RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Punjab is at the top, while Balochistan is ranked at the bottom in respect of education standard and enrolment, demonstrating lack of commitment to follow-up on promises made by the provincial governments, revealed a report “Pakistan District Education Rankings 2014”, an in-depth assessment of the state of education in the country launched by AlifAilaan and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
The report provides a snapshot of the education situation in Pakistan’s 146 districts and shows how widely education standards vary across the country. It provides a tool to track the performance of politicians, administrators and education providers, and measures the progress that provinces and districts are making.
The report revealed that Punjab was going ahead in respect of standard of education as compared to other provinces with 14 Punjab districts in the top 20; however education situation is still bleak. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is the second worst performing province despite the government’s commitment to improve the situation. This is owing to gender disparities as well as poor learning outcomes in the province. KP is followed by Balochistan which is at the bottom of the rankings. The province has shown poor performance and is a matter of pressing concern that there are 1.76 million children out of school here.
Much like last year, Sindh, Balochistan and Fata occupy the bottom of the rankings with Sindh making its first appearance at number 40 with Karachi. This demonstrates a lack of commitment to follow-up on promises made by the provincial government. A recent example of this is the pledge that nine political parties made three months ago to ensure quality education for all the 6.1 million out-of-school children in the province.
“Data and evidence have to be the basis of increased accountability and gauging the performance of politicians,” said Mehnaz Aziz CEO Children’s Global Network. The government needs to launch a census of all children between the ages of five and 16 to assess where the country stands in terms of enrollment, and plan accordingly. “Punjab’s high rank must not be mistaken with the province being anywhere near achieving its target of ensuring 100 percent enrolment and the provision of quality education,” she added.
“We need to stop politicizing education,” said Mehtab Rashidi, MPA and former Education Secretary, Sindh. “I would urge all politicians to leave education alone. There are other avenues of making money and patronizing transfers and posting. Education should not be one of them,” she said.
“It seems from the rankings that Pakistan is only Punjab,” said Bushra Gohar, former MNA, Awami National Party. “It is time that we start investing on our children,” said Bushra, adding “the problem is that the state’s prime focus is on security. Education comes nowhere near and this needs to be changed.” The situation in Balochistan should not be seen only in light of the 18th amendment, said Senator Abdul Rauf Lala, adding the federal government needed to take ownership of the 65 years of havoc they had wreaked on education in Balochistan.
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the district of Poonchhas, the education standard has fallen from its top spot last year to ninth position in 2014. AJK has shown an overall decline from second position last year to third position this year. Although there are success stories this year with some districts improving their performance to rise in the rankings, the report shows that overall quality and the availability of facilities are still unsatisfactory. Chakwal, which ranks highest nationwide, has a net enrolment rate of just 83 percent, which is far from the promise of ensuring quality education for all. According to the report, more than four out of five children in Chakwal who are enrolled dropout before reaching Class VIII.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the government needed to look at better ways of running schools. “The sad truth is that even our best districts are far from ideal. Children are still out of school and the quality of education leaves much to be desired,” he said.
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