E/C.12/PAK/CO/1 (a) Amend its legislation on abortion to ensure its compatibility with other fundamental rights, such as women’s rights to life and physical and mental health, that it broaden the permitted circumstances for legal abortion and that it not make women undergoing abortion criminally liable; (b) services; Ensure that women are able to easily access post-abortion health-care (c) Take effective measures to empower women to decide upon the number and spacing of births; (d) Improve women’s and men’s access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, including by making contraceptives available and accessible to all and placing emergency contraceptives on the list of essential medicines; (e) Consider the Committee’s general comment No. 22 (2016) on the right to sexual and reproductive health. Right to education 79. The Committee welcomes the inclusion of the right to education in the chapter of the Constitution on fundamental rights and notes the internal security challenges facing the State party, which have a significant adverse impact on children’s right to education. The Committee is, however, concerned at: (a) The very low net enrolment rates at all levels of education, including the preschool, primary and secondary levels, with large disparities between girls and boys, children in urban and rural areas, and children from high-income and low-income families; (b) The high number of out-of-school children and adolescents, despite a decreasing trend in recent years; (c) The low level of educational outcomes; (d) The inadequacy of school facilities; (e) The poor quality of education due to the lack of qualified teachers and their absenteeism, as well as the lack of suitable learning materials such as textbooks in public schools in rural and urban slum areas; (f) The increase in the already very high adult illiteracy rate (from 54 per cent in 2008 to 57 per cent in 2015), particularly among women; (g) The absence of inclusive education for children with disabilities; (h) The continuing terrorist attacks on students, teachers and schools and the use of schools by the military, particularly in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan (arts. 13-14). 80. The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to ensure that all children enjoy, without discrimination, the right to education, which will empower children, particularly those disadvantaged and marginalized, to lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities and national life. It also recommends that the State party take all measures necessary to: (a) Increase the enrolment rates at all levels of education, particularly the primary level, paying special attention to girls, children living in rural areas and children from low-income families; (b) Reduce the number of out-of-school children, including through coordination with policies on child labour; (c) Improve educational outcomes; (d) Improve school facilities, particularly with respect to water, sanitation and electricity; 12

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