education policy analysis for balochistan
TRANSCRIPT
FINAL: 28 NOVEMBER 2011
POLICY ANALYSIS OF EDUCATION IN BALOCHISTAN
Compilation and Analysis
by
Abdus Sami Khan
for
UNESCO Islamabad, Pakistan
Abbreviations
AIOU Allama Iqbal Open University
B.A Bachelor of Arts
B.E Bachelor of Engineering
B.Ed Bachelor of Education
B.Sc Bachelor of Science
BACT Balochistan Academy for College Teacher
BEF Balochistan Education Foundation
BEMIS Balochistan Education Management Information System
BISE Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education
BOC & ES Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Services
BPSC Balochistan Public Service Commission
BTBB Balochistan Text Book Board
BUITEMS Balochistan University of Information, Technology, Engineering and
Management Sciences
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
CPD Continuous Professional Development
CT Certificate of Teaching
DFID Department For International Development; Govt of UK
EFA Education For All
ESR Education Sector Reform
GAT Graduate Aptitude Test
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GRE Graduate Record Examination
HEC Higher Education Commission
IDSP Institute for Developing Studies and Practices
JBIC Japan Bank for International Cooperation
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
M.Ed Master of Education
M.Phil Master of Philosophy
MBA Master of Business Administration
MBBS Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
NCHD National Commission for Human Development
NEAS National Education Assessment System
NEC National Education Census
NEF National Education Foundation
NEMIS National Education Management Information System
NEP National Education Policy
NER Net Enrolment Rate
NFBE Non formal Basic Education
NGO Non Government Organization
NOC No Objection Certificate
NTBP National Textbook Policy
NTS National Testing Service
NUML National University of Modern Languages
PEACE Provincial Education Assessment Centre
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
PITE Provincial Institute for Teacher Education
PPIU Policy Planning Implementation Unit
PSDP Public Sector Development Programme
PSLMS Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey
PTC Primary Teachers’ Certificate
SBKWU Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University
SCSPEB Society for Community Support for Primary Education in Balochistan
SLO Student Learning Outcomes
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Fund
UOB University of Balochistan
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WB World Bank
WFP World Food Programme
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
CHAPTER 1: BALOCHISTAN’S DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT
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CHAPTER 2: EDUCATION POLICY IN BALOCHISTAN 10
CHAPTER 3: KEY ISSUES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION 1:
ACCESS 143.1 OVERARCHING ISSUES 143.2 PRE‐PRIMARY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 16
3.4 SECONDARY LEVEL 22
3.3 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 18
3.5 PRIVATE AND OTHER SCHOOLS 24
3.6 SPECIAL EDUCATION 27
3.7 AFGHAN REFUGEE CHILDREN 29
3.8 IMPLEMENTING ARTICLE 25 A 303.9 LITERACY AND NON‐FORMAL EDUCATION 31
CHAPTER 4: KEY ISSUES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION 2: THE
QUALITY FACTORS 384.1 TEACHERS 39
4.3 ASSESSMENTS 47
4.2 CURRICULUM AND TEXTBOOKS 44
4.4 SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT 49
4.5 QUALITY IN OTHER SCHOOL TYPES 50
CHAPTER 5: TERTIARY EDUCATION 545.1 HIGHER EDUCATION 545.2 TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING 64
CHAPTER 6: INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS IN
EDUCATION 696.1 EFA DEVELOPMENT INDEX (EDI) 69
6.2 BASIC OR PROXY INDICATORS FOR EFA 72
6.2 THE MDG INDICATORS 71
6.3 SUMMARY OF PROGRESS 78
CHAPTER 7: FINANCIAL AND BUDGETARY ANALYSIS 807.1: BUDGET ANALYSIS 80
7.3 THE FUTURE CHALLENGE: ARTICLE 25 A 847.2: COST EFFICIENCY 82
CHAPTER 8: INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO
BALOCHISTAN 90
CHAPTER 9: BALOCHISTAN’S MEDIUM TERM
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS 96
ANNEX: 96EDUCATION AND THE 18 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT I
TH EFA GOALS: CALCULATING EDI AND EFA INDICATORS IIDISTRICT AND LEVEL WISE PER CAPITA COST III
TABLES, FIGURES & BOXES
TABLES
TABLE 1.1 PROVINCIAL COMPARISON OF EDUCATION ENDOWMENTS
TABLE 1.2 REVENUE RECEIPTS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 3.1 COMPARATIVE NET ENROLMENT RATES (NER)
TABLE 3.2 PUBLIC SECTOR SCHOOLS IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 3.3 TRANSITION RATES
TABLE 3.4 KATCHI ENROLMENT IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 3.5 NET ENROLMENT RATE PRIMARY (WITHOUT KATCHI)
TABLE 3.6 COMPARISON OF PRIMARY NER (MALE & FEMALE)
TABLE 3.7 PRIMARY GER FOR INCOME QUINTILES
TABLE 3.8 NET ENROLMENT RATE (MIDDLE)
TABLE 3.9 COMPARISON OF MIDDLE NER (MALE & FEMALE)
TABLE 3.10 MIDDLE GER AND INCOME QUINTILES
TABLE 3.11 NET ENROLMENT RATE (SECONDARY)
TABLE 3.12 COMPARISON OF SECONDARY NER (MALE & FEMALE)
TABLE 3.13 SECONDARY GER AND INCOME QUINTILES
TABLE 3.14A PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN BALOCHISTAN 2009‐10
TABLE 3.14B ENROLMENT ESTIMATES OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS
TABLE 3.15 SCHOOLS SUPPORTED BY BALOCHISTAN EDUCATION FOUNDATION
TABLE 3.16 MADRASSAS IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 3.17 RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES ENROLMENT
TABLE 3.18 DISTRICTS WITH MAXIMUM AFGHAN REFUGEES POPULATION
TABLE 3.19 TARGETS FOR ARTICLE 25A
TABLE 3.20 LITERACY RATES COMPARISON
TABLE 3.21 PROGRAMMES RUN BY THE DIRECTORATE OF LITERACY
TABLE 3.22 IMPACT OF NCHD’S LITERACY PROGRAMME
TABLE 3.23 ADULT LITERACY IN BALOCHISTAN (10+)
TABLE 3.24 INCOME AND LITERACY RATES
TABLE 4.1 TEACHERS BY GENDER, LOCATION AND LEVEL
TABLE 4.2 MISSING BASIC FACILITIES IN GOVERNMENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS
TABLE 5.1 UNIVERSITIES IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 5.2 ENROLMENT IN 3 MAJOR UNIVERSITIES
TABLE 5.3: COLLEGES AND ENROLMENT IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 5.4 SOURCES OF UNIVERSITY BUDGETS
TABLE 5.5 TVET INSTITUTIONS IN BALOCHISTAN
TABLE 6.1 RANKING OF SELECTED COUNTRIES ON THE EFA DEVELOPMENT INDEX
TABLE 6.2A: EFA DEVELOPMENT INDEX FOR PROVINCES
TABLE 6.2B: RANKING OF PROVINCES ON EDI
TABLE 6.3 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
TABLE 6.4 UNIVERSAL PRIMARY ENROLMENT
TABLE 6.5 YOUTH LITERACY (15‐24)
TABLE 6.6 ADULT LITERACY
TABLE 6.7 GENDER PARITY
TABLE 6.8 QUALITY EDUCATION
TABLE 6.9 BALOCHISTAN’S PROGRESS TOWARDS EFA GOALS
TABLE 7.1 BUDGETARY ALLOCATION TO EDUCATION
TABLE 7.2 EDUCATION ALLOCATION AS % OF TOTAL
TABLE 7.3 ACTUAL EXPENDITURE AND SHARE OF EDUCATION
TABLE 7.4 COST INEFFICIENCIES
FIGURES
FIGURE 1.1 IMPACT OF REVISED NFC
FIGURE 6.1 UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
FIGURE 6.2 YOUTH LITERACY RATE (15‐24)
FIGURE 6.3 ADULT LITERACY 15+
FIGURE 6.4 GENDER PARITY INDEX
FIGURE 6.5 SURVIVAL RATE TO GRADE 5
FIGURE 7.1 ANNUAL PER STUDENT EXPENDITURE
FIGURE 7.2 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF 25A‐SIMULATION I
FIGURE 7.3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF 25A‐SIMULATION II
FIGURE 7.4 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF 25A‐SIMULATION III
FIGURE 7.5 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF 25A‐SIMULATION IV
BOXES
BOX 1.1 ETHNO‐LINGUISTIC PROFILE OF BALOCHISTAN
BOX 4.1 PTC AND CT
BOX 4.2 ASSESSMENT QUALITY IN PAKISTAN
BOX 5.1 QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN BALOCHISTAN
AcknowledgementsThis report has been made possible with the support of the various departments of the Government
of Balochistan, especially, the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) of the Department of
Education, Government of Balochistan. The guidance for the document design and details are owed
to Dr. Eshya Mujahid Mukhtar who as the ‘National Coordinator’ for the exercise provided very clear
guidance and advice. My gratitude to colleagues from Punjab and Sindh, Dr. Allah Baksh Malik and
Dr. Sajid Ali who continued to share their various drafts which helped in my understanding of the
task and also identified the shortcomings of my approach at various stages. I am grateful for the
assistance of my colleagues Professor Sajjad Akhter, Haji Abdul Kareem and Mr. Aamad Yousafzai
who are working with me on an overall situation analysis report for Balochistan Education for their
help in data collection and feedback for this report. Finally, thanks to Mr. Arshad Saeed (Senior
National Education Specialist) and Mr. Qaisar Jamali (Provincial Coordinator Balochistan) from
UNESCO for their support and patience and also to Mr. Habib ur Rehman for his feedback on various
drafts.
