19pc children remained out of school in 2021

Islamabad : The 19 per cent of children remained out of school in 2021 while the 40 per cent of government and 23 per cent of private schools imparted multi-grade teaching till grade 8 while multi-grade in grade 2 and 8 has been dropped in government schools due to improved number of teachers and classrooms, said Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 launched here on Thursday.

As per report, 81 per cent of children were enrolled in government schools whereas 19 per cent were going to non-state institutions, one in ‘Madrassa’. The share of private schools has been dropped by 4 per cent as compared with year 2019.

This enrolment edge in government schools poses new challenges for supply side actions in terms of facilities and more spaces and teachers for children who can be accommodated, attend and learn above all in public sector as their fundamental entitlement.

The report was based on citizen-led household survey. The Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) conducted the survey report in joint collaboration with around 20 organisations and 1,000 volunteer citizens visited 152 districts in 4,420 villages to implement the ASER survey from 87,415 households and 247,978 children of age 3-16 years.

As per report, for the year 2021, the ASER rural survey assessed 212,105 children of 5-16 year age in language (Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto), English, and arithmetic competencies mapped to the curriculum and textbooks.

The report till date has further annually informed about the progress and challenges for Article 25 A of the constitution extending education for All 5-16 year old children since 2010 and for tracking progress towards SDG 4, measuring learning at the lower primary level. Learning lies at the heart of the education enterprise but because of the pandemic and school closures, ASER rural results for 2021 reflect a drop in enrollment for age group 3-5 and 6-16 years. The share of private schools dropped by 4 per cent as compared to year 2019. This enrolment edge in government schools poses new challenges for supply side actions in terms of facilities and more spaces and teachers for children who can be accommodated, attend and learn above all in public sector as their fundamental entitlement.

For the first time during COVID there are more boys which were skewed due to data from Punjab. Boys are presumably going to child labor and dropping out of schools. Vulnerability of our children is on the increase. The Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been historically tracked by ASER Pakistan. From 2014 when ECE enrolment stood at 39 per cent it has registered marginal decline 38 per cent in 2021). The report stated that although ECE was a critical for foundational learning readiness in literacy and numeracy, but remains largely ignored as a holistic sub-sector addressing the physical, socio-emotional and cognitive domains.

According to the rural portion of the report, te student competencies in learning Language and Arithmetic have declined 55 per cent of class 5 children could read a class 2 level story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto compared to 59 per cent in 2019. The 51 per cent class 5 children could do two digit division as compared to 57 per cent in 2019.

Only for English, the learning levels have improved marginally. The 56 per cent class 5 children could read sentences (class 2 level) compared to 55 per cent in 2019. Children enrolled in private schools are performing better in literacy compared to government counterparts and boys outperform girls; however, in numeracy both sectors are at par. Foundational learning trailing from grade 3 remains compromised in grade 5 and even in grade 8. Learning Poverty is on the rise.

The report highlights that whilst children in private schools taking tuition has remained at the same level 22 per cent as in 2019, paid coaching has recorded a massive jump for children in government schools from 6 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent in 2021. Increase in tuition in government schools by 14 per cent during COVID-19 is a burden on poor households.

Learning support from a high of 68 per cent learning support from family members, 57 per cent availed PTV teleschool sessions, 37 per cent had access to smart phones, followed by 29 per cent with access to computer, 27 per cent to paid tuition, 14 per cent digital learning resources and 6 per cent accessed radio programmes. The support from family in learning during covid-19 (68 per cent) is a sign of hope for bridging the home-school divide. distance/edtech learning solutions must be developed further. teleschool coverage shows increase from 35 per cent in March 2021 to 57 per cent in November 2021.

The ASER report further highlighted that school functioning across every district in Pakistan. Overall teacher attendance in surveyed government schools was 90 per cent, whereas it was 92 per cent in private schools on the day of the survey. Whilst private school teachers were reported to have better qualifications at graduate levels (37 per cent) compared to 32 per cent in government schools; however, for MA/MSC qualifications, a larger percentage of public sector teachers (27 per cent) have a higher qualification than private counterparts (21 per cent). The 77 per cent private primary schools had boundary-walls as compared to 75 per cent government primary schools; for functional toilets, the facility was available in 70 per cent public and 71 per cent private primary schools; safe and conducive environments do affect learning positively across public and private schools. The government must make missing facilities an integral part of school based budgets and not a separate budget head.

The ASER 2021 school level survey, included a ‘Health and Disability’ section; head teachers/teachers were asked questions pertaining to Children with Disabilities (CWDs) and appropriate facilities in their respective schools. Overall, 21 per cent of the surveyed government schools reported having children with disabilities, compared to 24 per cent private schools.

The ICT’s ASER 2021 collected information on important civic, social safety net support and 21st century indicators. The technology profile of households is changing rapidly. Compared to 2019 when 66 per cent of HHs (rural) who had cell phones, there are 77 per cent households in 2021. 62 per cent have smart phones. Amongst mobile users, 89 per cent use WhatsApp services, whilst 64 per cent use SMS facility. The 23 per cent have internet connection and 18 per cent have computer/laptops. 65 per cent households have TV and 18 per cent have radio.

Social safety nets are being offered to 16 per cent of the population against 12 per cent from 2019. The 16 per cent households stated that their earnings during COVID were affected by more than 50 per cent and 30 per cent households stated that their psychological well-being was substantially affected during COVID. ASER Pakistan, collects information from children on learning and other critical indicators across rural and urban households alongside schools producing internationally comparable data on the acquisition of foundational lower primary skills, holding national and global-level institutions accountable for delivering on the SDG 4 promises.

ASER Pakistan, not only collects data to highlight education challenges across the country, it identifies the most under-privileged areas within Pakistan, surviving under extreme poverty, where girls in rural areas, and the disabled are likely to be most vulnerable. Evidence on learning, disaggregated by geography, gender, inclusion and wealth, generated by ASER/ITA annually propels democratically elected governments to target, plan and spend better with measurable positive outcomes so that they live up to their manifesto promises.