Out of School Children in

PunjabLooking at Access & Equity

“Every child enrolls in school Every child is retained in school

Every child learns and makes progress”

Road Map To Reforms – Government of Punjab

The Big PictureGlobal South Asia: 42 million (or

26%) are out of school*

National Pakistan: 8 million of almost 20 million school-age children are out of school*

Provincial Punjab: 3.8 million from 5-9 year age group are out of school**

* UIS 2005 **Source: Government of Punjab and UNESCO, 2010 “Five year strategic plan for the promotion of literacy in the province of Punjab”.

Government Initiatives

Global Year 2000 - Education for All Charter and the Millennium Development Goals

National April 2010, the 18th Amendment to the constitution of Pakistan provided for Article 25-A

Provincial April 2011, the Government of Punjab’s Schools Roadmap to Reform Program

Net Enrolment Rate

Net Enrolment Rates in Pakistan: PSLM 2010- 11 Primary Middle Matriculation

(6-10 yrs) (5-9 yrs) (11-13 yrs) (10-12 yrs) (14-15 yrs) (13-14 yrs)Punjab 70 61 37 23 25 14Sindh 62 53 36 19 23 11KP 64 51 33 17 19 7Balochistan 56 47 25 13 14 6

Inference: These percentages show that the magnitude of the OOSC in Pakistan remains very high despite several efforts of the Government to improve the condition of education.

Net Enrolment Rates in South Asia for (Primary – 6-10yrs): GMR 2011Countries Male Female TotalBangladesh 85 86 85Bhutan 86 88 87India 91 88 90Maldives 97 95 96Nepal 95 96 94Pakistan 72 60 66Sri Lanka 99 100 99

Understanding the ‘Educational Quandary’• Despite our country’s commitment to

undertake the necessary steps to improve education, progress has been slow.

• Why is it so?• Who are the OOSC in Punjab?• What will happen when 25-A becomes a

legislature? Who is thinking about resource gaps?

Defining OOSC• The concept of out-of-school children

implies that there is a group of children that should be in school but is not

• ASER Pakistan survey measures OOSC as those found to be out of school either because they dropped out or because they were never enrolled in any formal education institution.

Calculating the OOSC• 22% of children in Punjab

at age 5 are not enrolled in any school facility

• 3-5 age group 49% were un-enrolled. Girls were 55%.

• Half of the critical period of Early Childhood years falls in this time period and this opportunity is lost when the child is not enrolled in any school.

2010* 20110

20

40

60

80

100

87 86

23 22

% Children age 3-5 NOT Attending any Pre-School

Age 3 Age 5

% C

hild

ren

Source: ASER 2011-Punjab Rural

Calculating the OOSC• 6-10yrs: 11% are out of school in

Punjab (Of this the dropout rate is 2% while 9% have never been enrolled)

• 4-9 yrs children: 17% • 6-16yrs: 16% (9% never enrolled and

7% drop out). Among the OOSC (6-16yrs) 55% are girls – gendered dimensions of OOSC need to be addressed urgently

OOSC in Districts• Rajanpur and Lodhran have the highest number

of OOSC (6-16yrs), 38% and 30% respectively. • Moreover, many southern Punjab districts have

high out of school percentages when compared to northern districts: Rawalpindi at 5% and, Chakwal and Jehlum both at 7% OOSC.

• Targeting Needed for Urgent Actions & Resources for the Greatest Measureable Impact .

Characteristics of OOSCAge Largest proportions of OOSC in Punjab are in the

6-10 and 14-16 years age brackets..

Learning Levels – 22% are able to read Urdu sentences and 14% can read story– 19% are able to read English words and 10% can read

sentences– 17% are able to do subtraction correctly and 10% are able to

do division sums

Gender except for 5 districts in Punjab all other districts surveyed have more out of school girls than boys

Characteristics of OOSC • Other studies show much greater share of

children who live in rural areas are out of school than those who live in urban areas (UIS 2005)

• Already marginalized communities such as minorities, challenged/special children also have a greater share of OOSC

Together the interaction of gender, rural under-development and poverty combine to keep some

children out of school.Is policy debate catering to these characteristics

of OOSC to form a comprehensive policy?

Increase in Enrolment & Resource Gaps

Resource Gaps - Transitions• PMIU – Punjab- 60,153 educational institutions

– 73% primary schools– 12.5% middle schools– 8% high schools – 0.8% higher secondary schools

– For every 6 primary schools in Punjab there is only 1 middle school in the public sector

OOSC cannot be reduced with low

transition opportunities from primary to post primary

Source: ASER 2011-Punjab Rural

Resource Gaps• ASER 2011 – in Govt Schools of Punjab:

– 30% are without useable toilets – 20% are without useable water.– 24% are without a boundary wall

• PMIU 2010-11 – in Govt School of Punjab:– D.G. Khan, Rawalpindi, RahimYar Khan and Bahawalnagar

have at least 300 schools in their districts without drinking water

– In 30/36 districts, at least 100 schools are without a toilet. Worst examples: D.G.Khan with 674 schools, Bahawalnagar with 592 and Rawalpindi with 506 without toilets

So what are the easy wins… High impact and low cost...

Given budgetary allocations to education, the deficit in basic facilities is startling…

What will the government do once Article 25-A

Is legislated?

Costing for RTE 25 A needs to be done meticulously…

Resource Gaps with 25-A• I-SAPS 2012 – In the

next 15 years, the number of school-going children will increase to 19.32 m in Punjab

• To cater to it, current Rs.152 billion education budget needs to be raised to Rs.337 billion

• 15% annual increase in Budget required

Table 4: Current and Future Trends of Resources in Punjab

Current 2024-25 Projections

Difference

Schools 61,000 65,500 5815

Teachers 354,607 499,472 144,865

Classrooms 236,288 499,472 26,3184

Source: I-SAPS, 2012

In a future where education is

free and compulsory how will the Government of Pakistan /Punjab overcome the shortfalls and cater to demand for additional necessary resources (such as more and well equipped schools, teachers and training)?

Its tasks will include covering the growth, accommodating the influx of OOSC and

improving the quality of education all at the same time

What Now?The purpose of the policy dialogue is to highlight the critical issue of out of school children in Punjab and

expect solid commitments from the

panel/participants as to what steps it/they

can take to overcome this Issue of OOSC

What Now?• Some policy key directions are expected from:

– The Department of Schools– Non-formal and Literacy Department– Special Education Department– Elected Representatives from Assemblies– Other Departments working on Education

• How can we plan comprehensively for OOSC?• ASER will continue to report each year until

2015 on trends to measure if actions were taken with impact

Thank You