Mapping education

Who is and who is not educated in Pakistan, and to what level they are educated to, is endlessly debated and analysed. Educationally, Pakistan is a disaster area and has been for decades. The release of the Pakistan Education Atlas 2013 on March 25 is just the latest iteration of a tragic narrative. The adult literacy rate has plateaued at 58 per cent and has been stuck there for several years. “Literacy” is itself indeterminate in terms of functionality and many of that 58 per cent will be unable to do much more than write their own names. There has been scant improvement in this sector and 32 per cent of children aged five-to-nine are out of school, with 17 per cent of primary schools consisting of a single room. Of the rural population, 50 per cent has never been to school compared with 73 per cent for urban populations.

In educational terms, the “survival rate” is defined as the percentage of children that have completed primary education and this varies widely. The Capital territory has a survival rate of 96 per cent and a 95 per cent has been achieved in Gilgit-Baltistan. There is relatively good news for girls in education — 91 per cent make it from primary to middle school. In the long term, this is potentially very good news indeed, as global indicators tell us that better educated girls have fewer children, are healthier and more likely to ensure that their own children are educated at or beyond the standard they themselves reached. The devolution of budgets to the provinces has done nothing to improve the national map of education, with priority and curriculum differentials eroding what should be common core standards. There is acknowledgement that the standards of education are poor, teacher training insufficient and political commitment to education for all little more than lip service in some areas. Children are the social capital of tomorrow. Failure to invest in them is a recipe for mediocrity and being second-best. We can do better.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2014.

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