June 14, 2002	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, June 13: The economic survey 2001-02, released on Thursday, has estimated the literacy rate at 50.5 per cent, registering an increase of over one per cent from the last year’s figure of 49 per cent.

The survey, which was released by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, said that the literacy rate among men was 63 per cent and among women it was 38 per cent, while rural and urban literacy rates were 30 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

Under the Education Sector Reforms (ESR), the national literacy campaign had been launched, which envisaged to make 13.5 million people literate raise the literacy rate to 60 per cent by 2004. Around 270,000 adult literacy centres would be opened, the report said.

The economic survey, however, contains outdated information as it claims that there are 68 universities in the country, including 40 in the public sector. A list released by the University Grants Commission recently put the figure at 75, with 41 universities or degree awarding institutes in the public sector and 34 in the private sector.

The report said that during the fiscal year 2001-02, the number of primary schools was 169,087, and there were 19,180 middle and 13,108 high schools. The number of arts and science colleges was 789, 480 for men and 309 for women.

There are 36,096 private institutions in the country. Of them, 66.4 per cent are in Punjab, 17.9 per cent in Sindh, 12.3 per cent in the NWFP, 1.5 per cent in Balochistan, one per cent in Islamabad and 0.9 per cent in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Of the educational institutions, 39 per cent are in rural areas and 61 per cent in the urban areas.

The report said that the National Education Policy 1998-2010 had proposed a number of steps in respect of involvement of private sector in education. To improve primary education, a number of projects have been initiated, including rehabilitation of the existing primary schools throughout the country. An ordinance for compulsory primary education has been promulgated while science education was being given priority.

The report resolved to increase the access to higher education opportunities by 10 per cent annually.

It said the budget for education for 2001-02 was two per cent of the gross domestic product, while the share of private education was 0.6 per cent of the GDP. The total estimated budget was Rs73.745 billion, with a break-up of development budget of Rs8.770 billion (11.9 per cent) and recurring budget of Rs64.975 billion (88.1 per cent).