UMERKOT, July 22: The report of a survey carried out by the Idara Taleem-o-Aagahi, an NGO, has highlighted the poor standard of primary education in Umerkot and ranked the district at number 15 among 17 districts of interior Sindh.

Armaghan Rafay Khan of the Idara told reporters that the survey was conducted in Dadu, Ghotki, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Kandhkot-Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Mithi, Naushehro Feroze, Sanghar, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Thatta and Umerkot.

According to the results of the survey, Naushehro Feroz was at the top in reading habits of primary school children and Kandhkot-Kashmore and Thatta at the bottom, Mr Khan said.

In Umerkot, the team surveyed children aged 6 to 16 years, enrolled in government and private schools and seminaries, and found that 33 per cent children of school-going age in the district had not been enrolled in any type of school or seminary.

Enrolment of children of school-going age in Umerkot was substantially lower than in other districts.

According to the report, every third child in Umerkot was out of school, 54 per cent students of class V were unable to read Urdu or Sindhi books of class-II and 76 per cent children were unable to divide three digits by one digit. They were two classes behind in their competency level.

Over 75 per cent of children do not have sufficient competency in any subject, Mr Khan said.

The district manager Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) Bhagwandas told Dawn that the survey results were accurate and transparent and he himself had monitored them.

However, District Education Officer of Umerkot Ghulam Mustafa Soomro rejected it and said that the report had many flaws and prepared in office instead of based on field visits.