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Balochistan home to lowest-literacy rate in Pakistan
QUETTA, June 12(Daily Times): Balochistan is home to the
largest number of school buildings that are falling apart. It also has the least
number of educational institutions, the lowest literacy rate among both males
and females, the lowest ranking in the Gender Parity Index (GPI) and the
smallest presence of private educational institutes in the country, according to
the recently issued National Economic Survey (NES).
According to the
survey, 8.6 percent out of the 10,381 educational institutions in the province
are in a 'dangerous' condition. About 24.7 percent of these need major repairs
while 36.6 percent require minor repairs. Only 30.2 percent are in satisfactory
conditions.
"The total number of institutions in the country that have
buildings is 216,490. Out of those, 51.6 percent are in satisfactory conditions,
26 percent need minor repairs, 17 percent need major repairs, and 'only' 5.7
percent are in dangerous conditions.
The highest percentage of school
buildings that fall into this category are from Balochistan, said the
survey.
About six percent of the schools in Balochistan do not have
buildings, nine percent lack electricity, 12 percent are devoid of clean
drinking water and 11 percent are without proper latrine.
The province
also has the smallest number of educational institutions-10,381 against the
national number of 216,490 out of which 106,435 are located in the Punjab,
46,862 in Sindh and 36,029 in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This,
according to the NES, means that "out of the total number of institutions, 48
percent are to be found in the Punjab, 22 percent in Sindh, 17 percent in the
NWFP and 5 percent in Balochistan." With 43 percent of the total national
territory and vast natural resources, Balochistan happens to be the largest
province of Pakistan. But the province has the lowest literacy
rate.
According to the latest NES, Balochistan's total literacy rate is
34 percent against the national literacy rate of 52 percent-57 percent of
which is for the Punjab, 50 percent for Sindh and 49 percent for the NWFP. The
literacy rate among males in Balochistan is 39 percent, the lowest in the
country. The Punjab has 60 percent and Sindh and the NWFP both have 54.
Similarly, the literacy rate among women in Balochistan is also the worst in the
country. With only 27 percent literate women, Balochistan stands poorly against
the national female literacy rate of 48 percent - 53 percent for the Punjab, 42
percent for Sindh and 27 percent for the NWFP.
Balochistan also lags
behind all the three provinces in the Net Enrolment Rate (NER). "The NER for
primary schools was 42 percent in 2001-02, which increased significantly to 52
percent in 2005-06. Overall, both the sexes have recorded a 10 percent increase
in 2005-06 as compared to 2001-02. The Punjab (57 percent) has ranked first
followed by Sindh, the NWFP, and then Balochistan," the survey
stated.
Though the GPI has seen a considerable increase over time, "the
smaller provinces of the NWFP and Balochistan, with a literacy GPI of 0.46 and
0.37 respectively, deserve special consideration by the decision makers and
planners at both the federal and provincial levels."
According to the
survey, the GPI for GER at the primary level increased from 0.37 in 2001-02 to
0.85 in 2005-06. The NER at the primary level increased from 0.82 to 0.85 during
the same period.
The latest data marks the literacy GPI for Pakistan at
0.46 with a provincial break-up of 0.67 for the Punjab, 0.89 for Sindh, 0.46 for
the NWFP and 0.37 for Balochistan. Balochistan's journey towards the attainment
of a higher literacy rate from 2001-02 to 2005-06 has been embarrassingly slow
as compared to the other three provinces. The Punjab has outdone all the other
provinces improving its literacy rate from 47 to 57 percent. Similarly, Sindh
has increased to 55 percent from 46 percent in 2001-02 and the NWFP from 38 to
46 percent.
Balochistan has proved to be the slowest with only a two
percent increase in its literacy rate during the past seven years. The province,
according to the NES, has only progressed from 36 to 38
percent.
Balochistan also has the lowest presence of private schools -
1,750, as compared to 48,541 in the Punjab, 12,574 in Sindh and 11,276 in the
NWFP. The NES has noted that more than 76,000 private institutions in Pakistan
attend to the educational needs of 12 million children. The trend in enrolment
shows that the gender gap is closing down in the case of private schools as
compared to public schools.
One strong reason could be the presence of
almost twice the number of female teachers in the private sector as compared to
the public sector. In private schools, the student to teacher ratio is 1:29. The
male teacher to female teacher ratio is 1:2. In the case of the public sector,
the ratio of male teachers to female teachers is 1:0.6.
"Private sector
institutions are growing rapidly, i.e., from 36,096 in 1999-2000 to 81,103
institutions in 2005, showing an annual average increase of 25 percent," the
report said. Despite Balochistan's abysmal state of education, the cash-starved
province has been left in lurch by the federal government in its efforts to
improve the state of education. The NES states that the provincial government
will need to rationalize the suggested allocation increase by enhancing
non-salary expenditures for primary and secondary schools. This includes the
provision of missing facilities in existing infrastructure, the provision of
quality services such as teacher training, the increase of resources for new
infrastructure, a girls incentive programs, and the provision of on-the-side
incentives such as free textbooks, uniforms, transport, and scholarships.
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