Punjab ahead of all provinces but education situation still bleak-2594-News

"Alif Ailaan District Education Rankings 2014" — an in-depth assessment of the state of education in the country — revealed that Punjab is surging ahead of other provinces with its 14 districts in top 20.

The ceremony was organised by Alif Ailaan Pakistan and Sustainable Development Institute here on Thursday.

While addressing the gathering, Mehnaz Aziz, CEO of the Children’s Global Network, said data and evidence has to be the basis of increased accountability and gauging the performance of politicians. She said the government needs to launch a census of all children between the ages of 5 and 16 to assess where the country stands in terms of enrolment, and plan accordingly. Punjab’s high rank must not be mistaken with the province being anywhere near achieving its target of ensuring 100% enrolment and the provision of quality education. There is still a long way to go.

The report provides a snapshot of the education situation in Pakistan’s 146 districts and shows how widely education standards vary across the country. It provides a tool to track the performance of politicians, administrators and education providers, and measures the progress that provinces and districts are making.

Much like last year, Sindh, Balochistan and Fata occupy the bottom of the rankings with Sindh making its first appearance at number 40 with Karachi. This demonstrates a lack of commitment to follow-up on promises made by the provincial government. A recent example of this is the pledge that nine political parties made three months ago to ensure quality education for all the 6.1 million out-of-school children in in the province.

Mehtab Rashidi, MPA, PML-F and former Education Secretary Sindh said that there is need to stop politicising education. “I would urge all politicians to leave education alone. There are other avenues of making money and patronising transfers and posting. Education should not be one of them. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is the second worst performing province despite the government’s commitment to improve the situation. This is owing to gender disparities as well as poor learning outcomes in the province,” she added.

Bushra Gohar, former ANP MNA, said that it seems from the rankings that Pakistan is only Punjab. “It is time that we start investing in our children. The problem is that the state’s focus is primarily security. Education comes nowhere near. This needs to change. KP is followed by Balochistan, which is at the bottom of the rankings. The province has shown poor performance and is a matter of pressing concern given that there are 1.76 million children out of school here,” she added.

Senator Abdul Rauf Lala, from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, said that situation in Balochistan should not be seen only in the light of the 18th Amendment. The federal government, he said, needs to take ownership of the 65 years of havoc they have wreaked on education in KP.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the district of Poonch has fallen from its top spot last year and comes at 9th position in 2014. AJK has shown an overall decline from second position last year to third position this year. Although there are success stories this year, with some districts improving their performance to rise in the rankings, the report shows that overall quality and the availability of facilities are still unsatisfactory. Chakwal, which ranks highest nationwide, has a net enrolment rate of just 83 per cent, which is far from the promise of ensuring quality education for all. According to the report, more than 4 out of 5 children in Chakwal who are enrolled drop out before reaching Class 8.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in his address, said that the government is getting enough for what it is investing in. “The government needs to look at better ways of running schools. The sad truth is that even our best districts are far from ideal. Children are still out of school and the quality of education leaves much to be desired,” he added.

An interactive data portal, which provides a detailed overview of each district along with provincial and inter-district comparisons was also launched at the event. This is the first-of-its-kind resource that helps pinpoint the key reasons behind a district’s low scores, thereby helping identify hurdles in improvement.

The "Alif Ailaan District Education Rankings 2014" and the online portal are unique resources that can help politicians; education managers and the research community better understand the situation of their districts. This report should be used as a policy planning tool by governments, to help design district-specific education improvement plans. The Punjab has already taken the lead on this as is evidenced from its system of ranking districts as part of the Education Reforms Programme.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-251691-Punjab-ahead-of-all-provinces-but-education-situation-still-bleak