Enrolments in Sindh schools fall despite huge spending
By Sabihuddin Ghausi
KARACHI, Feb 25: The majority of Sindh’s young population is growing up without even basic education. This startling disclosure has been made in a recent World Bank report. It reveals that although public spending on education in Sindh increased considerably, the number of teachers rose by 50 per cent and the number of schools increased by 220 per cent, education indicators remained stagnant.
In contrast, Punjab saw a six per cent increase in the number of teachers and a six per cent fall in the number of schools, but enrolments in schools increased.
The report is based on a series of discussions between a World Bank mission and officials of the Sindh government last month. The report is mysteriously silent on a squandering away of Rs86 billion given to the Sindh government by the World Bank under a Social Action Programme (SAP) during the 1990s. The Sindh government officials blame the World Bank for this massive waste of about $1.5 billion, while a former country-representative of the Asian Development Bank has held the government responsible for the misuse of this money. Nothing came out from this blame game and the business continues as usual and the loan given by the international financial institution has added to the country’s debt burden without showing any improvement in social sectors.
According to the report, the ratio of enrolment in primary grades (from 1 to 5) is 48pc, in middle grades (from 6 to 8) 18pc and in secondary grades (from 9 to 10) it is only 12pc. “Dropout is high, with the highest dropout between first and second grade,” the report reveals, stating that the dropout ratio of girls in rural areas is much higher.
Even the enrolment of girls -— 29 per cent —- in rural areas is too dismal as compared to 53pc of boys. In urban areas, the enrolment ratio of girls is 59 per cent, while it is 64 per cent for boys. “Fewer than five per cent of rural girls attend middle and matric levels,” is another startling disclosure of the disadvantageous position of females in the province. The report goes on to reveal that disparities along gender and regional dimensions are among the highest in the country. “For every 100 boys, who enrol in primary and high schools in urban Sindh, only 43 and 17 girls do so, respectively, in urban and rural Sindh,” it says.
An important dimension of access is the large number of non-functional schools due to lack of teachers, enrolment or shelter. A large number of missing facilities is also a contributing factor for restricting access of students. Out of over 40,000 government primary schools, more than 50 per cent lack basic facilities, such as water supply, latrines and boundary walls.
The World Bank observed poor quality of education based on assessment of student learning. “Teachers do not show up on time or are absent and text books reach rural schools with delay,” is another observation of the report. “Pedagogical practices emphasise rote learning,” it says.
The poor performance of schools is found to be closely linked to frequent teachers’ absenteeism, weak supervision and monitoring, which are all linked to weak accountability.
According to the World Bank report, the Sindh education department was waiting for a study of field review of the school management Committees. SMCs were reconstituted and restructured in 2001 for all government primary schools in the province and are being provided support by the Sindh government for minor procurement and repairs based on the needs of schools on enrolment basis at Rs167 per student annually.
The World Bank mission, however, found the functioning of SMCs uneven across the province, varying from school to school, with some committees spending funds on non-salary items, while others are not clear about their authority and rules and responsibilities. Composition and membership of the SMCs is also uneven and of concern. The report refers to the initial findings from the first stage large-scale test of student learning of fourth grade, which revealed that language and mathematics scores in Sindh were below the national average.
Low participation in the middle and matric classes in Sindh reflects both the low rates of participation at the primary level but also low transition between levels, and the report points out that over a third of fifth grade do not proceed to the secondary level. While participation rate at the primary level has shown some improvement, those at the middle and at matric levels have showed little, if any, since 1998-99, urban and rural alike.
The World Bank noticed a delay in arrivals of stipend, text books and money for the committees.
The Sindh government has now agreed to prepare for a medium-term education sector policy framework to provide foundations for a plan of action to be implemented over the next three to five years, as well as an associated sector financing plan.
