The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) launched its 394 page report on Thursday at the Planning Commission Auditorium. The report stated that Pakistan’s education system stood at a critical juncture as little progress had been made to ensure the rights of children to education.
As the prime minister declared 2011 as the year of education in Pakistan, many hoped that it would set the ball rolling for much desired educational reforms. However, with the passage of 2011, nothing significant happened in the education sector.
The ASER Pakistan 2011, a household survey that assessed learning outcomes of school going (5-16 years) children in 85 rural districts across Pakistan, found that a majority of children could not read Class-II level text in Urdu, regional languages or English or solve basic level arithmetic problems.
The survey found out that only 41.8 per cent of the children assessed can read at least a sentence in Urdu or in their regional languages, while merely 25.8 per cent children were able to read English sentences.
The children arithmetic was even more abysmal as 40.1 per cent children could solve two-digit subtraction sums, while only 23.6 per cent children could do three-digit division sums.
The ASER survey was conducted by the South Asia Forum for Education Development and was managed by the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi in collaboration with the Foundation Open Society Institute, Department for International Development, National Commission for Human Development and Oxfam/Novib.
The survey was conducted in 28 Punjab districts, Balochistan (15), Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa (14), Sindh (17), four Azad Jammu and Kashmir districts, three districts of Gilgit-Baltistant and two from FATA and Islamabad Capital Territory.
A specifically trained ASER volunteer team surveyed 48,646 households in 2,502 villages and collected information about 143,826 children (59 % male and 41 % female) from the 3-16 years age group. The 5-16 years age group was tested for language and arithmetic competencies.
The survey also collected information about 3,466 schools, out of which 2,376 were public schools and 1,090 were private schools.
The ASER survey revealed that 57.3 per cent of children from the 3-5 age group and 32.3 per cent children above five years of age were not enrolled in school.
School enrolment for children aged 6-16 years stood at 79.9 per cent – comprising of 36 per cent girls and 64 per cent boys. The percentage of out-of-school children was at 20.1 per cent and the drop out rate was recorded at five per cent. It showed that 15.1 per cent children had never been enrolled in any educational facility.
52.7 per cent of the out-of-school children were girls. The survey found that around 74 per cent of children enrolled go to government schools, 23.1 per cent to private schools and 2.9 per cent to madrassahs and non-formal education facilities.
The learning level data showed a decline in learning levels as the English reading and comprehension tests reported that 25.8 per cent children could read sentences while 28.5 per cent children were unable to recognise alphabets.
The mathematics assessment test revealed that 56.9 per cent students were able to do two-digit subtraction sums and only 22.2 per cent children could solve three-digit division sums. The arithmetic learning level of private school children was slightly better but not satisfactory.
The students’ attendance in government schools was 79.7 per cent. In private schools, these percentages were 85.8 per cent.
The teachers’ attendance level in government and private schools was recorded at 83.1 per cent and 89.7 per cent, respectively. The survey of government and private primary schools showed that 55.4 per cent and 79.9 per cent schools, respectively, had useable water facility.
While speaking at the report’s launch, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeem-ul-Haque said the ASER 2011 report provided baseline markers: “This will no doubt help us identify gaps that need to be bridged in order to move forward towards improving educational standards and that ASER (2010-2015) would help in collecting systematic evidence on learning outcomes for informing the education sector policies.
Leading educationist, civil society members, education experts, parliamentarians and a number of students attended the event.
