Yet another campaign is set to be launched in the country to ensure 100% enrolment in schools. Ahsan Iqbal, federal minister for planning, development and reforms, told the media recently that the federal government is going to launch an intensive campaign across the country from April 1, 2016, which will ensure enrolment of every child in school by 2018.
The minister held a meeting with provincial representatives on the national enrolment drive and announced that the plan would be prepared by March 22. Though education is a devolved subject under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, he said, the federal government could not absolve itself of its responsibility to maintain national education standards by playing its supportive and facilitating role. The prime minister would hold a meeting with the provincial chief ministers, and the members of opposition parties would also be invited to seek their input on the issue, he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said that 100% primary enrolment is the first goal. After achieving it, the government will work on 100% enrolment in higher education institutions. He said the enrolment campaign was part of the government’s efforts to build the knowledge economy, envisaged in the Vision-2025. He expressed the hope that 100% primary enrolment would be achieved before 2018.
The minister advised the provincial governments to hold meetings at the provincial level to finalise their strategies within a week. He said that district governments should meet to finalise their roadmaps by March 22, to achieve 100% enrolment in schools. All stakeholders should coordinate and synergise their efforts to achieve the 100% enrolment target, he stressed.
Giving details of the campaign, the minister said that university students would be sent to rural areas to educate students, and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) would be fully engaged to make the campaign a success. He claimed that the federal government was determined to spend 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on education by 2018, which currently stands at 3% of GDP.
However, the world bodies concerned present totally a different picture. The United Nation mentioned in one of its reports released in December 2015, that 49% of the population of Pakistan lives in poverty and it has one of the lowest investments for education and health.
“Pakistan spends 0.8% of its GDP on health and 1.8% on education,” the statistics show, in complete disregard of the minister’s claim of 3% spending on education. The report ranked Pakistan 146 out of 187 countries on a human development index, equal to Bangladesh and just ahead of Angola and Myanmar.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a teacher, analyst and contributor on education, says that Pakistan is facing tremendous challenges in the education sector, with 6.1 million children not attending schools at all. UNESCO’s official record shows that this figure has remained mostly unchanged since 2005. The situation is especially alarming in rural areas due to social and cultural obstacles, Hoodbhoy tells Cutting Edge at a seminar in Islamabad. One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam, which like all religions urges men and women to acquire education, adds the analyst.
Umair Asif, a representative of the Alif Ailaan education initiative, says that improving school enrolment lies at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle to improve education. He regrets that Pakistan missed each one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to achieve universal primary school access, improve retention in school and increase adult literacy, deadline for which was December 31, 2015.
The campaigner says that the literacy rate in Pakistan is 57% currently, while the target was to increase it to 88%. It was also pledged under the MDGs that the survival rate of enrolled children from grade 1 to 5 would be brought to its maximum, but the retention rate currently stands at only 67%. Similarly, the net primary enrolment is 58% in Pakistan and the target of 100% remains a distant dream.
Sharing facts and figures with Cutting Edge, Umair Asif says that in the 2015-2016 budget, the combined federal and provincial allocations for education were almost Rs. 734 billion. That constituted 2.68% of the GDP, an embarrassingly low amount when compared to other countries in the region, he regrets.
Pervez Hoodbhoy believes that any statements by the federal ministers about 100% enrolment didn’t have any value until and unless the provinces are taken on board fully. He says that Sindh and Balochistan are home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children. As many as 66% of children in Balochistan and 51% in Sindh are out of school, followed by Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 47% and 34% out-of-school children, respectively. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 62% are out of school, while in Gilgit-Baltistan 48% children are not attending any school. Some 43% of such children live in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Quoting figures of the Ministry of Education 2013-14 data, Hoodbhoy says that 5.7 million children are out of schools at the primary level in all four provinces, and 6.2 million children are out of primary schools overall including AJK, G-B and Fata. As per the break up, 2.9 million children live in Punjab, 0.4 million in KP, 1.8 million in Sindh and 0.54 million in Balochistan.
An educationist in Karachi, Kaiser Bengali, alleges that the education authorities in Pakistan are good at setting ambitious targets but inept at following through. He says that successive governments have abandoned policies of the previous administration and adopted new and more ambitious targets, wreaking havoc on the education system and squandering billions of rupees, Bengali adds. As a result, Pakistan has failed to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all children by 2015.
Saman Naz, the data and evidence campaign manager at Alif Ailan, says there is no authentic data regime in the country due to which officials are in a state of denial as far as the number of out-of-school children is concerned. She tells a sitting in Gujranwala that successive governments have failed to take any concrete steps due to which the alarming figure has not subsided. The few small initiatives, taken particularly after the devolution of education to provinces, were also unable to ensure any significant change.
She says that Article 25A in the Constitution binds the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged five-16 years. But despite passage of this law, there has not been any progress on this provision and provinces have yet to frame legislation to implement it.
Hoodbhoy sees lack of political will and sincerity behind this failure. He says that every other ruler announces a campaign to bring all children to school. But nothing happens except for publication of the government advertisements in newspapers and sloganeering on the electronic media for a few months in this regard.
The educationist says that so far, the country has witnessed seven or eight education policies, since gaining independence in 1947, eight five-year plans, about a dozen other education schemes and uncountable education and literacy campaigns, but still our actual literacy rate is hovering around a little over 50%. He fears that the current campaign, launched by the PML-N federal government, might also meet the same fate if the ruling party does not show more sincerity and political will to make the campaign a success.