Executive Summary
The Development Context
Balochistan has high poverty levels, weak development indicators and exceptional economic potential. Its natural endowments include minerals and two thirds of the country’s coastline but its contribution to GDP in both sectors remains much below its potential. Also, its locational advantage of neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan remains under‐utilised. Agriculture and livestock employ 65% of the labour force. Water scarcity forces agriculture to depend on ground water. It is still recovering from a drought in 1998‐2004.
Development approach to Balochistan differs from the rest of the country. It consists of 5% of the country’s population and 44% of the land area. The population is scattered in 22,000 settlements spread over the terrain. Resultantly per capita expenditure on delivery of services and development reforms is higher than that in the high population density provinces. Poor communications network, badly maintained roads and limited coverage of railways, add to costs of service delivery.
Poor economic growth rates constrain the province’s ability for resource mobilisation. As a consequence, it has high dependence on its NFC share and federal grants. Recent review of the NFC formula has more than doubled Balochistan’s share in Federal divisible taxes and has provided the province with much greater fiscal space. Additionally the Federal government has also initiated payments of arrears of Gas Development Surcharge (GDS) in annual instalments of Rs. 12 billion. In 2010 the Balochistan government devised a three pronged strategy of ‘economic growth’, ‘social sector development’ and ‘financing development’
Education Policy
Traditional Education policy in Balochistan has been a mix of nationally driven documents, donor supported projects, provincial plans and programmes and the various rules and regulations. The main national instruments are the Constitutional provisions, the National Education Policy 2009, Education Sector Reforms ESR. In addition to these overarching documents a set of area specific policy documents prepared at the national level also exist. Curriculum until recently a federal subject is also a critical policy document.
The Constitution guides education policy through Articles 25A, 31 and 37 (subsection a, b and c). Article 25A calls for free education for all children between ages 5 to 16 years, as fundamental right. The article was added as a result of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which has also increased the province’s responsibility. The ‘Amendment’ has completely devolved education to the provinces and in pursuit of its implementation the Federal Ministry of Education has been dissolved. Article 37 and its relevant subsections focus on equity, literacy and higher education and article 31 bases education on values of faith. The other relevant policy document is the National Education Policy 2009 developed by the erstwhile Federal Ministry of Education in consultation with the provinces. Upheld through the Joint Declaration on Education in Islamabad under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
A new impetus is visible in the Education Department in terms of education reform and review of the current state. Education policy and planning holds a central position in the strategy. There is currently an environment of reform under which the Policy Planning and
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Implementation Unit (PPIU) has been made the central body to design, coordinate and oversee reforms. PPIU has recently developed the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ as the interim policy document, till the formation of a complete sector plan. The Plan focuses on selected or prioritised areas of access, quality and management. Additionally the province has also prepared plans on Education for All (EFA), Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Literacy.
Access to School Education
Balochistan faces serious challenges in the areas of access and quality of education. Its terrain and difficulties that impede its general development also obstruct educational progress. Only about 10,000 settlements, out of the 22,000, have schools available. Slow growth in enrolments, low survival and transition rates and high gender gaps mean a large number of children are out of school. The maximum drop out, in public schools, is from primary to middle as the transition rate across these two levels is only 23%. At secondary level the net enrolment ratio (NER) reduces to 14% for age groups 14 to 15 and 6% for 13 to 14 (PSLM 2010‐11). Educational outcomes also vary across gender and income groups. The province has the widest gender gaps in the country, except FATA, while the relatively richer have better educational indicators as compared to the poorest.
Given the weak access indicators implementation of Article 25A will not be possible in the short run and through the current approach alone. The government will have to rely on the multiple service providers and some of the models employed by development oriented agencies and the private sector. Initially though it will have to improve its internal efficiency to ensure that excess capacity is fully utilised. The private sector has increased almost three and a half times since the National Education Census (NEC) in 2005, in terms of number of schools. This also provides an opportunity to the government to review its service delivery approach and pursue partnership with the private sector on the model followed by the Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF).
BEF has partnerships with both private sector owners of low fee schools as well as communities for its Community Schools Programme (CSP). Similarly the feeder schools model of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), which provides, community based schools to populations without a school, can be one of the models.
Another important set of institutions in the province is the madrassas that hold about 7% of the total enrolment. These traditional religious schools cater to needs of some of the poorest households and not only educate their children but also provide food and shelter. Critically, however, they follow a very different curriculum from the public schools. This not only reduces opportunities of work for them but also creates a different and parallel worldview. Similarly the elite private schools with foreign curricula or syllabi have a different set of values and beliefs and form another parallel strand.
Quality in School Education
The challenge from private schools and madrassas arises from inability of the state to impart quality education. Over the last few years, quality has not been the prime focus of education policy implementation as access issues predominate. While the National Education Policy 2009 points this out as a clear deficit there has been very little effort to address it.
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There is a general perception that all quality inputs induce rote learning in the classroom. These include teachers, textbooks, assessments and school environment. The curriculum, especially, the latest produced in 2006, calls for critical analytical thinking and is based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, with its various levels of learning from basis knowledge onwards to evaluation, but its translation into textbooks, teaching and examinations diffuses the concept. Curriculum, in any case, remains a poorly disseminated document and at the provincial level it never goes beyond the textbook board. Balochistan has so far not implemented the “Students Learning Outcomes (SLO)” based curriculum for 2006. Also the National Textbooks Policy 2007 that calls for competitive bidding for development of quality textbooks has only recently been approved for adoption by the Chief Minister as a follow up of the recommendations of the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’.
Teaching in the classroom continues to be in the traditional lecture and rote learning mode. The weaknesses in teaching arise from the poor quality of pre‐service training both in terms of the defined requisite levels and the processes in pre‐service institutions. Balochistan has not yet followed the policy of raising the qualification level of teachers to graduation plus B.Ed as envisaged in NEP 2009. Primary teachers are still selected on the basis of Primary Teacher Certificate (PTC) and the middle teachers on CT. In service teacher training remains sporadic and dependent on projects funded by the development partners. This limits the benefits of the training as follow ups do not take place. The standards regime set up by the National Committee for Teacher Education (NACTE) has remained unattended but presently the Government has initiated a process for adoption of standards for pre‐service teacher education with the assistance of the USAID funded ‘Pre‐STEP Project’.
Assessment remains the most ignored area as neither the teachers in school nor the external Balochistan Board of intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) have the capacity to develop good assessment products. There are no standards set by the Board for either examiners in terms of training or certification or the examining tools.
In fact absence of academic standards is a major deficiency in quality management in the province. The approach is based on a focus on inputs and again without settled standards. Paucity of education experts for areas like textbooks, assessments, teacher training and education planning hamper the ability to produce quality. 'Curriculum specialists' is another area which needs more human resource of quality, especially with devolution of the function to the province. Absence of standards also accounts for the parallel systems and world views developing across them i.e. private, public and madrassas.
Finally the province has the worst situation, in the country, in terms of ‘missing facilities’ as over 85% of schools do not have either water or electricity. Almost 50% have no boundary toilets and 79% of Boys and 43% of girls’ schools have no boundary wall. This constrains quality as well as access to education.
Tertiary Education
Higher education in the province also suffers from quality issues. Although the university level has seen some serious reform efforts through programmes developed and funded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). These include improved research capacity and qualifications of the faculty. It has also raised the quality of the PhD programme. While HEC reforms have given a new impetus to education at the university level it still needs to look at
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outcomes for graduates in the world of work and linking research to the market. It has also ‘ignored’ the college level.
