20% children aged 6-16 still remain out of school

Islamabad

Despite the recent focus of the federal and provincial governments on enrolment drives, 20% of Pakistan’s children, aged 6-16, still remain out of school, according to the Annual Status of Education Report -- ASER 2015 National survey. The remaining 80% that are enrolled in the 6-16 age bracket are not learning much either.

These findings were made public in the report of Pakistan’s largest-annual citizen-led household-based ASER Survey 2015 – the sixth ASER Survey report in a row – launched here on Thursday. The ASER survey has been conducted by 10,000 volunteers managed by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) along with many key civil society and semi autonomous departments that include the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD), HANDS, NRSP and several civil society organisations across Pakistan.

The ASER survey findings have been based on the information of 258,021 children of age 3-16 years (including 41 per cent girls) by 10,000 volunteer citizens, who personally visited 83,755 households in 4,217 villages/blocks. For the year 2015, the ASER rural survey has been conducted in 146 rural districts and 21 urban administrative areas in the country, wherein 5-16 year age cohort 219,609 children were tested for English, Language (Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto), and Arithmetic competencies. Urban findings will be released afterwards at the provincial launches.

The report aims to inform the progress or lack thereof with respect to Article 25 A of the Constitution making education a fundamental right for 5-16 year old children since 2010. To date the implementation has yet to take place as both laws and rules remain in abeyance! In spite of public demand the state response at best continues to remain neutral to education as a basic need. Parliamentarians and Ministers made commitments to be held accountable as duty bearers -- but they must walk the talk. 

Released by Federal Minister Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman and parliamentarians across political parties they must decide between a future based on an educated Pakistan and a dead end that marginalizes learning and undervalues social capital. The narrative on education must change dramatically under the current democratic dispensation.  

Proportion of out-of-school children has decreased as compared to 2014. In 2015, 20 per cent of children were reported to be out-of-school which has decreased as compared to previous year (21%). 14 per cent children have never been enrolled in school and 6 per cent have dropped out of school for various reasons. An interesting trend has been observed this year as reflected by ASER findings. ASER National 2015 results illustrate a considerable number of children going to public schools this year as compared to non-state schools. 76 per cent children of age 6-16 are enrolled in public schools in 2015 while last year the percentage was 70 per cent.

According to the report, student competencies in learning English, Arithmetic, and Language have improved. Half i.e. 45 per cent of the children from Class V cannot read Class II level text in Urdu/Sindhi/ Pashto. In English, only 49 per cent of the surveyed Class V students could read sentences which should ideally be read by students from the second grade. A similar trend has been observed in Arithmetic capabilities of children where only 50 per cent of class V children could do a two-digit division, something that is expected in second grade curriculum.

 The ASER survey also has  identified that children enrolled in private schools are performing better compared to those studying in government schools; 67% children enrolled in Class-V in private schools were able to read a story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto compared to 52 per cent Class V students studying at government schools. The difference in learning levels is starker for English, where 65% Grade V could read English Class II level sentences compared to only 45% public sector students!  For arithmetic, 61 per cent children enrolled in class V and going to private school can do 2-digit division as compared to 47 per cent government school children enrolled in class V.

 Further, the survey explains that boys are outperforming girls in literacy and numeracy skills in rural Pakistan. As many as 49 per cent of boys were found able to read at least sentences in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto as compared to 42 per cent girls. For Arithmetic, 49 per cent of Class V boys were able to do Class II level subtraction as compared to only 41per cent Class V girls.

In addition to the assessment of children, the report also highlights school functioning across every district in Pakistan. The ASER rural survey informs that over all teachers’ attendance in government schools stood at 89 per cent as compared to 91 per cent in private schools on the day of the survey. Private teachers were reported to have better qualifications at graduate levels; for example, 39 per cent teachers in private schools are graduates in comparison to only 35 per cent in government schools, however the reverse is the case for MA/MSC or post graduate qualifications, whereby larger percentage of public sector teachers have a higher qualification than private sector counterparts. But then do qualifications matter more than attitudes and pedagogies?

The trends in multi-grade teaching across schools are also mixed. ASER 2015 National rural findings have found 49 per cent of government and 29 per cent of private schools imparting multi-grade teaching at Class II level. On the contrary, at the Class VIII level, multi-grade teaching is more prevalent in the private sector 24 per cent vs. 16 per cent in government schools.