Literacy rate stands at 58pc

ISLAMABAD: The literacy rate of population (10 years and above) remained at 58 percent, says the Pakistan Economic Survey for 2016-17.

According to the Household Integrated Income and Consumption Survey (HICS) for 2015-16, the data shows that literacy remained much higher in urban areas (74 percent ) than in rural areas (49 percent) with male (81 percent) and female (68 percent) in urban areas. At the provincial level, Punjab and Sindh lead with 62 percent  and 55 percent  respectively followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 53 percent  and Balochistan with 41 percent .

The overall net enrollment rate (NER) at the primary level for the children aged 5-9 years at the national and provincial level in 2015-16 recorded at 54 percent , showing a decline of 3 percent  as compared to 57 percent  in 2013-14.

The Pakistan Economic Survey for 2016-17 says that NER indicates that amongst the provinces, only Sindh remained stable with 48 percent while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declined from 64 percent to 59 percent and 54 percent  to 53 percent  respectively.

Balochistan has witnessed a significant decline from 39 percent in 2013-14 to 33 percent in 2015-16. Public expenditure on education as percentage to GDP is estimated at 2.3 percent in financial year 2016 as compared to 2.2 percent of GDP in 2015. The education-related expenditure recorded at Rs. 663.36 billion in financial year 2016 increased by 10.74 percent to Rs. 599.05 billion in 2015. 

The government, the survey says, is determined to increase the flows of resources to education sector by ensuringproper and timely utilisation of funds in order to achieve the target of 4.0 percent of GDP by 2018. 

There were 163 universities with 83,375 teachers in both private and public sectors in 2015-16, the overall enrollment of students in higher education (universities) stood at 1,355,694 as compared to 1,299,160 in 2014-15, witnessing an increase of 4.6 percent . The enrollment is expected to be at 1,287,923 in 2016-17.