Higher Education Department of the province manages 35 degree and 62 intermediate colleges. The bachelor’s programmes in these colleges still follow the two year curricular stream despite the development of 4 year programmes by HEC. Financial and organisational constrains prevent the colleges from transiting. Quality of teaching in colleges does not deviate much from schools as the lecture method and encouragement of rote learning prevails. Examinations follow a similar path and fail to invoke conceptual understanding of the subject matter. Issues of governance include teacher absenteeism, especially in the peripheral districts and political intervention by mainstream political parties in both students and teacher politics.
EFA and Balochistan
In all the education achievements of the province lag behind the commitments made in the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The province has the lowest ranking in the country under the EFA Development Index (EDI) will miss all six EFA goals except the one on Youth Literacy.
Fiscal Situation
The provincial budget has very limited fiscal space to invest in improvements in the education sector. The provincial education department is stuck in a fiscal handicap despite increased funds from the federal level and NFC and a larger share of the education budget in total expenditure as compared to other provinces. The salary bill consumes almost 99% of the recurrent budget. The latter forms 88% of the total budget: the highest among all provinces. The agreement of ‘automatic time scaled promotion’ for teachers has increased the fiscal share of salaries and continues to place pressure on the education budget. This has serious implications for the future, especially, to meet the EFA targets and fulfil the obligations of Article 25A.
The financial constraint will impede the ability of the province to undertake reform and the first review may need to be in terms of a strategy to change the salary situation which would mean altering the terms and conditions for future recruits and use of multiple options for service delivery.
Similarly implementation of the devolution component of the 18th Amendment, if not transited carefully, will also impact education services in the provinces. It will lose the work of NCHD, the funds provided by ESR and most critically for higher education the money and reform impetus provided by the Higher Education Commission. Given the current state of affairs the Government of Balochistan will need to look at various options of service delivery to achieve the target of Article 25A. Under the present approach it cannot achieve the target even in the short to medium term without a multiple increase in the budget. Alternates like public‐private partnerships will have to be explored. However, the first reform will have to be focused on increased internal efficiency and reduce per student cost in the public sector through improved quality and better governance. In the second stage private sector options should be explored. It is imperative, for the success of the model, that standards are defined for both.
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Looking Ahead
Chances of improvement appear bright. There has been a serious re‐consideration of placing education as a priority and the Department of Education has made some important changes. These include setting up of a Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) to design, coordinate and oversee reforms in partnership with internal organisations and development partners. It has so far developed the provincial EFA and ECE plans and the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ that will function as an interim policy and planning document till the finalisation of a sector wide plan. The sector plan process has been initiated through a situational analysis being conducted through the assistance of UNESCO and UNICEF.
Support of development partners in the province is not restricted to the above. Assistance is being provided to other organisations in the Education Department in the areas of school nutrition, data collection, teacher training, school development and access. Some of the main development partners include the USAID, the World Bank, Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and UNESCO.
The province will not reach the requirements of Article 25A in the short run. It may need to target a ten year period. However, in the medium term it needs to improve its enrolment and retention values for all levels by at least 50% to build a momentum towards achievement of 100% enrolment and completion of elementary and secondary education. This may require public‐private partnerships and other strategies beyond the routine. Special education and precepts of inclusive education will need greater attention for the target to be achieved.
A critical factor in ensuring retention would be an increase in quality (and outcomes) of school education. Investment in teacher training through development of continuous professional development programme and capacity improvements in textbooks development, curriculum and assessments are essential. Similarly the coercive school environment needs to be made more learning friendly through head teachers training and community involvement. Most critically standards need to be established for all quality related inputs, processes and outputs and progress measured against each. Overall the PEACE results can be used as a gauge of quality and in the medium term a twenty five percent improvement can be targeted for the next 3 to 5 years.
Higher education needs to improve its links to the markets and ensure better employment outcomes for the graduates. This would include improved awareness of the students on market situations within and beyond Balochistan through counselling and advisory services. While this is needed at both colleges and university levels the latter should also focus on research in the local domain to create its own niche and a symbiosis with the local market. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) also needs to be made more relevant to the market through greater linkages with the private sector.
Chapter 1: Balochistan’s Development Context
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Balochistan has the weakest development indicators in Pakistan despite rich economic potential. The province lags behind the rest of the country in economic growth, labour productivity, health, education development and other social indicators. Its poverty level is higher than the national average. Poor economic outcomes mixed with a sense of economic injustice from the federal government have led to feelings of deprivation and in some parts of the province an insurgency has ensued. The situation has been recognised by both the Federal and the provincial governments and policies to improve the state of affairs have been initiated.
Inverse population density marks Balochistan as a ‘special case’ for development policies. While it houses only 5% of Pakistan’s population the province covers 44% of the country’s geographic area. There are 22,000 scattered human settlements in the province some as small as 5 household hamlets. Resultantly the per capita cost of human development in the province should be higher1 than the rest of the country. Practically though the development approach does not recognise this fact and most policies follow criterion suited to high density regions and not Balochistan.
Box 1.1 Ethno‐Linguistic Profile of Balochistan
Ethnically the two main groups are Pashtuns and Balochs. Baloch have the majority share followed by Pashtuns. Other ethnic groups in the province include Sindhis, Punjabis and Urdu speakers. The province also has a rich linguistic mix despite a small population with Balochi, Brahvi, Pashto, Sindhi, Urdu, Farsi and Saraiki as some of the main languages. Balochi and Brahvi speakers are ethnically Baloch but speak two distinct languages. Urdu functions as the lingua franca across the various linguistic groups.
Main economic activities in the province include mining, agriculture and livestock and fisheries. Industries contribute only 10% to the provincial GDP and the main concentration is in Lasbela (Hub), close to Karachi. Minerals available in the province include coal, gas, chromite and gold. Balochistan has more than 50% of the ‘national prospective geology for mineral’. Despite the potential it accounts for only 20% of Pakistan’s mining GDP.
With two thirds of the country’s coastline, fisheries form the other natural asset of the province. Again despite the potential the province accounts for less than one sixth of the national value addition in fisheries.
About 65% of the labour force is employed in agriculture and livestock. Unlike the rest of the country the Indus Basin covers only 5% of the province. Ground water and rainfall provide the needs of the remaining. Poverty in rural areas exceeds that in urban Balochistan. Drought from 1998‐2004 worsened the situation and the rural economy has still not fully recovered from the effects. Water scarcity forms a future threat as tube wells have lowered the water table to about 250m.
1 Unless otherwise stated, data in this chapter has been taken from ‘White Paper on Budget 2010-11”; Finance Department, Government of Balochistan 2010 and “Balochistan Economic Report 2009” World Bank 2009.
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Location of Balochistan forms another natural asset of the province. It shares a 900 km border with Iran, a 1002 km border with Afghanistan and about two thirds of the coastline of the country. It has potential to gain as a transit route to Central Asia.
Low labour productivity and a poor communications structure impede the growth potential. Balochistan’s labour productivity is less than one fourth of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and less than one third of Sindh’s. While the province has 22,000 km of metalled and shingle road, which forms 40% of the country’s road network, inadequate resources for maintenance means they are mostly in a dilapidated state. Railways network has not increased since independence despite the high need and potential in the province.
Poor social indicators depict the state of human resource development. The province has the worst infant mortality rate with 158 deaths per 1000 live births (164 in rural areas) and under 5 mortality rate of 164 per 1000. Balochistan also has the lowest literacy rate and an overall weak set of educational endowments. The province also suffers from the widest gender gaps in the country (Only Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have worse gender indicators).
Table 1.1 Provincial Comparison of Education Endowments
Punjab Sindh KPK Balochistan
Literacy 10+ 59 59 50 45
% Pop. ever attended school
62 60 52 44
% Pop. completing primary or higher
51 51 41 34
Source: Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) 2008‐9(Use PSLMS 2010/11)
From 1972‐73 to 2004‐05 Punjab’s economy grew 4 times, Sindh and KPK’s 3.6 times and Balochistan’s 2.7 times. The situation in Balochistan has been compounded by an armed insurgency, in some parts, fuelled by a sense of deprivation that pervades the province. One source of this discontent has been the federal control over minerals and supply of cheap gas to the rest of the country while Balochistan neither benefited adequately from revenues of gas nor the energy source itself. The Federal Government has acknowledged the situation and payments of arrears under the head of ‘Gas Development Surcharge (GDS)’ have been accepted by it. These would include arrears from 1964 to be paid in annual instalments. Some payment has already been made.
Poor economic performance, and at least the short run potential, limits Government of Balochistan’s ability to generate local revenue. It depends, and will continue to depend for many years to come, on distribution of federal tax revenues and other money from the federal government. The 7th National Finance Commission has drastically improved Balochistan’s fiscal position. It recognised a longstanding demand of the province to include ‘inverse population density’ in the criteria for distribution.
