I have served as a principal in a private education institution for eight years. Through these years, I have got well acquainted with all the ups and downs of private education sector in Pakistan. The government vaccination campaigns through the schooling system have been one of the downs that repeatedly keep gnawing away at my conscience. We have seen it all, starting from Poli drops, deworming campaigns, typhoid vaccinations and up to the infamous Covid vaccines. Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination campaign, which Government of Sindh is carrying out this September, was the last straw that made me pick up my pen and write this article. Enough is enough.
As a principal, I am responsible for the well-being and good health of students under my care, while they are on the premises of the school. As part of our syllabus, we ensure that our students are aware of basic hygiene requirements and personal health matters. However, does my responsibility extend to conducting vaccination campaigns carried out by the government? Can I, as a principal, be aware of personal health histories of all over thirteen hundred students under my care? Can I take the responsibility for administering to them chemicals, which may cause adverse reactions? Throughout the years, I have repeatedly struggled with these questions. Yet, as I was left with no other choice, I have complied under the threats of imprisonment and threats of cancelation of school registration and sealing the premises (quoted from polio circulars, 2025):
“The Sindh Immunization & Epidemics Control Bill 2023 has passed that it is a criminal offense to refuse vaccination for children against preventable diseases. The school principal shall be imprisoned for up to one month or 50 thousand Rupees fine.”
“It is further clarified that in case of non-cooperation and coordination of any Private Education Institutions in this national cause, the appropriate action for cancellation of registration and sealing of the premises may be taken under the purview of the Sindh Private Education Institution (Regularization and Control) Ordinance 2021.”
HPV vaccination is not a mandatory vaccine, yet threats, although vague this time with no particular details, are again posed against the school, if we do not provide to the government the data of all girls aged 9-14, including their class, section, name, father’s name, age, and home address (quoted from HPV circular, 2025):
“In case of non-submission of the required data, action will be taken under “The Sind Private Education Institutions (Regulation & Control) Ordinance 2001, Amended Act, 2003, and Rules, 2005.”
Further, a video has been circulated to schools with speech by Ms. Rafia Javed Mallah, Add. Director DIRPS, in which she invites all schools to conduct parent-teacher meetings for explaining the necessity of this vaccination and motivating parents to vaccinate their girls. This was the exact tipping point, where my anger turned into rage. Is this a subject, which a teacher in a Muslim country should be discussing with a mothers of students face to face? Should they inform the mothers that “cervical cancer is primarily caused by a long-lasting infection with high-risk types of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus transmitted through sexual contact” and imply that their girls aged 9-14 are likely to catch this virus?
As an informational resource, the schools received also a video prepared by the government about the dangers and the signs of cervical cancer, yet with no mention of how actually this cancer-causing virus is passed on form one person to another (through direct skin contact). Even if in the future these 9-14 years girls get married, how likely are they to be exposed to such a virus in their marriage? Such probabilities this campaign does not address at all, focusing only on convincing parents about the dangers of cervical cancer and the must of vaccination.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=751299471070470&set=a.101683016032122
#CervicalCancerSeBachao
#HPVvaccination
The campaign uses above hashtags, suggesting that vaccine is ‘the only solution’. Why don’t we instead educate our girls (at appropriate for it age) and their parents about the true causes of cervical cancer (sexually transmitted virus) and promote pure and clean Islamic family lifestyle instead?
As a principal, my main duty to the students is to provide them with quality education. I wish I had at least the choice of refusing government medical campaigns, without the threat of being imprisoned or shutting down the school altogether.
As a concerned mother of girls myself, I am appalled by government’s visually explicit campaign, which undermines the Hayah of the Muslim society. Yes, the matter of cervical cancer is serious. Yes, it must be addressed. Yes, I want my daughters to know the dangers of it and be informed on how to protect themselves from it, but not at the age of 9, and not even at 14. It must be addressed but at a proper age and through proper channels.
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