May 19, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 02, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 18: Despite macroeconomic stability, many of the key indicators of social and living standards in Pakistan have gone from bad to worse in the last five years though they have improved slightly in some areas in the last one year, reveals an official survey.

According to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey 2005-06, the total enrolment in government schools has been on a steady decline since 2001-02 when it stood at 74 per cent. The PSLM survey 2004-05 reported "decrease in the share of primary enrolment that is in government schools. The overall share has declined from 72 per cent in 2004-05 to 65 per cent in 2005-06".

Full immunization of children has declined significantly from 77 per cent in 2004-05 to just 71 per cent in 2005-06. The survey reveals that more than 30 per cent population did not have toilet facility while more than 41 per cent people did not have any sanitation system.

The number of people relying on private hospitals -- instead of government hospitals -- has increased from 42 per cent in 2004-05 to 48 per cent in 2005-06.

The lesser reliance on government schools and public hospitals shows reduced public trust in health and education services provided by government institutions.

The findings of the survey, according to a copy of the document available with Dawn, will be made public soon. Currently, the survey is under study of the prime minister and his adviser Dr Salman Shah.

The survey says that the gross enrolment rate (GER) for primary schools (age 5-9) has slightly increased from 86 per cent in 2004-05 to 87 per cent in 2005-06.

"The net enrolment rate (NER) is 52 per cent in 2005-06, substantially lower than the GER because of the enrolment of overage children in primary schools: however, it remained at the level of 2004-05".There has been a slight increase in the proportion of persons (10 years and above) who report that they are literate. This has risen from 53 per cent in 2004-05 to 54 per cent in 2005-06. The literacy rate has remained static or nominally improved in all the four provinces. Similarly, the dropout rate has declined in almost all provinces.

The use of contraceptives has increased from 19 per cent in 2001-02 to 26 per cent in 2005-06, and the use of one contraceptive method is almost universal as the government continues to be "the major supplier of contraceptive methods."

The government enrolment for public schools has declined in all provinces. In Punjab, it dropped from 68 per cent in 2004-05 to 61 per cent in 2005-06, while in Sindh it reduced from 74 per cent to 67 per cent. In the NWFP, it fell from 80 per cent in 2004-05 to 70 per cent in 2005-06 and from 94 per cent to 89 per cent in Balochistan over the same period.

Full immunization of children based on recall and record has declined in all provinces. In the Punjab, it dropped from 84 per cent in 2004-05 to 76 per cent in 2005-06. In Sindh, it dropped from 73 per cent to 71 per cent, and from 76 per cent to 64 per cent in the NWFP. In Balochistan, full immunization was reduced from 62 per cent to 48 per cent.

The survey further reveals that the use of contraceptives was the highest in the NWFP where it increased from 14 per cent to 28 per cent between 2001 to 2006, while it increased from 22 per cent to 31 per cent in Punjab.

In Sindh, the use of contraceptives increased from 15 per cent to 21 per cent and in Balochistan it came down from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.

The survey was based on 15,453 households covering urban and rural communities and a range of social sector issues.