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Source: White Paper on Budget 2010‐11 and Budget 2011‐12
In addition to the increased share in federal divisible pool taxes the province now receives an annual amount of Rs. 12 billion as ‘arrears of gas development surcharge’. For 2011‐12 Balochistan has also received its share in General Sales Tax on services, a tax reverted to the provinces after a Presidential Ordinance.
Slow economic growth and low buoyancy of provincial taxes makes it very unlikely that the provincial share in revenue receipts will increase in the near future. The increased availability of funds with the provincial government should positively impact the state of services in the provinces and also help the economic situation. The province has articulated a set of strategies for a turnaround.
Table 1.2 Revenue Receipts of the Government of Balochistan
BE RE BE BE
2009‐10 2009‐10[R] 2010‐2011 2011‐2012
Federal Divisible Pool Taxes 29.205 30.456 83 93.255
Straight Transfers & Federal Grants 26.204 36.274 16.398 13.41
Grants to Balochistan (Arrears of GDS 2003‐2009)
0 0 2 2
Grants to Balochistan (Arrears of GDS prior 1991 ‐ AHBP)
0 0 10 10
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Balochistan's Own Receipts 3.646 2.454 4.129 4.85
Balochistan's Share in GST on Services 0 0 0 4.85
Total 59.055 69.184 115.527 128.365
Source: White Paper on Budget 2010‐11 and Budget 2011‐12
The provincial government’s development strategy has three strands: ‘generating growth’; ‘delivering services’; and ‘financing development’. The first strategy focuses on improving the productivity of the natural endowments in the province. It includes redress of political grievances to ensure ‘a viable law and order situation’. The second strategy focuses on improving the state of social sector services like health, education, sanitation and social security. It includes improvement of public administration in these sectors. The final strategy of ‘financing development’ attends to issues of domestic resource mobilisation through expansion of the tax base and increased efficiency in collection of taxes. The three‐pronged strategy would work in tandem due to the interdependency on each other.
Provincial share in the revenue receipts continues to be low. It was 6 percent in 2009‐10, before institution of the new NFC, and around 3.5% in 2010‐11 and 2011‐12. Balochistan for some time to come would be dependent on federal grants, the NFC distribution and external sources for development. The huge economic potential of the province justifies the investment but more significantly on a purely humanitarian basis the poverty in the province needs to be eradicated. It might need a larger per capita investment but given the size of the population, with the right level of investment, Balochistan’s issues can be resolved at a much faster rate than other provinces. Improvements in quality of governance will be the key.
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Chapter 2: Education Policy in Balochistan
Education policy in Balochistan flows from a number of sources and there is no single document that can be categorised as the provincial education policy. The present ‘policy set’ derives variously from the Constitution of Pakistan, national documents, international commitments and locally prepared plans. Balochistan has initiated a sector plan development process that will encompass the official provincial policy within one document. The recently prepared ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ on education is expected to act as an interim plan till the preparation of a complete sector plan.
2.1 Constitutional Provisions
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan guides education policy, primarily, through three articles: 25A, 31 and37 (sub‐clauses a, b, and c). Article 25A has recently been included in the Constitution and has made school education a fundamental right. It reads as follows:
“The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”
The article will have a huge impact on education service delivery systems and public policy priorities, if implemented effectively. Currently its implications are being debated and the Government of Balochistan has prepared a draft law for its implementation. Some of the fundamentals being addressed by the law include definition of ‘free education’ and the demarcation of the parameters of education. As expansion under 25A is not possible without improvements in quality of education being delivered, the law proposes standards for education delivery.
Article 37 of the Constitution falls under the chapter on ‘Principles of Policy’. Unlike ‘Fundamental Rights’ the former cannot be challenged in a court of law. The provisions work as guidelines for the provincial and federal governments and not as mandatory clauses. Education related clauses under article 37 read as follows:
“The State shall:
(a) promote, with special care, the educational and economic interests of backward classes or areas;
(b) remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period;
(c) make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of merit;”
The article delineates all possible areas of education policy. These include equity and affirmative action, universal access, adult literacy, technical and vocational and higher education. On the values side the ‘Principles of Policy’ under article 31 emphasises compulsory teaching of the Quran and ‘Islamic Studies’ as well as teach Arabic to ‘Muslim students’.
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Recent changes in the Constitution under the 18th Constitutional Amendment have altered governance in the country and devolved a number of functions exclusively to the provinces. The amendment has devolved all aspects of education service delivery (at the school level) to the provinces and also added Article 25A, mentioned above, to the Constitution. Practically it has shifted curriculum development (and approval of textbooks) to the provinces as all other aspects were already entirely under the provincial domain. However, the impact of the 18th Amendment goes beyond the purely legal. Its implications are determined firstly by the ‘Implementation Committee for the 18th Amendment’ and secondly by the change of ‘mood’ in the province vis‐à‐vis Federal role in education. As practical problems emerge there is an on going adjustment of views. These have been discussed in later chapters under specific issues2.
2.2 National Education Policy (NEP) 2009
NEP 2009 was developed through a widespread consultative process that involved all provinces and the special geographic areas. Some of its key features include an emphasis on quality education, standards and holistic planning through development of sector plans. It shifts towards an output and outcome focused approach to educational policy and planning and recommends standards for ‘educational inputs, processes and outputs’. It emphasises on equity and views the various parallel systems of education as non‐egalitarian and a source of deepening cleavages within society.
The policy, like all previous national policies, was prepared by the Federal Ministry of Education. With the dissolution of the Ministry the NEP has lost its primary custodian and coordinator. This has, in addition to the post 18th Amendment provincial environment, diffused traction of the policy at the provincial level, at least in Balochistan.
Two important sub‐sets of national policy3 on education have been the National Curriculum 2006 and the National Textbooks Policy 2007. The 2006 curriculum was developed by the Ministry of Education and is considered the first curriculum to have clearly identified ‘students learning outcomes’ (SLOs). The National Textbooks Policy 2007 evolved through an interprovincial consultative process calls for outsourcing of the publishing functions of the provincial textbook boards to the private sector. Balochistan has so far not implemented either of the two documents although the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’, discussed below, calls for their adoption in the province.
2.3 Education Sector Reforms (ESR)
Another federal intervention has been the Education Sector Reform (ESR) prepared in 2001. The ESR focused on literacy, universal primary education, quality of education, technical and vocational education and use of public‐private partnerships as a tool for implementation. The Federal government provided funds for implementation of the ESR. The ESR suffered due to slashing of funds as well as poor utilisation rates. In case of Balochistan its most significant contribution has been in the area of literacy and non‐formal education as no provincial funds have been allocated for activities in this area over last
2 Annex 1 explains the Amendment’s impact on education. 3 These were prepared in parallel of the NEP although they are consistent with the provisions of the policy.
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many years. The latter has only provided funds for salaries of the skeletal staff of the Directorate of Literacy.
2.4 Higher Education Reforms
Federal footprint in Higher Education, through reforms initiated by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been much clearer and finds greater acceptance, though it is only limited to the universities. HEC determines educational standards in universities through its various policies and incentives. Presently there is some ambiguity on the status of the HEC as the ‘Implementation Committee of the 18th Amendment’ views the continued existence of HEC as a violation of the devolution principles. The matter is currently sub judice.
2.5 International Commitments
Pakistan is signatory to a number of international conventions and commitments. These include the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)4.
The Ministry of Education had prepared an Education for All (EFA) plan for the entire country but it failed to attract the requisite financial support even though it was made a part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP 2003‐06). At the provincial level EFA, as a concept, did not take strong roots and was considered a federal domain. Recently, though, there has been comparatively increased acceptance of the idea and have led to the development of provincial EFA Plan for Balochistan with UNESCO’s assistance. The Plan highlights critical gaps in achievement of EFA goals and identifies the cost of implementation. At present rate the province is expected to miss all EFA targets, except youth literacy. The main explanation for this possibility lies in the initial low value and therefore relative ease of reaching the target.
2.6 Support from Development Partners
Currently Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), World Bank (WB), Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR and World Food Programme (WFP) are the main development partners in the province’s education sector. Support has been provided by these agencies in the teacher training, development of community schools, pre‐service teacher education, provision of missing facilities, early childhood education and Education For All (EFA)5. Additionally the World Bank is supporting the Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) in development of community schools and expansion of access through public‐private partnerships.
2.7 The New Reform Environment
Over the last two years Balochistan has seen a new impetus in education reform. Critical decisions have been taken, plans made and envisaged to improve educational outcomes.
4 For details please see chapter 6 5 Details are given in annex 2
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The first major reform has been the formation of the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) in 2010. The Unit was formed to design, coordinate and oversee reform.
The PPIU has so far provided the response to the provincial needs under the 18th Amendment through drafting of laws on compulsory education under article 25A and development and implementation of curriculum. It also initiated a donor coordination process and now with assistance from UNICEF and UNESCO plans to prepare an education sector plan for the province. Already the PPIU has prepared an EFA and an ECCE Plan with UNESCO’s support.
