Education targets: missed without remorse

When Pakistan became a signatory to the Education for All program in 1990, the country pledged actions that would ensure that all children in the country would have access to complete, free, and compulsory primary education by 2015.
Now as 2015 kicks off, gender equality and universal access to education in the country remain distant dreams. A district level ranking published by Alif Ailaan in 2013 is yet another eye opener for the nations collective stupor when it comes to education.
The ranking collates two scores; education score and school score. The school score or index primarily ranks districts based on the quality of infrastructure, availability of water, electricity and toilet facilities. The education score on the other hand, is based on enrolment rates, gender parity, and achievement and survival rates.
Based on these rankings, two neglected regions, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir boast relatively strong education scores despite being prey to some of the least mentionable facilities (they rank at the bottom in school scores). By contrast, despite a strong school score (second only to Punjab), Sindh ranks dismally in the education index, barely above FATA and Balochistan.
On the national level, the trend of spending on education tells a sorry tale too. The devolution process gave a larger share of government resources to provinces. One of the main arguments for devolution was that the provinces would spend more on education, healthcare and similar areas.
However, as a recent report by Manzil Pakistan points out, the proportion of development spending in the education sector has nearly halved since FY09. Higher cumulative spending on education that is often cited by federal and provincial governments is mostly comprised (about three-fourths) of recurrent expenditure.
It is often said that better education has a key role in ridding this society of extremism and intolerance. It is indeed a pity that education remains a low priority for governments and society alike, even with the obvious reality that our education system is not improving significantly.

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Rank  Province   Education Score  Rank   Province   School Score

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1     AJK            77.6          1     Punjab            83.47

2     Punjab        68.78          2     Sindh              66.7

3     GB            67.45          3     KPK               66.18

4     KPK           63.79          4     FATA              35.17

5     Sindh         51.67          5     Balochistan       26.61

6     FATA          47.42          6     GB                26.22

7     Balochistan   46.7           7     AJK                23.6

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