Cultural determination of female educational attainment in rural Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan

Development of the human capital is of vital importance for the progress of a nation. The high literacy level is a precondition for the development of any country. The rural women of Pakistan are far behind in education. The cultural norms of the society are reported to be major hindrance in the schooling of rural girls. The study identifies the deterrents of the educational attainment of rural females in the cultural milieu of Punjab. A sample of 288 was selected using multistage random sampling technique from rural Jhang, a district of the central Punjab, Pakistan. Descriptive, inferential and multiple regression analysis demonstrate that the higher education of parents, distances of schools, better residential and wealth statuses of the households, gender bias attitude of the heads of the households towards children's education, innovative attitude of the heads of the households towards female population and perceptions of the heads of the households for higher ideal level of education for females are the significant and positive contributors for the educational attainment of the females living in these rural areas. The study proposed to set up more secondary level schools for girls in these backward rural areas. Government should design long term policies to change the cultural attitude of the society towards the development of human capital of female population of the country.