8 Percent Girls Still Out Of School: ASER Report

Around 8 percent girls are still out of schools as compared to boys that touching the figure of 6 percent as per the report of ASER-2023, which is a flagship project of the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Mar, 2024) Around 8 percent girls are still out of schools as compared to boys that touching the figure of 6 percent as per the report of ASER-2023, which is a flagship project of the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA).

The report was officially unveiled on International Women’s Day being observed across the country.

Senior educationists, distinguished panelists, government officials, representatives from civil society, development partners, media persons, students and teachers also attended the event organized in connection with the women's day.

Former Federal education minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Welcoming the ASER report’s findings, he said that the report would help the decision makers to address the concerns particularly for those girls who are still out of schools.

Province-wise results showed that gender gap is widen in the percentage of out-of-school children particularly

in the province of Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Although the gender gap in the report has declined over the time but a significant percentage (14pc) of both girls and boys (aged 6-16) in rural areas still out of the education system, which is a matter of concern for policy makers.

The participants of the event called for decisive measures to address the issues in support of the girls and other marginalized groups.

According to the report of ASER, more than 272,000 children of 3-5 years across rural and urban

including 8765 public and private schools/madrassahs and NFE centres. More than 200,000 children 5-16 years were assessed on a foundational learning or grade 2 tool in Urdu, Arithmetic, and English.

The twelfth launch of ASER Pakistan on foundational literacy and numeracy in the country was made possible by 10,000+ educated enumerators in collaboration with 16 civil society organizations including the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD).

Despite adverse shocks to the education system particularly during the period of COVID-19 and disastrous floods, the ASER rural results for 2023 indicate an improvement in enrollment of children aged 3-5 years (42pc in 2023, and 6-16 years 88pc in 2023 compared to 79pc (rural) in 2014.

The report reveals an overall dip in learning trends from 2021 to 2023, for grade 5 students in urdu (54.9pc to 50pc) and Arithmetic (51.4pc to 46.3pc). However, there are positive trends in specific regions, such as 8.5pc improvement in Urdu (story level) in Gilgit-Baltistan and a 5pc improvement in Arithmetic (2-digit division) in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). From 2014 to 2019, Pakistan’s learning levels had improved 15-17pc in Urdu, Arithmetic and English; learning gains received a setback during COVID and floods.