Education plays a very important role in the socio-economic development of a society. It enables individuals to make informed decisions, improves their choices and develops their potentials to play productive roles in society. It also provides employment opportunities to low-income families and serves as a vehicle for social mobility, particularly for those who do not have other means of earnings. Experts believe that a minimum 70 per cent literacy rate is essential for initiating and sustaining economic growth and development in a society.

According to a Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2006-7, the literacy rate of children aged 10-plus in Pakistan is about 55 per cent while the adult literacy rate of 15-plus population is about 52 per cent. The figures become disturbing when we see larger disparities between the rural and urban population and between males and females. The literacy rate remains higher in the urban areas than what it is in the rural areas and much higher in men than in women.

The adult literacy rate (15 years and above) in males is 65 per cent as compared to 38 per cent in females. Corresponding figures for urban and rural population is 70 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively. If the situation is compared with what it was a few years back, it can be seen that the literacy rate in Pakistan has increased at the rate of about one per cent per annum.

In the Northern Areas of Pakistan, the literacy rate seems to be increasing at a relatively faster pace. The Northern Areas of Pakistan constitute a single administrative unit, which was formed by the amalgamation of the Gilgit Agency, the Baltistan District of Ladakh, and the States of Hunza and Nagar in 1970. These areas or territories were under the administrative control of the Federal Government of Pakistan and hence called Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA). The Northern Area Legislative Assembly (NALA) was managing affairs of these areas since 2002.

While honouring the sentiments and demands of the local people, the government of Pakistan recently awarded independent status to these areas and their nomenclature has also been changed to Gilgit and Baltistan. This is not just a change of the name, rather giving an identity to the local people. Northern Areas are comprised of six districts named Gilgit, Ghizer, Astore, Diamer, Skardu and Ghanche. The population of the region is about 1.5 million. Approximately 86 per cent of the population in the Northern Areas lives in the rural areas as compared with an estimated 66 per cent for Pakistan as a whole.

Although education is a provincial subject, but as the Northern Areas were administered by the Federal Government, hence the Federal Government itself was responsible for making provisions for education of children in these areas. According to a 1998 census, the adult literacy in Gilgit and Baltistan was about 38 per cent, which has now risen to 53 per cent in 2005-6 (males 64 per cent and females 41 per cent). This figure is slightly higher than the national figure of 52 per cent in 2006-7 (PSLM, 2006-7). At present Gilgit and Baltistan have a system of education comprising about 2,100 schools or educational institutions, including schools set up by the Federal Government, community-based schools, schools set up by Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) and other NGOs.

However, due to the physical features of these areas the provision of educational facilities in these areas has been a daunting task. Gilgit and Baltistan are isolated and happen to be most inaccessible mountainous regions with a harsh physical environment and severe weather conditions.

The first three primary schools in the Northern Areas were established by the Political Agent in as early as1893 in Gilgit, Astore and Gupis. Until the 1940s, the government was the sole provider of formal education in the Northern Areas. In 1946, the first 17 Diamond Jubilee Schools were established by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), which can be cited as a first community intervention in the field of education in these areas.

The history of female education in these areas is even more disheartening. Because they are far-flung and much at a distance from the rest of the country, there has been less awareness among the people about female education there. Consequently, female education has remained less in focus till about the 1970s. Gradually the local communities became aware of the importance of female education and a struggle for female education began mostly in Ismaili communities, particularly in the Hunza and Ghizer regions. In 1981, female literacy rate in the region was estimated under three per cent as compared to the 16 per cent total literacy rate in Pakistan. Even in the late '90s the educational indicators in the entire Northern Areas were reported to be among the worst in the country, and were especially low for girls and women. In 1994, the enrolment rate for girls was just 29 per cent as compared to the 60 per cent for boys. According to a 1998 census, the literacy rate was reported to be 37.85 per cent (male 52.62 per cent and female 21.65 per cent) in the Northern Areas. Female literacy rates in certain areas such as Baltistan were reported as low as 13 per cent.

However, there has been a drastic improvement in the recent years as a result of two interventions. Firstly, about 500 schools were opened under the Social Action Programme in the remote areas in mid-1990 and secondly, a 10-year-long Northern Pakistan Education Project was implemented by AKES with support from the European Commission.

It is because of such interventions, that education facilities have reached almost in each and every corner of the region. I have had the fortune to visit these areas very extensively and I have been amazed to see the establishment of two schools in a village very difficult to access that was situated within half a kilometre of the boarder adjoining Indian occupied Kashmir.

In another village I had the chance to visit an adult literacy centre, which was being wrapped up because of the end of the project and I was impressed by the level of awareness that the village females have developed regarding education. They were worried about the closure of the adult literacy centre and demanded for the continuation of education facilities in the region.

The current enrolment of boys and girls in different public-sector schools is given in the table below, which shows that the gap between enrolment of boys and girls is narrowing with the passage of time. The total enrolment of girls in both public and private schools is about 90,000, which is not much less than the total enrolment of boys.

The writer is dean, Faculty of Education at the University of the Punjab

drhmiqbal@gmail.com