Beleaguered households

A new survey suggests that the country has made some remarkable strides in health, but is still failing to ensure our children have enough to eat. Similarly, despite adding new schools, learning outcomes are not improving. However, the most concerning finding of the Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS) 2024 is the crisis of food insecurity. Only one in five families can consistently afford the meals they desire, while 30% sometimes go without three meals a day. Over 60% of households identified inflation as their greatest shock, according to the survey. This alone reflects the precarious position that most of our fellow citizens find themselves in.

Meanwhile, the state of education is universally abysmal. Thousands of children are dropping out due to poverty, and those who do stay in school are not learning much. Over one-third of students from grades three to eight cannot answer a division problem at grade two level, a reflection of how badly the state has betrayed them. At the same time, the labour market offers little respite for kids who do make it through school. The promise of economic mobility remains a mirage for most, and female participation has seen only a glacial increase, with women largely confined to low-value work.

One of the few bright spots was in the health sector, specifically maternal and paediatric health, as skilled birth attendance surged and child stunting dropped, though it is still premature to write this up as a policy success or just a one-off statistical anomaly.

The only clear thing is that policymaking in Pakistan is still nowhere near holistic. Every success seems tainted by failure due to the siloed scope of work. We cannot even celebrate positives, such as lower stunting rates, because these are offset by the large number of children who are going to school hungry. We need to build a coherent strategy that ensures economic stability, food security and quality education, as these are non-negotiable foundations of a thriving country.