Analysing the performance of education in K-P

The education facilities in KP need upgrades for the region to flourish

In recent years, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has experienced unprecedented growth in the public sector’s budgetary allocations for education. The K-P government has allocated Rs138 billion for education in the recent budget, which is an increase of 17 per cent compared to last year’s allocated budget of Rs118 billion. This is in line with the annual increment of at least 16 per cent recommended by technical experts to achieve yearly targets in compliance with international donors, and for effective implementation of K-P’s five-year Education Sector Plan.

Unfortunately however, the latest official data sources reveal a static and dismal picture of primary and secondary education in the province. Preliminary results of a recent extensive household survey conducted in all 25 districts of KP discloses that approximately 1.8 million children of 5-16 years of age are currently out of school, and according to the Economic Survey of 2016-17, the literacy rate is 53 per cent since 2012, meaning that 47 per cent of adults in the province remain illiterate. According to official Annual Statistic (ASC) reports, the Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) and Gross Enrollment Rates (GER) at the primary level in government institutions have plummeted by one percentage point from 49 to 48 per cent and 63 to 62 per cent, respectively, during the previous academic year; whereas, private institutes observed an increase of one per cent in both NER and GER. These official figures firmly contradict the government’s claim that improved parents’ confidence in government schools has resulted in a total of 34,000 students migrating from private to government schools in 2016. In reality, quite the contrary is true.

Similarly, a shortage of teachers and subsequent high student-teacher ratio in schools is a considerable predicament. The number of students for every one teacher is hefty and unmanageable. The goal is to increase the number of schools with lower student-teacher ratio by hiring new teachers and transferring teachers from schools with surplus instructors to schools with teacher shortages. The Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED) initiated a rigorous teacher rationalisation process and recruitment on a new School Based Recruitment (SBR) policy, under which the department inducted around 40,000 new teachers via a transparent NTS system and conducted systematic transfers of the existing teaching workforce.

The average standard for non-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries suggests that the optimal student-teacher ratio is 30:1 or 30 students for every one teacher. In contrast, research evidence suggests that educational benefits are only tangible when student-teacher ratio is 18:1 or lower. Achieving this ratio, however, is presently highly ambitious for KP and thus, even by taking a very modest yardstick of 40:1, the analysis of the most recent available official Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) data for the month of May 2017 shows that approximately 38% of schools suffer from teacher shortages. This means that there are still more than 40 students per teacher in almost 10,800 schools in 25 districts of K-P.

The provision of missing facilities to schools is vital and the government has made extraordinary progress in providing infrastructure facilities by spending Rs21 billion to date. However, statistical analysis demonstrates that the provision of basic facilities since 2012-13 has not had any impact on the improvement of teachers and students behaviour in K-P schools because there are many other factors that affect students and teachers’ behaviour which are not yet being addressed along with the supply of basic facilities. The provision of missing facilities is not a panacea for resolving education problems and a more holistic approach is needed to address complex education woes.

Though the establishment of an effective IMU brought about improvement in teacher attendance rate, schools are visited only once a month and the increased presence of teachers has not played any role in preventing students’ attrition, since the drop-out rate of students in their first year has increased from 16.62 per cent in 2012-13 to 22.36 per cent in the following academic year, and the survival rate of students at primary level shows a decline of 12 percentage points when compared to 2012 across all districts of KP; whereas, the transition rate from primary to secondary level shows a minimal improvement of only 2 percentage points in the past four years.

It is apparent from the magnitude of budget allocation that education is a priority for the provincial government, but a mere increase in budget allocation is not sufficient in addressing persistent and multifaceted obstacles that the education sector currently faces. K-P’s performance in efficient execution and utilisation of allocated budget, especially for non-salary heads, has been extremely poor due to incompetency of local level officers lacking basic managerial, financial, administrative and other technical skills. By the end of the fiscal year, these figures are highly manipulated and overstated by the aid-dependent education department to meet donor requirements and secure funding for the coming fiscal year.

A more coherent strategy is needed to deal with this state of affairs, to not only escape from aid dependence, but to also become self-sufficient since the record of depending on assistance is extremely detrimental to capacity development. Innovative approaches are required to address the issue of access to education and the question of sustainable improvement in the quality, governance and management of the education system. More competent education managers, independent audit of utilised budgets, a better monitoring system and decentralisation of powers are required to achieve our educational goals in K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2017.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.