An ‘Action Plan for Balochistan’ has been prepared as an interim policy document which will merge into the larger sector plan to be prepared. The ‘Action Plan’ includes prioritised policy actions to improve quality and access while also reviewing issues of monitoring and capacity of PPIU itself. Within quality the Plan envisages reforms in curriculum, textbooks development, teacher training and examinations and highlights capacity development and establishment of standards as cross cutting issues. Under access it calls for provision of schooling to all children. Some of the highlights of the Action Plan are:
1. Adoption of Curriculum 2006 prepared by the Ministry of Education till capacity issues are addressed at the provincial level.
2. Adoption of the National Textbook Policy 2007 that calls for outsourcing of the publishing function by textbook boards.
3. Provision of schools to all 22,000 settlements in the province.
4. Standards for teacher education, curriculum, textbooks and examinations.
5. Capacity development of the various organisations responsible for qualitative and quantitative aspects of education including monitoring.
6. Strengthening of Parent Teachers School Monitoring Committees (PTSMCs)
7. Capacity of the PPIU to develop, coordinate and oversee reform in the province.
While many of the actions in the plan only need government’s internal actions many others require financial support beyond the current financial capacity and the ‘Action Plan’ would only partially be implemented without support from development partners. Already the Chief Minister has approved adoption of National Curriculum 2006 and the National Textbook Policy 2007. Both will assist the province to improve quality of education.
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Chapter 3: Key Issues in School Education 1: Access
Balochistan, like other provinces, has a multitude of education service providers. The provincial Education Department has the largest set of institutions. Other provides include private sector, non‐government organisations and other public sector organisations like Railways, WAPDA and the armed forces. Madrassas, run by their respective organisations, form another, parallel, system. This chapter presents trends in access to education in the province and some overview of all school types with reference to access issues. An analysis of the implications of Article 25A of the Constitution has also been included with costing based on four different models to provide an idea of the options possible for implementation. The model, along with the costing projections, has been included in Chapter 7 on ‘Finance and Budgeting’. The last part of the chapter covers ‘Literacy and Non‐Formal Education’.6
3.1 Overarching Issues
Provision of social services, in Balochistan, to a population dispersed over a large piece of land poses a very different set of challenges to a high density area. Education service delivery in the province also faces a similar situation. Despite its unique demography policies continue to evaluate school ‘feasibility’ in terms of ‘population available within a radius’. This leaves many settlements outside the ‘feasible’ range. Combined with other factors absence of a ‘Balochistan specific model’ for education service delivery have left the province behind the rest of the country in educational attainments.
Table 3.1 shows that Balochistan’s performance in access is weaker than the other provinces despite a lower population.
Table 3.1 Comparative Net Enrolment Rates (NER)
Pakistan Punjab Sindh KPK Balochistan
NER(5‐9) 56 61 53 51 47
NER(6‐10) 66 70 62 64 56
NER(10‐12) 20 23 19 17 13
NER(11‐13) 35 37 36 33 25
NER(13‐14) 12 14 11 07 06
NER(14‐15) 23 25 23 19 14
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
6 This chapter, EFA analysis and projections for Article 25A have been replicated in the detailed ‘Situation Analysis Report’ on Balochistan for development of the Education Sector Plan as both this report and the detailed SITAN emerge from an overlapping process.
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Decreasing NER after each level reveals drop outs as children grow in age. Low survival rate results from poor education quality, cultural attitudes and poverty. In case of middle education, as will be seen later, school availability becomes the biggest problem.
3.1.1 School Availability
There are 22,000 settlements in the province but only 10,000 of these have schools available7. The province has the highest average commute time to schools for rural areas in the country. One in 5 children has to travel more than 30 minutes (as against less than 1 in 10 for Punjab and Khyberpakhtunkhwa) and one in 10 more than 1 hour to school8. The second main problem is the ‘bottleneck’ at the middle level. The ratio is almost 1/11 i.e. 1 middle school for 11 primary schools.
Table 3.2 Public Sector Schools in Balochistan
Urban Rural Level
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Total
Primary 1864 612 2476 5911 2250 8167 10637
Middle 154 119 273 436 244 680 953
High 203 98 301 254 39 293 594
Higher Secondary9
1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Source: National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) 2009‐10 provisional.
Number of High Schools reduces even further. There is a clear gap between number of boys and girls schools at all levels. While there has been an increase in number of private schools these are concentrated in urban centres and remain outside the reach of the poorest and the rural populations.
3.1.2 Drop Outs and Transition
There are approximately 1 million out of school children in Balochistan. Almost a million children are enrolled in schools with about 727, 885 in public schools, 83,000 in madrassas and about 200000 in private schools10,. These include those who were never admitted to a
7 Source: Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) 8 White Paper on Budget 2010-11 9 There is only one higher secondary school in Balochistan. All other grade 11 and 12 classes are conducted in intermediate and degree colleges. 10 Public school figures have been calculated from BEMIS 2009-10, Madrassa figures are from data provided by the Home Department of the Government of Balochistan and the private sector is an estimate based on different sources (details in section on private sector.
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school as well as those who dropped along the way. Data shows high levels of drop outs (and low transition rates) across each level of education (Table 3.3).
Table 3.3 Transition Rates
2007‐08 2008‐09 2009‐10
Katchi –Primary 0.57 0.59 0.64
Primary‐Middle 0.23 0.24 0.23
Middle‐Secondary 0.44 0.47 0.47
Source: Balochistan Education Management Information System (BEMIS)
The maximum drop out (or lowest transition) is from primary to middle.
3.1.3 Inequities
Gender and income inequities persist throughout the school education sector as outcomes are better for males compared to females and the higher income brackets as compared to low income households. Balochistan has the lowest gender parity for most indicators compared to other provinces and areas (only Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) has lower values). The gaps will become evident in the analysis in the next few sections.
3.2 Pre‐Primary and Early Childhood Education
The data in table 3.4 is from NEMIS, which reveals an increase in enrolment at pre‐primary level from 2006‐7 to 2009‐10. The GER estimated by the provincial ‘EFA Plan for 2011‐15 ‘ is 47.
Table 3.4 Katchi Enrolment in Balochistan
Year 2006‐07 2007‐08 2008‐09 2009‐10
Total 272,555 274,714 269,319 301,576
Source: NEMIS
Pre‐primary education is divided into three different categories: Katchi, Improved Katchi and the modern pre‐primary ECE. The first two are in the public system while the last mentioned only in some elite private schools.
The traditional Kacthi class, for pre‐primary age children, has existed in the public system for decades. It is normally housed in a multi‐grade teaching environment where under the ‘hierarchical’ school environment children from ‘Katchi’ receive the least priority. Teachers are neither trained to teach pre‐primary children nor to manage multi‐grade classrooms. Books prepared by the Balochistan Textbook Board (BTBB) are ‘taught to children of katchi class, which is contrary to the design of the National Curriculum on ECE.
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The ‘improved Katchi’ has been introduced in about 950 schools with the assistance of Agha Khan Foundation (700 schools in 7 districts), UNICEF (100 schools in 8 districts) and Save the Children (UK) (105 schools of Balochistan Education Foundation). These are separate classes with trained teachers and appropriate teaching‐learning material as required by the national ECE curriculum.
ECE is available to a very small number of students. Although there are over 300,000 children enrolled in pre‐primary sections but only 1.6% of pre‐primary age children (1.1% males, 2.2% girls)11 receive education according to the ECE precepts recognised in EFA, the National Education Policy 2009 and the national ECE Curriculum12. These include some elite urban private schools which have Montessori or kindergarten programmes and a few public schools supported by donor programmes to develop ‘improved Katchi’. The remaining public schools follow the traditional pre‐primary class. Rural private schools do not have provision for quality ECE.
3.2.1 Policy
In 2002 the first national curriculum for ECE was developed by the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Wing with the assistance of Teachers Resource Centre (TRC) and Children Resource International (CRI). An elaborate document of almost 80 pages, the curriculum explains the conceptual framework of the importance of early childhood education. The Curriculum does not prescribe any book for the level and focuses on activity based learning and prohibits any form of standard formal assessments of children’s progress. It elaborates possible actions for teachers and even describes learning areas that need to be developed.
The curriculum has not been disseminated effectively and like other curricula teachers are not aware of its existence. According to the provincial ECE plan for Balochistan some of the elite private sector schools in the province are aware of the curriculum and use it in their ECE programmes.
National Education Policy 2009 also recommended implementation of ECE and endorses the concepts of the ECE curriculum on activity based learning. Additionally it recognizes the diversity of cultures and situations in different parts of the country and calls for it being taken into account in implementation. Significantly it defines the age group for pre‐primary ECE as 3‐5 years.
