IDENTIFYING OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN: A POLICY BREACH

Abstract

Present research article deals with the overall misrepresentation of Out of School Children in Pakistan, because after the analysis of various educational national policies and the five-year educational plans it was observed that there was no particular space available for the children who were not present in the national data base. Due to various reasons so many communities living without national identity cards (NIC). In the research site various families were living without their identification of being the citizen of the country. It was hypothesized that if in capital territory various families were living without any particular identification than how many around the country would have been living under the same circumstances. This hypothetical consideration became the main theme of the present article. Objective of the study was to identify those primary school going age children who were still out of school. Most of them were wandering in the streets and some of them were working in vocational-workshops. Both of these segments were not included in the OOSC data bank. The scenario was hypothetically reproduced upon the nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, and those who were living in far-flung areas, including valleys, pastures, hilly and coastal areas. Movement of these communities reduced the possibility of their inclusion in main database for OOSC. The qualitative research paradigm was used for the present research article. The study was explorative and applied in nature which identified various issues of calculating OOSC and proposed solutions as coping mechanism. Data were collected from two different segments, one from existing educational policies and reports, and the other from native community, stakeholders who were working for the promotion of enrollment rate in primary schools. After the analysis of available educational policies related to OOSC it was found that no homework has ever been done before calculating the number of OOSC in Pakistan. So many modules and tools given by UIS, UNESCO, and UNICEF for the promotion of education at primary level were available, but none of them were ever incorporated in educational policy. The data about the children living under gray-line i.e., semi-visible and invisible were never been gathered which may arise question on the efficiency of the government educational database. Study concluded that if the government wants to publish actual numbers of OOSC which may be more than the existing number in Pakistan for the effective policies, it needs have to include the gray-line children and to make the policies more implementable. Children engaged in vocational-workshops and those who were never enrolled in schools may be included for effective policies. Keywords: OOSC, Visibility Model, Education for All, 18th Amendment, Five Dimensions of Exclusion, 5Des.