A recent report by Alif Ailaan - an education communications campaign platform - confirms what many conscious Pakistanis already dread: the education conundrum is starker than it meets the eye.
Over 25 million boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16 do not go to school in Pakistan, the aptly-titled report 25 Million Broken Promises estimates from publicly-available data. That implies nearly half of the kids who should be in school are not there. That is, every second child is out of school: how very shocking! More girls are out of school than boys, with a ratio of 1.2.
Breakdown of that number provides a very important insight. Only about 23 percent of primary school age kids (5-9 years of age) are not in school. From there, the ratio for out-of-school children (OOSC) increases with education tier. About 52 percent of the middle-school-age (10-12 years) kids, nearly 67 percent of high-school-age (13-14 years), and a whopping 85 percent of the higher-secondary-school-age (15-16 years) kids are not going to school at all.
These statistics show that primary schooling enrollment - the foundation of any education system - is doing far better than other tiers in Pakistan.
The primary age cohort represents nearly 43 percent of the 53 million kids in the 5-16 years larger group, but the report shows it is only responsible for about 20 percent of OOSC, and accounts for 63 percent of all school-going kids in Pakistan. The situation is the opposite at the higher secondary school or matriculation level, which is responsible for 30 percent of the 5-16 years old that are out-of-school.
The overall enrollment situation is abysmal, and it is compounded by the social, financial and geographical challenges. But one must take heart from the fact that primary enrollment is not in the dumps right now and that 80 percent of out-of-school kids happen to be above the primary-age. Primary enrollment, which stands at 67.5 percent as per the report, is set to further go up.
Provincial governments - that not only have total responsibility for primary and secondary education after 18th Amendments passage and the insertion of Article-25A in 2010, and who have been locked in a competitive battle of sorts with a different political party heading each province since 2013 - are seen to be making efforts on primary enrollment the most.
Countries that have eventually achieved good enrollment rate in all tiers have been able to do so by having a bottom-up approach - that is, by focusing on universal primary enrollment and simultaneously improving the student retention ratios for higher grades. Provincial authorities must also have a dual focus, and towards that end, quality spending (a longstanding issue) and leadership commitment (which has been inconsistent) have to be in large supply.
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