The Society for Community Support for Primary Education in Balochistan (SCSPEB) with UNESCO’s assistance developed an ECE plan for Balochistan. ECE is also part of the provincial EFA Plan as one of the goals. The ECE Plan recommends multiple interventions including teacher and management’s training and development of teaching‐learning materials. It presents multiple strategies for implementation including public‐private partnership, utilising assets and resources of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), the Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) and other non‐government organisations. In terms of infrastructure the Plan calls for initiating ECE in primary schools with at least 3 classrooms, expanding the other schools and ensuring that separate ECE facilities are available in all new primary schools.
11 Provincial ECE Plan 2011 12 Provincial EFA Plan Balochistan 2011-15; PPIU, Government of Balochistan, May 2011
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The ECE component under the provincial EFA Plan prepared by NCHD in partnership with UNESCO and the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) is, understandably, less elaborate. It envisages separate centres for boys and girls and looks at a target of 50% coverage of ECE by 2015 while it estimates current coverage at 1.6% only.
3.3 Elementary Education
Elementary education includes primary and middle level. The former includes grades 1‐5 and the latter 6‐8 grades.
3.3.1 Primary Education
Official primary age remains unclear in Balochistan as no clear notification is available.
BEMIS also does not follow a specific age. In any case it only collects public sector data and
does not generate age related indicators. Therefore data for this and subsequent sections
have been taken from PSLMs with net enrolment ratio as the indicator for primary as well as
subsequent education levels. In the absence of an officially agreed age (although NEP 2009
recommends 6‐10 for primary) both age groups of 5 to 9 and 6‐10 have been used. For all
years, and across boys and girls, the latter presents a better picture. This probably means
that children are admitted later than the age of 5 years.
Overall there has been a steady but slow increase in NER over the years (Table 3.5). Year 2004‐5 is the odd year for both age groups as the NERs decrease in the following year. This can only be attributed to sampling variations. The trend is consistent, and increasing for all of the years after 2005‐6.
Table 3.5 Net Enrolment Rate (Primary without Katchi)
2004‐5 2005‐6 2006‐7 2007‐8 2008‐9 2010‐11
Age (5‐9) 37 34 41 41 44 47
Age (6‐10) 44 39 50 51 54 56
Source(s): Various PSLMs 2004‐5 to 2010‐11
As a whole the increase in NER is low for this age group. Overall the low values of NER for
both the age groups reveal drop outs as well as low system efficiency.
3.3.1.1 Inequities
Primary level education data displays inequities consistent with the overall trend, in terms of gender gaps as well as household income. Table 3.6 shows gender gaps in educational outcomes at the primary level.
For both age groups in the table the lowest NER is for rural girls and the highest for urban boys at 29 and 69 for the age group 5 to 9 and 33 and 83 for the age group 6 t 10. The rural
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values are significantly lower than the urban ones and given the higher population in rural areas the net NER is dragged down. Poverty levels are also higher in rural population. Urban female NER is greater the Rural Male’s.
Table 3.6 Comparison of Primary NER (Male and Female)
Age group (5‐9) Age group (6‐10)
Rural Urban Overall Rural Urban Overall
Male 53 69 56 63 83 68
Female 29 58 35 33 65 40
Overall 42 64 47 50 75 56
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
Across income quintiles also the educational outcomes are superior for the richer (table 3.7). GERs improve for higher quintiles (5th being the highest and 1st the lowest). Overall the GERs higher for males as compared to females at all levels. The 4th quintile has the highest GER. It is difficult to explain the increase without an evaluation of the sample. In fact the overall rural GER gap between the lowest and highest quintile is of 5 points only with 61 for the first quintile and 66 for 5th quintile. The gaps across the urban values are greater, although the 4th quintile does appear as an odd figure. Secondly structural factors like school availability may also be a possible explanation as in the urban centres better transport facilities and availability of private schools may be assisting the achievement of higher GER.
Table 3.7 Primary GER for Income Quintiles
Urban Rural
Male Female Both Male Female Both
Balochistan 107 88 98 83 50 68
1st Quintile 85 68 76 74 46 61
2nd Quintile 94 88 92 82 52 70
3rd Quintile 113 104 108 93 50 70
4th Quintile 144 96 121 152 81 121
5th Quintile 125 91 114 73 58 66
Source: PSLM 2007‐08
Another explanation may lie in the income range in rural and urban areas. The range may be larger for the latter leading to significantly different outcomes for higher quintiles. Similarly
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cultural attitudes may also vary more with income changes in urban areas as compared to rural areas.
3.3.1.2 Policy
National Education Policy 2009 provides the following provisions for elementary education.
1. All children ‐ boys and girls ‐ shall be brought inside school by the year 2015.
2. Official age for primary education shall be 6 to 10 years. The official age group for next levels of education shall also change correspondingly.
3. Government shall make efforts to provide the necessary financial resources to achieve the EFA goals.
4. Wherever feasible, primary schools shall be upgraded to middle level.
5. International Development Partners shall be invited through a well‐developed plan for expanding school facilities.
6. High priority shall be paid to reducing the dropout rates. An important element of this effort should be to provide financial and food support to children who drop out because of poverty.
‘Balochistan Action Plan’ adds provision of schools to all 22000 settlements as a policy option, in addition to upgradation of primary schools to middle level. It targets universal school enrolment by 2020 in pursuance of Article 25A of the constitution.
3..3.2 Middle Level
At both age groups for middle level there is a clear decline from the primary level NERs which reveals dropouts or low transition rates. For both age groups of 10 to 12 and 11 to 13 (tables 3.8) the NER values fall significantly from the relevant age group at primary level.
Table 3.8 Net Enrolment Rates (Middle)
2004‐5 2005‐6 2006‐7 2007‐8 2008‐9 2010‐11
Age (10‐12) 8 7 9 12 11 13
Age (11‐13) 17 14 19 22 22 25
Source(s): Various PSLMs 2004‐5 to 2010‐11
However, from 2007‐8 to 2008‐9 there appears to be a very major change for the age group 11 to 13 although the NER for 10 to 12 remains low and with very small changes. This remains difficult to explain given the slow growth rates of previous three years.
3..3.2.1 Inequities
Gender gaps are again evident at the middle level across both age groups. Again rural females have the worst outcomes (Table 3.9).
Overall rural indicators are lower than urban ones. The gender gaps are again stark with the highest for urban male at 21 for age group 10 to 12 lowest for rural female at 3 for the same age group.
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Table 3.9 Comparison of Middle NER (Male and Female)
Age group (10‐12) Age group (11‐13)
Rural Urban Overall Rural Urban Overall
Male 16 21 17 30 47 34
Female 3 19 7 7 35 13
Overall 11 21 13 21 42 25
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
Gap also remains high across the age group 11 to 13 with the similar trend of highest NER for urban male and lowest for rural female. Again in the case of middle NER the value for urban female is higher than rural male. The rural‐urban gap also persists.
Income and educational outcomes relationship also follows the same pattern as primary level with lowest attainment for rural females in the poorest quintiles (Table 3.10).
Table 3.10 Middle GER and Income Quintiles
Urban Rural
Male Female Both Male Female Both
Balochistan 73 50 62 35 12 25
1st Quintile 50 27 38 30 7 20
2nd Quintile 73 38 55 33 15 25
3rd Quintile 86 52 68 50 11 31
4th Quintile 79 84 82 38 25 33
5th Quintile 88 93 90 41 21 35
Source: PSLM 2007‐08
Females have better outcomes for the two highest quintiles in urban areas as compared to males. For all other categories males have higher indicators. Poorer females come out as the worst hit. The range of values for urban areas is wider than the rural ones. It may be the result of lesser variation in income and attitudes in rural areas, as well as, non‐availability of schooling options even for higher income groups. In Urban centres, as in the primary case, availability of private schools and wider differentials in behaviour as one moves across income levels, may be possible explanations for the wider range.
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3.4 Secondary Level
The NER declines even further for the secondary level. This depicts a further deterioration in
transition rates from middle to secondary. As the student grows older there is a higher
opportunity cost of education. Young teenagers can earn more and support family income.
For females it is more a case of stronger cultural taboos (table 3.11).
Table 3.11 Secondary Net Enrolment Rates
2004‐5 2005‐6 2006‐7 2007‐8 2008‐9 2010‐11
Age (!3‐14) 5 5 5 5 5 6
Age (14‐15) 9 10 10 12 11 14
Source(s): Various PSLMs 2004‐5 to 2010‐11
Trend for 14 to 15 is similar except that the values are higher for each category. This is consistent with higher age groups across all educational levels. Overall though the low transition rate issue remains the same.
