KARACHI: “The results are out! I scored the highest marks for the fifth semester in a row,” exclaims ecstatic Sehrish, a journalism student at the University of Peshawar. Her excitement, however, withers once reality sets in. “I don’t share my results with my parents … they don’t understand what it means to me,” laments Sehrish.
The quota system has for long ruled educational institutions in Pakistan. In 2014, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council abolished merit-based admissions policy for medical colleges and instead reserved 50 per cent seats for boys and the other 50pc for girls. The decision came following the growing trend among girls of acquiring medical education, and then leaving the profession after having done so.
Although, the trend has marginally dipped over the years, the decline in percentage of females in classrooms translating into professional spaces persists. Of the many fields lacking women practitioners, the news industry — traditionally run by men — despite progressing in the digital era, is yet to witness the female top scorers in academia attaining top echelons in media organisations.
“Out of 30 female students, only eight have internship experience in the English section of the programme,” says Zaina Rizvi, a master’s student of mass communications at Karachi University. “In the Urdu section around six out of 20 girls have work experience,” she adds.