Out-Of-School Children in Northern Sindh, Pakistan Qualitative Exploration of Push and Pull Factors

Abstract

Despite its severity in Pakistan, the issue of out-of-school children has surprisingly received very little attention from academics. A couple of studies conducted in other provinces of Pakistan have investigated the views of parents and school principals on out-of-school children, where both parties seem to be blaming each other. How do children themselves feel being out of school, although very significant has remained unattended. It is believed that listening to the voices of the real sufferers is essential, to bring forth insights that would help policy makers and educational reformers in considering the existent issues to be addressed in relation to out-of-school children. The current study explores the perceptions of out-of-school children, factors that force to drop them out of school, and the challenges they face after dropping out of school. Five children who had dropped out of school were identified and interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that the push-out factors enforced by the schools included teachers' unprofessional behaviors. Pull-out factors enforced from home included poverty and heavy responsibilities at a very early age and to be an earning member for the family. The study calls for collaborative efforts by schools, parents, community, and civil society to address multi-sectorial issues of out-of-school children. It is also argued that for SDG-4 to be practically effective on grounds in Sindh or elsewhere for that matter, education needs to be re-imagined to make education of out of school children possible.