The minister held a meeting with provincial representatives on the national enrolment drive and announced that the plan would be prepared by March 22. Though education is a devolved subject under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, he said, the federal government could not absolve itself of its responsibility to maintain national education standards by playing its supportive and facilitating role. The prime minister would hold a meeting with the provincial chief ministers, and the members of opposition parties would also be invited to seek their input on the issue, he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said that 100% primary enrolment is the first goal. After achieving it, the government will work on 100% enrolment in higher education institutions. He said the enrolment campaign was part of the government’s efforts to build the knowledge economy, envisaged in the Vision-2025. He expressed the hope that 100% primary enrolment would be achieved before 2018.
The minister advised the provincial governments to hold meetings at the provincial level to finalise their strategies within a week. He said that district governments should meet to finalise their roadmaps by March 22, to achieve 100% enrolment in schools. All stakeholders should coordinate and synergise their efforts to achieve the 100% enrolment target, he stressed.
Giving details of the campaign, the minister said that university students would be sent to rural areas to educate students, and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) would be fully engaged to make the campaign a success. He claimed that the federal government was determined to spend 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on education by 2018, which currently stands at 3% of GDP.
However, the world bodies concerned present totally a different picture. The United Nation mentioned in one of its reports released in December 2015, that 49% of the population of Pakistan lives in poverty and it has one of the lowest investments for education and health.
“Pakistan spends 0.8% of its GDP on health and 1.8% on education,” the statistics show, in complete disregard of the minister’s claim of 3% spending on education. The report ranked Pakistan 146 out of 187 countries on a human development index, equal to Bangladesh and just ahead of Angola and Myanmar.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a teacher, analyst and contributor on education, says that Pakistan is facing tremendous challenges in the education sector, with 6.1 million children not attending schools at all. UNESCO’s official record shows that this figure has remained mostly unchanged since 2005. The situation is especially alarming in rural areas due to social and cultural obstacles, Hoodbhoy tells Cutting Edge at a seminar in Islamabad. One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam, which like all religions urges men and women to acquire education, adds the analyst.
Umair Asif, a representative of the Alif Ailaan education initiative, says that improving school enrolment lies at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle to improve education. He regrets that Pakistan missed each one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to achieve universal primary school access, improve retention in school and increase adult literacy, deadline for which was December 31, 2015.
The campaigner says that the literacy rate in Pakistan is 57% currently, while the target was to increase it to 88%. It was also pledged under the MDGs that the survival rate of enrolled children from grade 1 to 5 would be brought to its maximum, but the retention rate currently stands at only 67%. Similarly, the net primary enrolment is 58% in Pakistan and the target of 100% remains a distant dream.
Sharing facts and figures with Cutting Edge, Umair Asif says that in the 2015-2016 budget, the combined federal and provincial allocations for education were almost Rs. 734 billion. That constituted 2.68% of the GDP, an embarrassingly low amount when compared to other countries in the region, he regrets.
Pervez Hoodbhoy believes that any statements by the federal ministers about 100% enrolment didn’t have any value until and unless the provinces are taken on board fully. He says that Sindh and Balochistan are home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children. As many as 66% of children in Balochistan and 51% in Sindh are out of school, followed by Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 47% and 34% out-of-school children, respectively. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 62% are out of school, while in Gilgit-Baltistan 48% children are not attending any school. Some 43% of such children live in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Quoting figures of the Ministry of Education 2013-14 data, Hoodbhoy says that 5.7 million children are out of schools at the primary level in all four provinces, and 6.2 million children are out of primary schools overall including AJK, G-B and Fata. As per the break up, 2.9 million children live in Punjab, 0.4 million in KP, 1.8 million in Sindh and 0.54 million in Balochistan.
An educationist in Karachi, Kaiser Bengali, alleges that the education authorities in Pakistan are good at setting ambitious targets but inept at following through. He says that successive governments have abandoned policies of the previous administration and adopted new and more ambitious targets, wreaking havoc on the education system and squandering billions of rupees, Bengali adds. As a result, Pakistan has failed to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all children by 2015.
Saman Naz, the data and evidence campaign manager at Alif Ailan, says there is no authentic data regime in the country due to which officials are in a state of denial as far as the number of out-of-school children is concerned. She tells a sitting in Gujranwala that successive governments have failed to take any concrete steps due to which the alarming figure has not subsided. The few small initiatives, taken particularly after the devolution of education to provinces, were also unable to ensure any significant change.
She says that Article 25A in the Constitution binds the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged five-16 years. But despite passage of this law, there has not been any progress on this provision and provinces have yet to frame legislation to implement it.
Hoodbhoy sees lack of political will and sincerity behind this failure. He says that every other ruler announces a campaign to bring all children to school. But nothing happens except for publication of the government advertisements in newspapers and sloganeering on the electronic media for a few months in this regard.
The educationist says that so far, the country has witnessed seven or eight education policies, since gaining independence in 1947, eight five-year plans, about a dozen other education schemes and uncountable education and literacy campaigns, but still our actual literacy rate is hovering around a little over 50%. He fears that the current campaign, launched by the PML-N federal government, might also meet the same fate if the ruling party does not show more sincerity and political will to make the campaign a success.
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