🧩 The Challenge
In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the Newly Merged Districts, decent roads can mean the difference between going to school or staying home, between seeing a healthcare provider or getting sicker, between selling wheat or vegetables for a healthy profit at market or selling too cheaply to neighbors.
Bad roads and long commutes keep girls out of school. In the Newly Merged Districts, approximately 70% of girls do not go to school, compared to 30% of boys. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, these numbers are slightly better; 49% of girls are out of school, while only 21% of boys are. Girls’ dropout rates are particularly high, especially at transition points such as the end of primary school and secondary school. These dropout rates are linked to a lack of safe, affordable, and reliable ways to get to school, which disproportionately affects girls.
🛠️ The Intervention
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Accessibility Project (P177069), which runs from 2022-2027, provides subsidized transport to girls from marginalized rural communities. The project's innovative ideas are designed to protect students and alleviate parental concerns. Transport providers undergo a comprehensive selection process, including background and medical screenings, verification of vehicle permits and certifications, community reputation assessment, adherence to a strict code of conduct, and completing sensitization training on appropriate awareness and behavior towards women. Chaperones, usually female teachers, accompany the girls to school. This focus on safer and affordable transport services for girls is helping lower barriers to education while respecting local cultural norms.
🏗️ Implementation Challenges and Successes
The project is on course to provide safe transport for 30,000 girls cumulatively over the course of the project, with a specific target of bringing 2,400 out-of-school girls back into the education system. Since commencement, the program has been positively received by parents and local stakeholders alike, with several schools reporting the re-enrolment of students that had initially dropped out to avail the subsidy. Safeguards to protect against violence towards women have also been integrated throughout the project, including fostering community engagement by empowering Parent-Teacher Councils (PTCs) to make key decisions, presence of GM focal points in schools, and a project-hired GBV firm to provide survivor support in case of any incident.
đź’ˇ Lessons Learned
Key lessons that similar projects can draw from this intervention include:
- Addressing Transportation Barriers: Safe and reliable transportation is crucial for improving girls' access to education; subsidizing transport costs lowers the financial barriers that disproportionately affect girls due to safety, distance, and transport-related factors, especially in rural areas.
- Innovative Safety Measures: Sensitization training, rigorous screening criteria, code of conduct, and the presence of chaperones protect girls’ safety during their commutes.
- Community Engagement: Empowering local communities (e.g., through Parent-Teacher Councils) to support in implementing the intervention produces a supportive environment for girls' education.
- Government Support: Strong backing from local government is vital for the project's sustainability and paves the way for its potential expansion.
- Data-Driven Assessments: Impact evaluations will provide useful insight into the success of the project and become data for future transport initiatives that sensitive to women.
đź“Ś Conclusion
This project demonstrates the transformative potential of addressing disparities between women and men in education through infrastructure development. By tailoring transport services to local needs and norms, such projects serve as a model for improving girls’ access to education in conservative and rural settings.
Note: Muhammad Bilal Paracha (Transport Specialist, World Bank) and Sara Zafar Cheema (Consultant, World Bank) reviewed and cleared this case study.