- Children’s Global Network CEO says Punjab’s high rank must not be mistaken with province anywhere near ensuring 100 percent enrollment
An assessment of the state of education in the country was released on Thursday by Alif Ailaan and Sustainable Development Institute.
The District Education Rankings 2014 revealed that Punjab was ahead of other provinces with 14 Punjab districts in the top 20.
“Data and evidence has 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. There is still a long way to go.”
The report provides a snapshot of the education situation in Pakistan’s 146 districts and shows how widely education standards vary across the country.
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.
“We need to stop politicising education,” said PML-F lawmaker Mehtab Rashidi, “I would urge all politicians to leave education alone. There are other avenues of making money and patronising transfers and posting. Education should not be one of them.”
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.
“It seems from the rankings that Pakistan is only Punjab, said ANP leader Bushra Gohar. “It is time that we started investing in our children. The problem is that the state’s focus is primarily security. Education comes nowhere near. This needs to change.”
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 given that there are 1.76 million children out of school.
“The situation in Balochistan should not be seen only in light of the 18th amendment,” PkMAP Senator Abdul Rauf Lala. “The federal government needs to take ownership of the 65 years of havoc they have wreaked on education in our province.”
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), District Poonch has fallen from its top spot last year and comes ninth in 2014. AJK has shown an overall decline from second position last year to third position this year.
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 4 out of 5 children in Chakwal who are enrolled dropout before reaching grade V111.
“Is the government getting enough for what it is investing in,” said Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. “The government needs 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.
An interactive data portal which provides a detailed overview of each district along with provincial and inter-district comparisons was also launched at the event. This is the first-of-its-kind resource that helps pinpoint the key reasons behind a district’s low scores, thereby helping identify hurdles in improvement.
