FACTORS INFLUENCING GIRLS’ PRIMARY EDUCATION IN URBAN AREAS OF DISTRICT CHINIOT

Abstract

This study investigates the factors influencing girls’ primary education in the urban areas of District Chiniot, Pakistan. This study used a quantitative descriptive research design. The study explored three primary influencing factors: common general factors, cultural factors, and socio-economic factors, as perceived by government primary school teachers. A structured questionnaire comprising 37 items (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.645) was developed following a thorough review of existing literature. Through simple random sampling, 300 primary school teachers from government schools in urban Chiniot were selected as the study sample. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean scores, standard deviations, and frequency distributions. The findings revealed that a majority of teachers identified the following as significant common barriers to girls’ primary education: parental inability to meet educational expenses, preference for boys’ education over girls’, parental unawareness regarding the value of girls’ education, long distances between schools and homes, concerns about the safety and security of girls on route to school, and extremist attitudes toward female education. With regard to cultural factors, teachers broadly agreed that early marriages, the practice of keeping girls at home to care for younger siblings, girls’ participation in home-based economic activities, purdah (veil) restrictions outside the home, lack of parental cooperation with teachers, and political interference were major impediments. In the domain of socio-economic factors, poverty emerged as the most critical barrier, alongside girls’ involvement in domestic labor for income, inadequate funding for girls’ education, negative social values, health issues, overcrowded households, limited educational resources at home, insufficient supervision, disproportionate household responsibilities for girls, and minimal time available for study and homework. Based on these findings, the study recommends that government authorities and policymakers develop and implement targeted awareness campaigns highlighting the importance of girls’ education, and design inclusive policy frameworks aimed at achieving a 100% female literacy rate in both urban and rural areas.