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Tuesday March 19, 2024

89pc children aged 6-16 in Punjab enrolled in schools

By Our Correspondent
March 19, 2019

LAHORE: The eighth (Annual Status of Education Report) ASER Survey Punjab report was launched on Monday which shows promising trends in terms of access and quality as 89pc children aged 6-16 are enrolled in schools as compared to 86pc in 2016.

The report also shows funds/grants for government schools has declined as compared to 2016, 50pc public primary, 43pc public middle and 48pc public high schools which received grants in 2018, compared to 70pc, 73pc, and 67pc in 2016 respectively.

The ASER Survey 2018 also highlights as per past trends that children enrolled in private schools are performing better compared to those studying in government schools. About 72pc children enrolled in Class-V in private schools were able to read a story in Urdu compared to 68pc Class V students studying at government schools.

These findings were made public in the report launched at Punjab University’s Institute of Education & Research (IER) which was attended by Secretary School Department Punjab Muhammad Mahmood, HRCP General Secretary I.A. Rehman, Baela Raza Jamil, CEO of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and people from different walks of life.

ASER is managed by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in partnership with nine civil society and partner bodies including the DCHD, CRDO, CMDO, Development Alternatives, Hamza Development Foundation, Society for Human Development, EHED Foundation etc.

As 3,000 educated volunteer/citizens trained as enumerators visited 36 districts, in 1,070 villages have based the ASER survey findings on the information gathered from 21,370 households and 57,349 children of age 3-16 years. For the year 2018, the ASER rural survey assessed 45,498 children of 5-16 year age cohort in Language (Urdu), English, and Arithmetic competencies.

According to the report, proportion of out-of-school children has decreased compared to 2016 (14pc). In 2018, 11pc of children were reported to be out-of-school. Punjab has recorded overall a 3pc increase in enrolment. Nationally, the gender gap persists in out-of-school children with more girls than boys not being enrolled or dropped out of school.

However in Punjab, the percentage of girls who are out of school is the same as percentage of boys. In ASER 2018 amongst the 11pc out-of-school children (age 6-16 years), 5.5pc are girls and 5.5pc are boys. This gap has narrowed as compared to ASER 2016 (6pc males and 7pc females). Early Childhood Education (ECE) has also been tracked by ASER. From 2014 when ECE enrolment was recorded at 55pc, it declined to 52pc in 2015 and 51pc in 2016 rising to 52pc in 2018 again in rural Punjab. Overall, government schools have witnessed a surge of 8pc (62pc) in enrolment for ECE, whereas private sector holds 38pc of total enrolment. The foundational learning stage for lifelong learning needs urgent attention and resources for implementation.

Learning in ASER 2018 reveals better trends in improved student competencies in Language, English and Arithmetic. 69pc class 5 children could read a class 2 level story in Urdu compared to 65pc in 2016.

In English, 65pc class 5 children could read sentences (class 2 level) compared to 57pc in 2016. For Arithmetic, 60pc class 5 children could do two-digit division in 2018. As compared to other provinces, Punjab along with AJK and ICT has demonstrated the best results in terms of assessment. The ASER Survey 2018 highlights as per past trends that children enrolled in private schools are performing better compared to those studying in government schools. About 72pc children enrolled in Class-V in private schools were able to read a story in Urdu compared to 68pc Class V students studying at government schools. The difference in learning levels for English are also the same as Urdu, where 68pc Grade V could read English Class II level sentences compared to 64pc public sector students! For arithmetic 66pc children enrolled in class V and going to private school can do 2-digit division as compared to 59pc government school children enrolled in class V.

Girls at par with boys: The survey highlights that in Punjab, girls are at par with boys in literacy and numeracy skills. About 57pc of girls were found able to read at least sentences in Urdu as compared to 57pc boys. For Arithmetic, 47pc of Class V girls were able to do Class II level subtraction as compared to 47pc Class V boys. For enrolment, overall girls' enrolment (rural) has been increasing since 2014, from 41pc to 43pc in government schools and from 42pc to 44pc in 2018 in private schools. If given attention, this increase in enrolment can also lead towards an increase in learning for girls- the two can reinforce one another. The ASER survey also collected information on parental education.

Mothers’ Education: This year, the percentage of mothers’ having completed primary education has gone up (49pc) as compared to 2016 (44pc). The trends in multi-grade teaching across schools are also mixed. ASER 2018 Punjab rural findings have found 30pc of government and 21pc of private schools imparting multi-grade teaching at Class II level; whilst at the Class VIII level, multi-grade teaching is more prevalent in the private sector 11% vs. 4% in government schools.

Government sector reports better school facilities but with progressive improvement in private schools: 94pc government primary schools had boundary-walls as compared to 93pc in private primary schools. With regard to availability of functional toilets, overall the facility was available in 98pc public and 94pc private primary schools (Punjab rural). Overall, Punjab was found as one of the highest percentage of government primary schools with useable water. About 95pc of all surveyed government primary schools in Punjab while 94pc of all surveyed private primary schools in Punjab had useable water facility.