The survey puts the average literacy rate at 57 per cent — 69 per cent for males and 45 per cent for females — compared to 56 per cent in the preceding year. It says the literacy rate in urban areas (at 74 per cent) remains much higher than in rural parts of the country (48 per cent).
Both Punjab and Sindh have a literacy rate of 59 per cent, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (50 per cent) and Balochistan (45 per cent).
Public expenditure on education in Pakistan, as a percentage of GDP, compares poorly with that of other countries of South Asia, says the report. According to figures, Pakistan allocated to the sector 2.5 per cent of the GDP in 2006-07, 2.47 per cent in 2007-08, 2.1 per cent in 2008-09 and 2 per cent in 2009-10.
According to Unesco's Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2009, the public sector expenditure on education in other countries of the region is 2.6 per cent of the GDP in Bangladesh, 3.2 per cent in Nepal, 3.3 per cent in India, 5.2 per cent in Iran and 8.3 per cent in the Maldives.
The poor quality of the learning environment, the document says, is evident from the fact that a large number of schools lack basic infrastructure — 37.7 per cent of the schools up to the elementary level don't have boundary walls, 33.9 per cent lack drinking water facility, 37 per cent don't have latrines and 60 per cent are without electricity.
To enhance female enrolment among low-income households, the survey says, the schools should be provided with the necessary infrastructure, thus improving both the output and quality of education.The average school attendance, as measured by the Net Enrolment Rate, is 57 per cent for 2008-09, up from 55 per cent in 2007-08.
The report points out that since the inception of Higher Education Commission in 2002, spending in the higher education sector has generally increased. However, the impact of financial constraints of recent years has been felt in this sector as well.
Funding for non-developmental activities was curtailed in 2007-08. In 2008-09 the size of the recurring grant was similar to that of the preceding year. In 2009-10, however, Rs8 billion provided by the World Bank allowed the government to allocate Rs22.5 billion to the higher education sector.
However, only 60 per cent of the amount has so far been released, says the survey.
