PESHAWAR, March 10: The drop-out rate in public sector primary schools is increasing alarmingly, varying from one grade to another, while the enrolment ratio is only 39 per cent at the schools in the province.

The NWFP Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey 2001, jointly conducted by Unicef and the Planning and Development Department, shows that only 39 per cent of children are enrolled at the primary schools.

According to the data, the enrolment rate is much higher in urban areas (51 per cent) than in the rural areas (37 per cent) and the ratio of boys in comparison with girls (44 per cent vs 32 per cent).

The survey’s executive summary says that the drop-out rate from grades 1-2 is 87 per cent, grade 2-3 89 per cent, grade 3-4 91 per cent and grade 4-5 is as high as 96 per cent, indicating the major problem for continuity of education in the earlier school years. However, the completion rate from grade 1 to 5 among children aged between 5 and 9 is 68 per cent.

The report shows a major difference between the districts from as high as 81 per cent in Abbottabad to 61 per cent in Kohistan. Districts with a higher level of enrolment rate have a high ratio of girl students.

Only 40 per cent of the total population of 15 years of age and over is literate, with a wide disparity between males and females (59 per cent vs 21 per cent). There is a similar disparity between urban and rural areas’ schools. Hence, only 17 per cent of rural women are literate, compared with 43 per cent of women living in the urban areas.

The survey report shows that infant mortality rate is 79 per 1,000 and among children of five years of age, it is 115 per 1,000.

About two-third (63 per cent) of the population have access to safe drinking water, 88 per cent in urban and 59 per cent in rural areas.

The document says that one-third of those aged 15 years and above declared an income source of at least an average of five rupees a day, the most common in the private sector (22.2 per cent), followed by self-employed (20.9 per cent), government (19.4 per cent) and labour (16.2 per cent).

Farmers include share croppers (13.1 per cent), owner cultivator (3.8 per cent), contract cultivator (2.1 per cent) and livestock (1.2 per cent).

The per capita income is about Rs20. The average income was greater in urban areas, compared with that of the rural areas (Rs26 vs Rs18); in literates in comparison with illiterates (Rs139 vs Rs85) and by work source.

Almost all (96 per cent) infants are breast-fed during infancy, a pattern consistent across the districts.

By the start of the second year (12-15 months), 83 per cent are breast-fed and by the end (20-23 months), 53 per cent still bank on breast-feeding. On a negative note, 16 per cent of infants are bottle-fed, highest in Abbottabad (27 per cent).

The complementary-feeding rate of infants aged 6-9 months is 47 per cent, which indicates that most children of this age group receive no food supplements to ensure adequate nutrition.

Use of contraceptive methods has been reported by 24 per cent of married women between 15 and 49 years of age.