UK High Commissioner Jane Marriott and Minister Ahsan Iqbal Highlight Education Issues in Pakistan
A report released by the United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Jane Marriott, and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has highlighted significant issues in Pakistan’s education system. The report, released on Friday, revealed that all 134 districts, excluding Islamabad, are falling short on various indicators, including learning outcomes and public financing.
The Planning Commission’s District Education Performance Index Report 2023 underscored a severe human resource crisis in Pakistan, showing that many individuals are entering the job market with insufficient or inadequate educational qualifications. Experts view this issue as even more critical than the economic crisis.
All districts in the country are categorized as either medium or low-performing, struggling to achieve effective results. The report attributes these challenges to poor governance, substandard learning outcomes, and inadequate budget allocations by the Pakistani administration. None of Pakistan’s 134 districts achieved a high-performing rating in the education sector. Instead, 133 districts were classified as having medium to low performance.
The average score of 53.46 indicates that all districts are grappling with a dysfunctional education delivery system that requires urgent attention to address fundamental gaps in educational outcomes. Districts with medium scores are facing notable deficiencies, leading to diminished educational outcomes and necessitating substantial improvements in service delivery.
Additionally, parents have a strong perception of poor quality in public sector education. The report also highlighted that the country’s most deficient areas are internet connectivity, numeracy and reading skills, the tenure of the education secretary, the proportion of the education budget within the development budget, and the availability of schools and related facilities.
The underperforming districts are primarily located in Balochistan and Sindh, with 33 in Balochistan and 22 in Sindh, highlighting significant inter-provincial disparities. All the districts in Balochistan fall into the low-performance category, reflecting severe challenges throughout the province. Currently, Balochistan faces severe difficulties across nearly all areas, ranking lowest in most domains except learning, where it performed only marginally better than the worst-performing province.
Doubts Revealed
UK High Commissioner -: A High Commissioner is like an ambassador. Jane Marriott is the UK’s top representative in Pakistan.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal -: Ahsan Iqbal is a government official in Pakistan. He is responsible for planning and development.
Pakistan -: Pakistan is a country in South Asia, next to India.
134 districts -: Districts are areas within a country. Pakistan has 134 such areas, not counting its capital, Islamabad.
Islamabad -: Islamabad is the capital city of Pakistan.
Learning outcomes -: Learning outcomes are the results of education, like how well students understand and use what they learn.
Public financing -: Public financing means the money the government spends on things like schools and teachers.
Governance -: Governance is how a place is managed or run, like how rules are made and followed.
Budget allocations -: Budget allocations are how money is divided and given to different needs, like education.
Human resource crises -: Human resource crises mean there are not enough skilled people, like teachers, to do important jobs.
Balochistan -: Balochistan is a province in Pakistan. It is one of the areas with the most problems in education.
Sindh -: Sindh is another province in Pakistan facing big education challenges.
Low-performing -: Low-performing means not doing well, like students not learning enough in school.
