JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR: More than 50 percent of children aged 5-16 in the six districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including merged areas, are not attending schools, said the latest government survey. Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey 2019-20, conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), covering 176,790 households across rural and urban communities for collecting information on a range of social sector issues —education, health, and food insecurity by facilities and services. The district-wise data shows that in KP the highest ratio of out of school children was recorded at 60pc in Kohistan followed by tribal district Mohmand 57pc, Bajaur 55pc, Torghar 55pc, Waziristan51pcand North Waziristan 50pc. According to PSLM, it’s the 12thround of the survey since 2004 for monitoring of development places at the provincial/district level in the overall context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The findings of the PSLM shows that KP has also suffered a major setback in terms of primary school admission. Primary school enrollment in the province, excluding the merged districts, declined to 67% in 2019-20 as compared to 71 %in 2014-15. The survey reveals that out of school children, the percentage was highest in tribal district Mohmand with 57percent and lowest in Abbottabad with 9 percent. According to the survey report districts with the highest literacy rate in the province is also topped by Abbottabad 73.9followed by Karak 71, Haripure 69, Manaehra,62.8, and Malakand 62. The district-wise data shows that Abbottabad with 73.9 percent is the top-performing district in literacy while tribal districts Mohmand with 26.4 percent and Bajaur 29 .0 percent are the worst-performing districts within KP. Surprisingly, primary school enrollment in the province has declined at a time when there was an educational emergency. According to the survey,32pc children were out of school across the country in 2019-20. The number of such children is higher in rural areas (37pc) than urban areas (22pc). Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education, KP Shahram Khan Tarakai said on Twitter that “KP education department has taken a significant step to increase enrollment and minimize girls’ dropout in schools. A 2 billion-plus amount has been dedicated for young female students. Total 48000 plus female students will get benefit from this program”. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC) with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 44 percent of the total population in this age group.
