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Thursday March 28, 2024

Literacy rate remains stagnant at 58pc

ISLAMABADPakistan’s official survey reveals that literacy rate remained stagnant at 58 percent between fiscal years 2011-12 to 2013-14.According to a report on Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey for 2013-14 released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) for primary schools (Age 5-9) is

By Mehtab Haider
May 15, 2015
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan’s official survey reveals that literacy rate remained stagnant at 58 percent between fiscal years 2011-12 to 2013-14.
According to a report on Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey for 2013-14 released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) for primary schools (Age 5-9) is 90 percent in 2013-14 as compared to 91 percent in 2011-12. The Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 57 percent in 2013-14, substantially lower than the Gross Enrolment Rate because of the enrolment of overage children in primary schools.
The report provides the National/Provincial findings of the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2013-14. During this round, 17,989 households were covered across urban and rural communities. Information was collected from households on a range of social sector issues. These are primarily focused on the sectors covered under Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and in the overall context of MDG’s i.e. education, health, population welfare and water supply & sanitation. To study the behaviour and variation of main indicators between different groups, the information is disaggregated by province, region (urban-rural) and by gender. This report also provides information and comparison wherever possible from the earlier rounds of PSLM 2007-08 and 2011-12. Discussion on key findings in each sector between 2013-14 and 2011-12 is outlined below:
The PSLM survey collects information on enrolment in all types of schools i.e. public, private and Deeni madaris. This PSLM survey round shows a slight decline in the share of primary enrolments that are in government schools. The overall share has declined to 60 percent in 2013-14 from 61 percent in 2011-12. The GER (Age 10-12) for middle level has marginally decreased to 55 percent in 2013-14 from 56 percent in 2011-12, whereas the NER slightly declined to 21 percent in 2013-14 from 22 percent in 2011-12. However, as usual, a large difference remains between urban and rural areas in middle level enrolment rates. The Matric Level (Age 13-14) GER is 58 percent and NER is 14 percent in PSLM 2013-14 compared to 60 percent and 13 percent respectively in 2011-12. The proportion of persons (10 years and above) who report that they are literate remains stagnant at 58 percent during 2011-12 and 2013-14. Further, the comparison of different GERs and NERs have been carried out using official age group brackets at primary, middle and Matric levels. However, on users demand the tables have also been worked out using different age brackets i.e. age 6-10 years for primary, 11-13 years for middle and 14-15 years for Matric level.
Health: In health section, the PSLM report includes immunization, diarrhoea, infant mortality rate and the use of pre and post-natal services. Two measures of immunization coverage are presented. Based on mother’s recall, at least one immunization has increased to 99 percent in 2013-14 from 98 percent in 2011-12. The measure that includes mother’s recall as well as record of full immunization given to 12 to 23 months children decreased to 76 percent in 2013-14 from 80 percent in 2011-12.
Full immunization rates based only on health cards has increased to 58 percent in 2013-14 from 56 percent in 2011-12. The proportion of children under five suffering from diarrhoea increases to 9 percent in 2013-14 from 8 percent in 2011-12. All provinces have shown decline except Sindh. About 72 percent of mothers in 2013-14 had pre-natal consultations as compared to 68 percent in 2011-12 during their last pregnancy. Pre-natal consultations were much more common in urban areas than in rural areas but there is also considerable improvement in rural areas. For pre-natal consultations during their last pregnancy overall 62 percent women in 2013-14 consulted private hospital/clinic as compared to 58 percent in 2011-12.
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), an indicator of deaths of children below one year of age, has increased to 65 per thousand live births in 2013-14 as compared to 63 per thousand live births in 2011-12. Percentage of women who had received at least one Tetanus Toxoid injection during their all pregnancies remains stagnant at 75 percent during the survey period 2011-12 and 2013-14.
Population Welfare: Population welfare indicators have shown improving trends. Knowledge of at least one contraceptive method is almost universal. Contraceptive use has increased to 32 percent in 2013-14 from 29 percent in 2011-12. The spouse/relative/friend are the major source of contraceptive methods.
Pills with 98 percent remain the most commonly known method. The three most commonly cited reasons that women gave for not using family planning are that they “wanted children” (33 percent) followed by “pregnant” (15 percent) and “lactating” 13 percent. TFR for the PSLM survey 2013-14 has been calculated considering an average of three years preceding the survey (2010-12) which shows the same trend i.e. 3.9 children per woman as if compared with PSLM Survey 2011-12 where an average of three years (2008-10) preceding the survey has taken however there are some variations in Age Specific Fertility Rates (ASFR).
Housing, water supply & sanitation: The chapter on water supply & sanitation includes main source of drinking water, installation of water delivery system at the household level, type of toilet and type of sanitation system used by household.
Motor pump is observed as main source of drinking water in PSLM 2013-14. Motor pump facility has increased to 32 percent in 2013-14 as compared to 30 percent in 2011-12. Provincial comparison shows that in Punjab motor pump facility has increased to 46 percent in 2013-14 from 42 percent in 2011-12. Sindh with 42 percent and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 31 percent use tap water as main source of drinking water. In Sindh it is mainly due to urban areas where 73 percent of the population is using tap water. However, in Balochistan the main source of drinking water is tap water with 32 percent in 2013-14 as compared to 38 percent in 2011-12. Use of flush toilet has increased to 74 percent in 2013-14 from 72 percent in 2011-12.
Seventeen percent households have no toilet facility followed by 9 percent are using non-flush. Access to flush toilets remains low in rural areas 61 percent as compared to urban areas 98 percent. By comparing provinces Punjab with 81 percent is at the top whereas Balochistan with 39 percent is at the bottom.