Education in Gilgit and Baltistan

By Prof Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal

Dawn-October 18, 2009 Sunday.

E DUCATION plays a very importantrole in the socio-economic development of a society. It enables individuals to makeinformed decisions, improves their choices and develops their potentials toplay productive roles in society. It also provides employment opportunities tolow-income families and serves as a vehicle for social mobility, particularlyfor those who do not have other means of earnings. Experts believe that aminimum 70 per cent literacy rate is essential for initiating and sustainingeconomic growth and development in a society.
According to a Pakistan Social and LivingStandards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2006-7, the literacy rate of children aged10-plus in Pakistanis about 55 per cent while the adult literacy rate of 15-plus population isabout 52 per cent. The figures become disturbing when we see larger disparitiesbetween the rural and urban population and between males and females. Theliteracy rate remains higher in the urban areas than what it is in the ruralareas 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. Correspondingfigures 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 rateof about one per cent per annum.
In the Northern Areas of Pakistan, theliteracy rate seems to be increasing at a relatively faster pace. The NorthernAreas of Pakistan constitute a single administrative unit, which was formed bythe amalgamation of the Gilgit Agency, the Baltistan District of Ladakh, andthe States of Hunza and Nagar in 1970. These areas or territories were underthe administrative control of the Federal Government of Pakistan and hencecalled Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA). The Northern AreaLegislative Assembly (NALA) was managing affairs of these areas since 2002.
While honouring the sentiments and demands ofthe local people, the government of Pakistan recently awardedindependent status to these areas and their nomenclature has also been changedto Gilgit and Baltistan. This is not just a change of the name, rather givingan identity to the local people. Northern Areas are comprised of six districtsnamed Gilgit, Ghizer, Astore, Diamer, Skardu and Ghanche. The population of theregion is about 1.5 million. Approximately 86 per cent of the population in theNorthern Areas lives in the rural areas as compared with an estimated 66 percent for Pakistanas a whole.
Although education is a provincial subject,but as the Northern Areas were administered by the Federal Government, hencethe Federal Government itself was responsible for making provisions foreducation of children in these areas. According to a 1998 census, the adultliteracy in Gilgit and Baltistan was about 38 per cent, which has now risen to53 per cent in 2005-6 (males 64 per cent and females 41 per cent). This figureis 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 comprisingabout 2,100 schools or educational institutions, including schools set up bythe Federal Government, community-based schools, schools set up by Aga KhanEducation Services (AKES) and other NGOs.
However, due to the physical features of theseareas the provision of educational facilities in these areas has been adaunting task. Gilgit and Baltistan are isolated and happen to be mostinaccessible mountainous regions with a harsh physical environment and severeweather conditions.
The first three primary schools in theNorthern Areas were established by the Political Agent in as early as1893 inGilgit, Astore and Gupis. Until the 1940s, the government was the sole providerof formal education in the Northern Areas. In 1946, the first 17 Diamond JubileeSchools were established by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), which can be citedas a first community intervention in the field of education in these areas.
The history of female education in these areasis even more disheartening. Because they are far-flung and much at a distancefrom the rest of the country, there has been less awareness among the peopleabout female education there. Consequently, female education has remained lessin focus till about the 1970s. Gradually the local communities became aware ofthe importance of female education and a struggle for female education beganmostly in Ismaili communities, particularly in the Hunza and Ghizer regions. In1981, female literacy rate in the region was estimated under three per cent ascompared to the 16 per cent total literacy rate in Pakistan. Even in the late‘90s the educational indicators in the entire Northern Areas werereported to be among the worst in the country, and were especially low forgirls and women. In 1994, the enrolment rate for girls was just 29 per cent ascompared to the 60 per cent for boys. According to a 1998 census, the literacyrate was reported to be 37.85 per cent (male 52.62 per cent and female 21.65per cent) in the Northern Areas. Female literacy rates in certain areas such asBaltistan were reported as low as 13 per cent.
However, there has been a drastic improvementin the recent years as a result of two interventions. Firstly, about 500schools were opened under the Social Action Programme in the remote areas inmid-1990 and secondly, a 10-year-long Northern Pakistan Education Project wasimplemented by AKES with support from the European Commission.
It is because of such interventions, thateducation 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 beenamazed to see the establishment of two schools in a village very difficult toaccess that was situated within half a kilometre of the boarder adjoiningIndian occupied Kashmir.
In another village I had the chance to visitan adult literacy centre, which was being wrapped up because of the end of theproject and I was impressed by the level of awareness that the village femaleshave developed regarding education. They were worried about the closure of theadult literacy centre and demanded for the continuation of education facilitiesin the region.
The current enrolment of boys and girls indifferent publicsector schools is given in the table below, which shows thatthe gap between enrolment of boys and girls is narrowing with the passage oftime. The total enrolment of girls in both public and private schools is about90,000, which is not much less than the total enrolment of boys. ¦