Poverty main factor behind high dropout rate: minister
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: Poverty is one of the major factors behind high dropout and low participation rates at school level, Federal Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi said.
He was talking to a select group of journalists at his office on Friday. The minister is leaving for Brazil to represent Pakistan at a High Level Group (HLG) meeting on Education For All (EFA) scheduled from November 8 to 10.
The High Level Group has the primary responsibility for driving the EFA process forward, strengthening partnerships, identifying priorities, gaps and needs and highlighting the resources to be mobilized by member states.
It brings together some 30 participants from four constituencies, i.e. ministers for education from the developing countries, ministers for international development/foreign affairs, ministers from developed countries, heads of multilateral/bilateral agencies and civil society representatives.
The minister said besides poverty, quality of education and non-availability of schools at the doorsteps, especially for girls, were other elements which compounded this problem.
He said primary education participation rate in Pakistan stood at 67 per cent whereas six million children of the age group five to nine years were out of school.
Highlighting the importance of the group's meeting, the minister said this would be the fourth meeting which would serve as a lever for political commitment and mobilize financial resources for the EFA in Pakistan.
"I would represent Pakistan's case in a strong manner and apprise international donors of the problems we are facing in implementing the EFA," Mr Qazi said. He said the current literacy rate of the country was 54 per cent and about 50 million people were illiterate.
The total number of primary schools, including those in the private sector, are 163,400, middle schools, 18,900 and secondary schools, 12,900, he said. The minister said he would highlight the issues and challenges faced by the education sector in the country during the meeting. Pakistan has allocated 2.2 per cent of the GNP for education which is very low compared to the need of the country which is at least four per cent of the GNP, he said.
The minister said the low utilization rate of funds allocated was another issue confronting the education sector in the country; 1.8 per cent of the GNP against 2.2 per cent allocations.
He termed lack of competency, commitment and motivation among teachers another major issue in the education sector. He told journalists that he would suggest that the budget for education should be increased to four per cent of the GNP and at the same time absorptive capacity and utilization rate should be improved.
The capacity-building of the districts should be assigned priority because districts are the main organizations in the new administrative setup to implement the federal government's educational agenda.
Mr Qazi said he would propose at the forum the introduction of incentive and accountability system for teachers to boost their performance. Education up to secondary level would soon be declared free and compulsory in the country after taking into account the financial implications of all stakeholders, he added.
