Pakistan Education Atlas 2015 launched

Islamabad: Pakistan Education Atlas 2015, launched on Wednesday, shows 4 per cent increase in the enrolment rate in Pakistan.
Launched by Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training and the World Food Programme (WFP) in collaboration with partners, the ‘Pakistan Education Atlas 2015’ is the outcome of the continued joint collaboration between the National Education Management Information Systems (NEMIS) at the Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, and Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) Unit of the UN World Food Programme. It is the latest and fourth version of the series of this collaboration since 2010.
The report has come at the time when progress on the Millennium Development Goal’s (MDGs) is being assessed. Pakistan has failed to meet its MDGs for education. The report details the situation of education in each district as well as presents a comprehensive national outline.
The report reveals that 39 per cent of the total government primary schools have no drinking water facility while 35 per cent are without toilet, 46 per cent do not have electricity and 34 per cent lack boundary walls.
The report says that in Pakistan, although the number of out-of-school children is falling (from 6.7 million in 2012-13 to 6.1 million in 2013-14) and efforts are underway in getting more out-of-school children to schools yet the progress is too slow to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the end of 2015.
According to the report, 28 per cent of the children of age group 5-9 are out-of-school in the country and the survival rate of students between Grade 1 to Grade 5 is only 62 per cent. The average Pupil-Teacher Ratio in the country is 37 to one.
In his speech, WFP Country Director Lola Castro said that education is a critical determinant of household livelihood and food security. “An educated family has a better chance of securing access to food and its better utilization. Against this backdrop WFP is supporting the government’s plans to bring improvement in education sector,” she said.
She termed the Pakistan Education Atlas 2015 a unique tool that allows researchers and policymakers access to the decentralised information on educational planning indicators. “By going through the findings of the atlas, they can focus education interventions across the country in areas identified through emerging social patterns with respect to population and geographic data,” she said.