Daily Times

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child was the first-ever international commitment that was legally binding on the signatories. In 1989, the UNCRC was presented, especially, to ensure that children enjoyed all human rights. It is the responsibility of all 193 signatory states to protect the human rights of all children in their countries.

Now that almost three decades have passed since this convention was first presented in the UN, it is worthwhile to discuss progress on two very important rights of children in Pakistan i.e. health and education.

Every country periodically reports on progress made to safeguard the rights of children. In the fifth periodic report submitted by the Government of Pakistan in 2015, it was reported that there were 82 million children in the country. The number was expected to reach 86 million by 2020. Pakistan is among the countries having the highest proportion of children in their population.

After the 18thAmendment to the Constitution in 2010, several powers have been transferred to provincial governments. It is the major responsibility of provinces to legislate, develop policies and procedures and to allocate sufficient budget for actions regarding protection of rights of children. Therefore, the role of provincial governments is vital in provision of facilities for health and education.

Health and development constitute an important group of rights of children. Proper immunization can protect children against several dangerous diseases. Pakistan’s expanded immunization programme is working on childhood tuberculosis, diarrhoea, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, polio and tetanus. Although considerable work has been done on immunization, Pakistan remains among the three countries failing to eradicate poliomyelitis.

According to a nutrition survey taken by the USAID in 2011, 62 per cent of the children in Pakistan were anaemic; 31per cent were under weight

According to the 2019 WHO fact sheet on poliomyelitis, a failure to implement a strategic approach has resulted in continuing endemic transmission of polio in three countries: Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Besides the lack of a strategic approach, there have been incidents of violence against polio vaccination teams. Negative propaganda has made the challenge of reaching all children for polio vaccination even bigger.

Pakistan is among the top six priority countries for measles and rubella initiative collaboration. A VPD Surveillance Report in 2016 said that out of a sample of 3,380 suspected cases of measles, 36 per cent were found positive. Up to 61 per cent of the cases were from Sindh. The second highest incidence, 37 per cent, was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

No comprehensive data repository is available on health and nutrition status of children with disabilities. One has to rely therefore on findings of various surveys and reports. According to a nutrition survey taken by the USAID in 2011, 62 per cent of the children in Pakistan were anaemic; 31 per cent were under weight. A similar 2017 survey by the National Planning Commission reported that out of all children 33 per cent were underweight, anaemia was present in 33 per cent children and 15 per cent were wasted (having low weight for height) and 44 per cent were stunted (low height for age).

Is it a lack of resources or commitment that hinders improvements in the health conditions of children? Dr Abdul Tawwab Khan, the former president of the Punjab Paediatric Association, once said during a consultative meeting that at least in the Punjab, the Health Department has sufficient human resource and infrastructure to combat malnutrition. He believed that political will and disciplined management could yield substantial improement.

The second important right is education. Through the 18thConstitutional Amendment, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan acknowledged the provision of free and compulsory basic education as a basic right. Article 25a reads: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law”. In 2012, the federal government enacted the Free and Compulsory Education Act. It was followed by the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013, Free and Compulsory Education Act of the Punjab and Balochistan, and in 2017 the KP Free Primary and Secondary Education Bill.

This indicates that federal as well as provincial governments have made a commitment to free and compulsory basic education. According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18, the literacy rate in Pakistan is 58 per cent. There is a noticeable difference between literacy rates for males (70 per cent) and females (48 per cent). Although governments have pledged to increase reach and quality of public school system, a clear divide between literacy rate of children in urban and rural areas can be seen. Pakistan Economic Survey indicated that for females in urban areas it is 68 per cent and in rural areas it is meagre 36 per cent. Another split exists in the form of different tiers of private and English medium schools creating and strengthening socio-economic divide in society. The paying power of the parents decides the nature and quality of education a child can access.

Another, rather overlooked, situation is provision of academic facilities for persons with special needs, who, according to the World Health Organization are 15 per cent of the population. Prof Dr Abdul Hameed, a former dean of School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Management and Technology, reported in his research that in the Punjab, where we have 293 government-run special schools, less than 5 per cent of children with special needs are going to any school. The rest do not have access to any academic institution.

In order to increase enrolment and decrease dropouts in primary schools, the government needs to adopt inclusion as a policy. Training teachers to accept and accommodate diverse learners through pre-service and in-service training is critical. The future lies in inclusion, the objective of reaching 100 per cent primary education can only be achieved by empowering school communities to accommodate diversity in gender, ability level, ethnicity, caste, and religion.

The writer is a Director Programs & Projects at Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society