that the reason for the lack of educational facilities was the “absence of a well-defined education policy, lack of girls’ schools, acute shortage of teaching staff, and poverty are other factors which contribute to the backwardness”.
In some rural areas, foreign donors seeking to set up schools struggled to do so because of the lack of security and government resistance.
Official statistics released by the Federal Education Ministry of Pakistan give a desperate picture of education, especially for girls. The overall literacy rate is 46 per cent, while only 26 per cent of girls are literate.
Some independent sources and educational experts place the overall literacy rate at 26 per cent and the rate for girls and women at 12 per cent, contending that the higher figures include people who can handle little more than a signature.
In an interview with IRIN, Fareed Ahmed, a provincial coordinator for the autonomous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, stated that “The lack of development in the province is a reason for the lack of education for girls. It is also fuelling the frustration and anger which has created the nationalist insurgency.”
Poverty is also a big hurdle in girls' education. According to UNICEF, 17.6 per cent of Pakistani children are working and supporting their families. Indeed, a child working as domestic help is a common in Pakistan, and this sector employs more girls than boys.