Covid-19 Pandemic Directly Impacts 42 Mln School Going Children
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published June 10, 2021 | 06:00 PM
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :The Covid-19 pandemic has directly impacted 42 million school going children from pre-primary and Primary to higher secondary and degree college levels during last nine months of this fiscal year.
Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin while announcing the economic survey 2020-21 here on Thursday said, education is among the few sectors which was closed after the COVID-19 to contain the spread by keeping social and physical distancing.
Low-cost private schools are unable to pay salaries to the teachers and face risk of school closures.
This situation stands to potentially exacerbate risks and vulnerabilities to an already weak education system, as well as steepen learning capabilities.
Mobility constraints, non-availability of internet, non-access to tele-schooling facilities has disproportionate adverse impact on the most vulnerable groups, particularly females and other marginalized groups and those in rural areas and urban slums.
Geographically, rural areas and urban slums are potentially at highest risk with more than 70 per cent of current enrollment and large pockets of already out of school children. Hence, the COVID-19 crisis may widen the already existing socioeconomic gap in the educational system and impact the overall literacy rate of the country.
Similarly, in poverty and unemployment domain the survey said keeping the spread of the pandemic in perspective, almost 44% of the population is potentially vulnerable (including 24.3% already living below the poverty line) and may require immediate bail out.
The estimates of multidimensional vulnerability index based on PSLM 2014-15 shows that 56.6 per cent of the population have become socioeconomically vulnerable after the outbreak. This implies that various segments of the society may get affected by the pandemic, especially women and children as well as home-based and piece rate workers and marginalized groups including transgenders, persons with disabilities, refugees etc.
The 2017-18 Labor Force Survey estimates show 61.7 million employed labor force. Among these, 23.8 million are agriculture workers and 37.9 million are non-agriculture workers.
International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 12.6 million to 19.1 million vulnerable workers may lose their jobs while PIDE estimates 15.54 million to 18.65 million job loss.
It is expected that wholesale and retail trade will lose maximum workers followed by manufacturing, construction and transport. However, expected job loss in non-agriculture sector is between 4.8 and 5.8 million.
SMEDA estimates shows that 3.25 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) constitute nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan and their share in the annual GDP is 40%, approximately.
97% of these enterprises are under individual ownership and hence mainly working in the informal sector. Since most of MSMEs are not documented (other than those workers registered under EOBI or a social security program), they are not protected against loss of employment.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From Pakistan
-
Saudi ministry warns against fraudulent Hajj schemes; urges vigilance, official channels for booking
8 hours ago -
SC to take up 9 identical petitions regarding judges' letter
8 hours ago -
Woman committed suicide in Pindigheb
8 hours ago -
Teenage girl abducted in Hassanabdal
8 hours ago -
NTDC Super 8 Inter-Departmental Tape Ball Cricket Tournament concludes: GM (HR) team clinches the w ..
8 hours ago -
AJK President calls for overseas Kashmiris' proactive role to expose the Modi government's nefarious ..
9 hours ago
-
AJK-wide campaign begins to vanish black-tinted glasses to all sorts of vehicles
9 hours ago -
Islamabad to be digitalized as pilot project under national digitalization plan: IT Minister
9 hours ago -
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
9 hours ago -
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
9 hours ago -
Documentary on life of Jamiluddin Aali screened at embassy
9 hours ago -
"Sindh Theater Festival 2024" commences in Larkana
9 hours ago