10-alarming-statistics-about-pakistans-out-of-school-children

The Constitution of Pakistan states that every child has the right to free and compulsory education, yet millions of children in the country remain deprived of their Constitutional right, says a new report by Alif Ailaan, a local alliance for education reform.The report titled “25 Million Broken Promises” says that there are currently 25.02 million boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16 who are not in school.

“What’s worse, the proportion of out-of-school children (OOSC) increases as the level of education rises so that by the higher-secondary level almost 85% are not in school,” the report reveals.

Below are 10 alarming statistics about the education crisis in Pakistan, as highlighted in the report.

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1: In relative terms, most out-of-school children are in Balochistan

Education reform in Pakistan: Why, When, How

The spectrum of Pakistan's education problems is much wider and deeper than just schooling. It affects all sectors of the education system, ranging from primary and secondary schooling to higher education and vocational training. Higher education remains ineffective in imparting appropriate skills to the large majority of Pakistani graduates who emerge from universities. As a result, most are unable to become productive contributors either in Pakistan, or on the global stage. Vocational education is neglected and its quality remains uneven. Over 75 percent of graduates have some foundational skills, but no marketable skills for employment. Higher and vocational education are primary departure points for Pakistani youth into Pakistan's economy and society. Under-preparation at these levels severely limits national development.

Pakistan does not have the luxury of waiting to reform the education system, nor can it afford to prioritize certain sectors over others. The need of the day is a balance between resource allocation between sectors and tailoring reform plans to each sector's needs and constraints. For example, prioritizing primary education over the large number of young people in need of vocational training may put currently achievable goals out of reach in five years.

The creation of a priori blueprint for reforming the entire education system would be a complex and demanding task that can only be led by major stakeholders, including the government, political leaders and civil society. Stakeholder buy-in is crucial, because the process will require making serious choices about the level of resources to commit to each sector, and choosing what to reform and how. Nonetheless, the following guiding principles can be considered a good starting point.

First, any reform must be systemic, focusing on a defined set of areas for each sector and addressing them simultaneously. Focus areas may include governance, fiscal resources, human resources, curriculum and infrastructure. These areas are crucially interlinked and omitting one is likely to hamper meaningful and sustainable long-term change.

Second, institutions' standards of excellence must be tailored to purpose. A system is ‘excellent’ if it has a variety of 􀃶t-for-purpose institutions delivering what they are designed for, within their resource constraints. Aiming for system excellence must not impose uniform performance standards on all institutions.

Third, implementation resources must be carefully nurtured and protected. Implementation eventually comes down to people who possess the motivation, skill, experience and resolve to build and maintain reform efforts - promising reforms often fail when one or two key people exit. Therefore, it is important to recognize the dangers of replacing teams before the ground gained in reform has been secured. This is particularly important because of the difficulty in replacing talent in Pakistan and the high learning costs for new participants.

Moving from principles to actual reform blueprints requires serious, system-level reform rather than piecemeal initiatives. This is particularly difficult as the current government has taken notice of highly emotive and visible problems such as the economy, energy and security. Problems falling within these themes—inflation, slow economic growth, energy riots, sectarian violence— are daily news, and the political capital gained from addressing them is far greater than the longer-term payoff from investing in education.

Education in Pakistan

Education in Pakistan suffers from a chronic lack of spending in the education sector. However, the more alarming issue is the inefficient use of allocated funds with high proportions remaining unspent and those that are spent contributing little to good quality education. With the recent devolution of education from a federal to a provincial subject, it remains to be seen how the provinces tackle the problems of the education sector.

While these public sector problems fester, there remain 5.1 million Pakistani children of primary school age who are out of school. This is the second highest in the world and is over twice as many as in India. Of the poorest 20%, a tragic 2 in 3 girls do not go to school; one of the worst gender inequalities in the world.

The ones that make it to school suffer from the incapacity of the government to administer adequate education. Our task is daunting. CARE adopts government schools and takes over operational control while investing in infrastructure improvements. Even though we do not have the largest budget, we educate the most children of any NGO in Pakistan while meeting rigorous standards of academic excellence.

online education

The idea of online education is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offeronline courses and online degrees. The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in today's modern high tech world.

Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free. The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bankloans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education.

Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system. Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge.

 the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector. This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high drop out rates in rural areas and public school.

Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan (the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29.5% in males and 3% in females.

The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender discrimination. The currentprimary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms the quality of education in Pakistan but create a gap among haves and have nots. 

Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means low standard of education. 

Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1.5 to 2.0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on education.

Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation.Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments. 

Ray of hope

Even though there is a lack of concern on the part of government to promote girls' education, some religious groups, political parties and NGOs are working actively to do so despite all barriers.

Alkhidmat, a countrywide NGO, is running almost 100 non-formal schools in small villages of Sind, Baluchistan and NWFP Provinces, where not merely girls but adult women are admitted for basic primary education.

"We think women's education is equally important. When women become literate, they can build a better nation, said Mrs Abida Farheen, a graduate of Karachi university and the head of Alkhidmat's education wing.

In Sind province, NAZ, a Khairpur-based NGO, is running fifty formal and non-formal girls' schools in the city's outskirts; the NGO Resource Center, a Karachi-based organisation, is operating scores of girls' schools while Green Crescent, another Karachi-based NGO, is running twenty non-formal schools for girls in villages throughout the province. In Punjab, the Al-Ghazali Education Trust, a Lahore-based organization, is operating some 200 formal and non-formal schools, mostly for girls and women, all over the province.

Alarming situation in rural areas

The situation is especially alarming in rural areas due to social and cultural obstacles. One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam, the dominant religion in Pakistan (96 per cent of the population), which like all religions urges men and women to acquire education.

The situation is the most critical in NWFP and Baluchistan, where the female literacy rate stands between 3 per cent and 8 per cent. Some government organizations and non-governmental organizations have tried to open formal and informal schools in these areas, but the local landlords, even when they have little or nothing to do with religion or religious parties, oppose such measures, apparently out of fear that people who become literate will cease to follow them with blind faith. Unfortunately, the government has not so far taken any steps to promote literacy or girls= education in these areas. It is even reluctant to help NGOs or other small political or religious parties do the job, because in order to maintain control, it needs the support of these landlords and chieftains who, as members of the two major political parties, are regularly elected to the national assembly.

"I want to go to school to learn but I cannot because my parents do not allow me to do so," said 9-year old Palwasha, who has visited the biggest city of Pakistan, Karachi, with her parents and seen girls like herself going to school. She lives in a village located in Dir district (NWFP), where education for girls does not exist. "We have only one school for boys," she said, adding, Aone of my friends goes school, but she is now in Peshawar (capital city of NWFP)".