3.4.1 Inequities
Gender and income gaps follow a similar trend at the secondary level. Table 3.12 reveals gender gaps. For age 13‐14 rural females have the worst outcomes for each year. The same trend of lower indicators for rural females is evident in the case of ages 14 to 15 as well. Also there is further decline in the NER for all categories of secondary showing further drop outs in the transition from middle to secondary.
Table 3.12 Comparison of Secondary NER (Male and Female)
Age group (13‐14) Age group (14‐15)
Rural Urban Overall Rural Urban Overall
Male 7 13 8 19 28 21
Female 1 8 3 2 13 4
Overall 4 11 6 12 21 14
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
Again at the secondary level education outcomes for the rich are higher than those for the poor. Table 3.12 again shows the worst outcomes for female from the poorest quintile at a GER of only 1. Only at the highest quintile is female value higher though this cannot necessarily be taken as better at the very high GER value of 220. At secondary level also the range of values for rural levels is narrow at least till the 4th quintile. It is more variegated at the urban levels. This may as in the earlier levels be a case of a narrower range across
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incomes and attitudes as well as a result of few options for all income levels in terms of school availability and transportation.
Table 3.13 Secondary GER and Income Quintiles
Urban Rural
Male Female Both Male Female Both
Balochistan 69 50 61 39 6 23
1st Quintile 21 24 23 28 1 15
2nd Quintile 77 15 48 37 12 24
3rd Quintile 59 30 47 58 11 37
4th Quintile 111 59 83 54 0 26
5th Quintile 120 220 154 126 23 67
Source: PSLM 2007‐8
3.4.2 Policy
NEP 2009 provides the following policy options for secondary (and higher secondary education):
1. Provision shall be expanded, particularly in the rural areas and of schools dedicated for girls. Priority shall be given to those locations where the ratio of secondary schools is low.
2. Student support shall be increased to prevent students from dropping out of school for financial reasons.
3. Schools shall introduce more student‐centred pedagogies.
4. Counseling facilities shall be made available to students from the elementary level onwards, in order to constructively utilize their energies, to deal with any displays of aggression amongst young students and to address any other psychological distress that a student may be in, by suggesting a suitable remedy
5. Life Skills‐Based Education (LSBE) shall be promoted.
6. Counseling at higher secondary level must also address the career concerns of young students and encourage them to take up studies as per their aptitude other than the “accepted” fields of study, be it technical, vocational or any other area of study
7. Schooling shall also be made more attractive by adding community service programmes.
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3.5 Private and Other Schools
BEMIS does not collect data for institutions outside the direct domain of the School Education department. These include private schools, institutions run by other government agencies including the armed forces, schools administered by Balochistan Education Foundation, National Commission for Human Development and madrassas.
3.5.1 Private Schools
Obtaining accurate data for private schools is complicated. Three sources have been explored: National Education Census 2005, NEMIS 2008‐9 and NCHD. While the 2005 census is accepted as authentic and forms the baseline for that year there are wide gaps between the NCHD and NEMIS data. NEC on the other hand was conducted for one year only.
According to NCHD there are 4338 private schools in Balochistan with an enrolment of 43,962. The data collected by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) may be estimating enrolment on the lower side as private schools may be reluctant to provide exact data on enrolments. Most education related experts in the province consider the NCHD data for school numbers to be correct but enrolment to be unreal.
NEMIS data on the other hand shows the number of schools to be low but its enrolment value is much higher. According to the 2008‐9 data of NEMIS the number of schools is 871 with an enrolment of 191,380. The NEMIS data suffers from a flaw as it projects only on the basis of one year of data of the NEC 2005.
Table 3.13a shows a comparison of private schools in Balochistan in 2005, as given in the National Education Census (NEC) 2005, the 2010 figure captured by the (NCHD) during its annual enrolment campaign in 2010 and NEMIS 2008‐9.
Table 3.13a Private Schools in Balochistan
NEC 2005 NEMIS 2008‐9 NCHD 2010
Schools Enrolment Schools Enrolment Schools Enrolment
Boys 92 112,779 93 127,667 2,986 27,004
Girls 39 56,685 39 63,713 1,352 16,958
Mixed 697 731
Total 828 170,851 863 191,380 4,338 43,962
Source(s): NCHD 2010, AEPAM 2005 & NEMIS 2008‐9
If NCHD data is accepted then there has been an almost 500% rise in the number of private schools in the province. Using NCHD school data as the base, enrolment can be estimated
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on the basis ‘feasible minimum enrolment’. According to discussions this comes to 25 to 30 pupils in a school.
Table 3.13b Enrolment Estimate of Private Schools
Schools Ave 25 Pupils Ave. 40 students Ave 50 Students
4338 108,450 173,520 216,900
Table 3.13b gives estimates of private schools enrolment based on estimated average enrolment. At 25 it comes to 108,450 and at an average of 40 students per school it is 173,520. Both values are much higher than the enrolment given by NCHD and also NEMIS. The last column of average 50 students is based on the criteria used by the Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) for partnership with private schools.
3.5.2 Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) Schools
Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) has set up 649 community schools and 197 private sector schools. Community Schools are set up on the following criteria:
1. At least 20 students can be enrolled by the community.
2. There is no girls’ school within a radius of 20 km.
The programme is implemented through non‐government organisations designated as Community Implementation Partners (CIPs). BEF monitors performance of schools with key indicators being student and teacher attendance and improvements in learning outcomes.
Table 3.15 Schools Supported by Balochistan Education Foundation
Phase I (2006‐10)
Phase II (2007‐10)
Phase III (2008‐10)
Total
Community Schools
188 227 234 649
Private Schools 81 53 63 197
Source: Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) Annual Report 2009
BEF also subsidises schools set up by private owners on the following criteria:
1. At least 50 children can be admitted from the targeted community.
2. There is no government school in a radius of 1 km in case of an urban school and 2 km in rural areas.
3. Schools charge low fee.
Run with the help of the owner (Private Implementing Partner or PIP) BEF provides subsidies for facilities, material and a monthly subsidy for attendance. BEF monitors both CS and PIP schools. The 197 PIP schools are spread in 26 districts and are mainly in urban or semi‐urban
25
areas. In addition to the above BEF also provides grant in aid to 513 private schools in 30 districts. BEF’s community schools are covered in the annual BEMIS census.
3.5.3NCHDFeederSchools
National Commission for Human Development have established 135213 feeder schools in communities with no schools hiring teachings from local communities who also provide the building. The children are officially enrolled in the nearest government school. The enrolment figure is covered in BEMIS data as part of the relevant government school.
3.5.4 Madrassas
Madrassas are traditional religious schools that normally cater to the poorest in the community14. They provide basic education and also, in most cases, boarding and lodging.
Table 3.16 Madrassas in Balochistan
Types Total Deobandi Barelvi Ahle Hadis
Ahle Tashayo
Enrolment
Number 1095 948 85 33 19 83258
Source: Statistical Wing, Home Department, Government of Balochistan
There are more than 83,000 students enrolled in Madrassas in the province which is about 10% of the total public sector enrolment. Quetta has the maximum number of madrassa students (22,495) followed by Pishin (5,595). Details of policy related to madrassas are discussed in the next chapter.
3.5.5ResidentialColleges
The province has four cadet colleges and three residential colleges run by the Government of Balochistan. These are considered high quality residential institutions run on the format of traditional public schools. There are also two residential schools: Al Hijra in Ziarat and Tameer i Nau Model School in Quetta.
Table 3.17 Residential Colleges Enrolment
Name of Institution Enrolment
Cadet College Mastung 310
Cadet College Pishin 101
13 Balochistan EFA Plan 14 ‘Denizens of Alien Worlds’ Rehman, Tariq 2005
26
Cadet College Jafferabad 260
Cadet College Qillasaifullah 146
Residential College Khuzdar 361
Residential College Kech 250
Residential College Loralai 452
Al‐Hijra residential College Ziarat 123
Tameer Nau Model School Complex 688
Source: Higher Education Department, Balochistan
Enrolment in these institutions starts at the middle schooling level through competitive examinations. These are residential institutions modelled after the traditional ‘English’ public schools.
3.6 Special Education
Subsumed within the international commitments on EFA and MDGs and the Constitutional
stipulations on education, is the obligation on the state to provide education to all who
cannot be provided the opportunity in the normal schools. Special education set ups in
Pakistan, and Balochistan, have been established for fulfilment of this state duty.
Additionally the concept of ‘inclusive education’ has also been introduced in the country
although it has been applied selectively in some areas. Inclusive education calls for routine
schools to accept children with disabilities rather than have them receive education in
special schools and ‘integrated’ later. Normally, even with most progressive inclusive
systems, all children cannot be included.
