PESHAWAR
\nAround 83 percent of Pakistanis do not have access to any library and 60 percent of Pakistanis have no playground access, revealed in a latest research study of Pakistan\u2019s Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) titled: \u201cShaping Minds and Bodies: Do We Have the Facilities?\u201d which is the fifth BASICS Note of the Series, here on Sunday. According to a Press Release issued by the PIDE, Dr. Durre Nayab, Pro Vice Chancellor of National Think Tank, in her latest research, showed a very low level of social and civic engagement among the people of Pakistan.
\nThe study suggested if people are rarely engaged socially, how are they keeping themselves mentally and physically alive? Are there enough libraries and playgrounds available to do so? Not that other ages do not need these, but with the number of youth present in the country, the importance of having facilities where the young can shape and nourish their minds and bodies become all the more important. According to the research study, the libraries provide not just information but also contribute to building communities. Public libraries can be a great equalizer by providing information and education to those who otherwise cannot afford it.
\nThe study furthermore said that a vast majority of Pakistanis (83%) do not have access to any library, with only a tiny proportion (4.5%) being very happy with the one they can access.
\nAccess remains low for both sexes, but females have more inadequate access than their male counterparts for all age groups.
\nDr. Nayab further elaborated in the report that it is worth mentioning here that this is reported access. A facility might exist but still remain inaccessible for a variety of reasons.
\nHow many Pakistanis have access to playgrounds? It may be clarified here that this question asks if the respondent can access a playground, not if they actually do it.
\nThe research shows that 60 percent of Pakistanis have no playground access. While one-third of the urban population lacks access to a playground, the proportion is three-fourths for their rural counterparts. Along with low accessibility, satisfaction too is much lower in the rural areas, expressed in the unhappy and very unhappy responses.
\nPunjab fares the best among the four provinces, followed by Balochistan and Sindh. KP shows the highest proportion of those not having access to a playground (67.8%). GB continues to show better trends than other territories, having the lowest proportion of those not having access to a playground (46.3%). AJK lags behind other territories, with 62.3 percent needing more access to a playground.
\nIn her report, PIDE Pro VC described that the education level positively correlates with the accessibility of a playground. The proportion of not having access to a playground declines as we go up the educational ladder from 75.1 percent for those who have never been to school; it reduces to 41 percent who have achieved more than a high school education. Those happy\/very happy also increase with increasing educational level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Around 83 percent of Pakistanis do not have access to any library and 60 percent of Pakistanis have no playground access, revealed in a latest research study of Pakistan\u2019s Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) titled: \u201cShaping Minds and Bodies: Do We Have the Facilities?\u201d which is the fifth BASICS Note of the Series, here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-328573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n