Half of Pakistan’s children – 24m of them – are still out of school
Girls' education, Teachers and learning
Pakistani children taught outdoors at a makeshift school in Lahore
The stark reality of Pakistan鶹APPs education problems has been laid bare in a government report that reveals huge out-of-school numbers, high dropout rates, inadequate staffing levels and woeful facilities.
A staggering 47% 鶹APP or 24 million 鶹APP of the country鶹APPs children and youth aged five to 16 are not in school.
And 78% of those 鶹APP that鶹APPs 18.6 million young people 鶹APP have NEVER been enrolled in school.
The statistics were contained inthe annual , which showed the out-of-school number had fallen by one million from the 2013 figure.
Mosharraf Zaidi, campaign director for the education non-profit organisation , said the findings showed Pakistan鶹APPs public education system is a 鶹APPcomplete failure鶹APP.
But he praised the release of the report and its honesty, saying it was 鶹APPimportant for government documents to reflect reality鶹APP.
Among the findings were:
- Gender: of the children not in school,12.8 million are girls and 11.2 million boys 鶹APP inKhyber Pakhtunkhawa, 52% of girls are out of school compared to 21% of boys
- Enrolment: 72% at primary level, 47% at middle school level and 31% at high school
- Dropout rates: of those who start primary school, only 66% complete fifth year and 28% their 10th year of education
- Resources: 9% of schoolshave no buildings,18% of schools have only one classroom and 29% of government schools have just one teacher
- Facilities:44% of schools have no electricity, 34% (or 45,000 schools) haveno drinkable water, 30% no boundary walls and 28% no bathroom facilities
- Literacy rates: 60% for children 10 and over and 72% for ages 15 to 24
Balochistan province has the highest number of out-of-school children 鶹APP 70% or 1.8 million. Next come the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on 60% and Sindh on 56%.
At the report鶹APPs launch Muhammad Baligh-Ur-Rehman, State Minister for Education and Professional Training Baligur Rehman, said: 鶹APPThe OSCs (out-of-school children) decreased from 25 million to 24 million and all federal and provincial governments are making their best efforts to decrease this figure.鶹APP
He added: 鶹APPWe are not scared of accepting our flaws and as per our duty we will address them. The beauty of this report is that it publishes the good and bad news side by side 鶹APP this ensures a holistic approach to the question of data and evidence on education.鶹APP
He insisted that by 2030 all children will be in school because the government is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of universal quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Mr Ailaan said: 鶹APPThis is an important moment for the children of Pakistan. Now that the government is focusing on enrolment, more attention is needed on the collection and dissemination of metrics on education quality and learning outcomes in the government schools.鶹APP
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