3.6.1 Situation in Balochistan
The Department of Social Welfare has the responsibility for special education in the province. There are 4 government run institutions in the province: one each in Quetta, Sibi, Khuzdar and Turbat (Kech). Only Quetta based institutions have the facilities for separate set ups for the four categories: Deaf & Dumb, Blind, Physically disabled and mentally retarded. In the other 3 districts the children use the same classroom.
Three non government institutions stand out: School for Special Children, Killi Shabow, Idara e Bahali Mustahqeen and Garrison School for Special Children. All are based in Quetta.
In response to the Islamabad Declaration, the Government of Balochistan has attempted to introduce the concept of ‘Inclusive Education’ but there has been little success. Officials and teachers of the sector identified the following issues:
27
The Curriculum designed by the BOC does not fully accommodate the needs of the sector.
(However, some amendments from the Special Education Complex Staff are recommended
from time to time).
1. The coverage is limited to four districts only and with an enrolment of 649 also
reveals the need for expansion.
2. While teachers’ qualification criterion is B.Ed Special Education in service trainings are missing.
3. There is a shortage of staff even within the existing facilities especially female staff.
4. Laboratories for teaching are under construction but trained staff to run the same
has not been hired.
While the concept of inclusive education has been introduced in the province, it has not
taken root in the implementation process.
3.6.2 Policy
National Education Policy 2009 clearly articulates its commitment to special education in its
objectives but specific provisions on reform are missing.
“To equalize access to education through provision of basic facilities for girls and boys alike,
under‐privileged/marginalized groups and special children and adults.”
NEP 2009 does introduce the concept of inclusive education. Wherein as many children are
to be provided education in the routine schools, as possible. The relevant policy provision
states:
“To achieve the commitments of Government of Pakistan towards Education for All (EFA)
and the MDGs, inclusive and child‐friendly education shall be promoted.”
Although the NEP does not elaborate policy options on ‘Special Education’ there are other
national documents that fill the gap. The main document being the ‘National Policy for
Persons with Disabilities 2002” The policy was prepared by the Ministry of Women
Development, Social Welfare and Special Education, in consultation with other relevant
Ministries. The policy includes education for persons with disability as an important
component. It calls for creation of an environment by 2015 “ that would allow full
realization of the potential of persons with disabilities through their inclusiveness
mainstreaming and providing them full support of the government, private sector and civil
society”
The policy emphasises on awareness which includes training of parents and communities. In
2005 ‘The Islamabad Declaration on Inclusive Education” was signed by all the relevant
federal ministries including the Ministry of Education, the provincial governments,
Government of AJ&K and a number of universities and a number of international
28
development partners and non‐government organisations. It called for equal treatment of
all children and equal access to health, education and work. The main purpose was to devise
policies that would allow children with disabilities to be integrated into normal life while
ensuring that their special needs are met.
3.7 Afghan Refugee Children
Afghan refugees have been in Pakistan since 1979. Balochistan houses the second highest
population of Afghan refugees, after Khyberpakhtoonkhwa, at 352, 610. With over thirty
years as refugees education of children has been of concern. The education indicators are
generally considered to be poor. With the government schools already overcrowded and in
many cases dilapidated refugee children could not be accommodated into them. Secondly
the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) requires a Pakistani citizenship.
Therefore there has been a ceiling on the progress. To overcome the problem United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) introduced special schooling for refugee
children.
As shown in table 3.17 the maximum
concentration of Afghan Refugees in
Balochistan is in 8 districts. The largest
concentration (more than 50% of the
total) is located in Quetta. UNHCR focuses
on these areas to provide education to
refugee children.
The education is provided through
implementation partners. Currently the
bulk of schools are run by Save the Children (UK) with 25 schools. Society for Promotion of
Primary Education in Balochistan SPPEB runs 11 schools. Nine other schools run
independently in Quetta. A total of forty five schools funded by the UNHCR enrol about
17,103 Afghan children with a teaching staff of 42315. Initially started for grades one to 6
these have now been extended to grade 8 on demand of the refugee community.
Table 3.18 Districts with Maximum Afghan Refugee Populations
Quetta 187,311
Pishin 63,921
Chaman 0
Chagai 36,129
Loralai 18,835
Killa Abdullah 18,898
Killa Saifullah 19,402
Mastung 3,064
Source: UNCHR Pakistan
Afghan curriculum is taught in these schools and teachers are trained to teach in Persian
and Pashto. On completion of grade 8 children can request for issuance of a certificate from
the Afghan Consulate for issuance of certificate to continue education in Pakistan or
repatriate to the home country. Dropouts due to labour opportunities and seasonal
migration due to cropping hinder continuation of education. In addition to UNHCR schools
there are also privately run madrassas in the refugee camps.
15 United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
29
3.8 Implementing Article 25 A
As already stated Article 25A of the Constitution, added after the recent 18th amendment,
mandates free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. In
terms of education indicators implementation would mean all children are admitted to
school and they continue their education till completion of high school. This would mean
NERs of 100 across all educational levels and a 100% survival and/or transition rate across
all levels. For Balochistan this would require the transformation given in table 3.18. The
NERs given in the table are projected for 2010‐11 based on past values of PSLMs and the
survival rates have been calculated from NEMIS data till 2008‐9.
Source(s): PSLM 2010‐11 and NEMIS
Table 3.19 Targets for 25A
Indicator Current Position Required
NER Primary (6‐10) 47 ≈100
NER Middle (11‐13) 25 ≈100
NER Secondary (14‐15) 14 ≈100
Survival Rate Primary 55.16 ≈100
Survival Rate Middle 54.96 ≈100
Survival Rate Secondary 45.09 ≈100
The above targets can be achieved through different path with separate organizational
arrangements and costs. ‘Survival rate’ is often used as a proxy indicator for quality and the
table clearly indicates quality improvements as a key factor in achievement of the targets
provided by Article 25A. Another indicator to be considered, though not shown above, is
transition rates. Many students drop out as they transit from one level to another so a close
to 100% transition rate can also be added as indicator towards achievement of the requisite
target. Detailed costing estimates have been added in Chapter 7.
Ramifications of Article 25A transcend education and impinge on public policy priorities of
the state. It challenges the education sector to deliver for everyone in the country. Explicitly
it calls for access to education for all children between ages 5 to 16 but its implementation
will only be possible if all facets of service delivery including quality and relevance are also
addressed. In fact all the major targets of school education contained in the National
Education Policy 2009, EFA and MDGs are subsumed within the Article, which envisages
taking education even farther. It calls for review of the fundamentals of education service
delivery in the country.
30
Each province (and the Federal government to the extent of its jurisdiction) has to
promulgate a law to enable operationalisation of the article. Balochistan government has
already prepared a draft law to be sent to the legislature for consideration.
The draft ‘Compulsory Education Act 2011’ for Balochistan addresses some of the
fundamental issues arising from Article 25 A. The first of these is definition of the ‘free
education’ The article itself does not define ‘free’, which provides leeway to each legislature
to develop its own definition. Definition of ‘free education’ has implications for finances, as
well as, organizational structure and management of educational service delivery in the
province. “Free education” definition has to balance between what is needed to attract and
retain the poorest in schools and fiscal space possibilities of the government.
The next, legally critical, term in the ‘Article’ is ‘compulsory’. The term creates a
responsibility for ensuring that requirements of 25A are met. Four critical questions arise:
who is responsible? How would the responsibility be executed? Who would be accountable
for the task? How would the accountability be undertaken?
Finally the issue of quality operates as an underlying factor to successful implementation of
Article 25A. Unless quality and relevance of education improves successful implementation
of the Article will remain elusive. The Constitution does not define parameters for quality
education although Principles of Policy outlines certain touchstones for values. The
provincial government will have to develop targets for quality and approached to measure
progress against them: quality indicators. A draft law has been prepared by the Policy
Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) which caters to many of the above issues. It has
been sent to the Law Department for vetting.
3.9 Literacy and Non‐Formal Education
Literacy and Non‐formal education programmes in Balochistan have mostly been funded either by the Federal government or development partners. The Directorate of Literacy has been the main government organization in the sector. It has oscillated between the Education Department and the Department of Social Welfare and currently forms part of the latter. National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has run a very large scale literacy programme in the province and so have some of the non‐government organisations.
3.9.1 Situation in Balochistan
Table 3.19 reveals gaps between literacy rate(s) in Balochistan and the rest of the country.
They are the lowest for both the 15+ and 10+ populations. The low literacy rates are the
result of years of poor outcomes of school education as well as the literacy programmes in
the province.
Table 3.20 Literacy Rates Comparison
Pakistan Punjab Sindh KPK Balochistan
31
10 plus 58 60 59 50 41
15 plus 55 57 58 46 37
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
The Social Welfare Department is responsible for Literacy and Non formal Education in the
province. The various literacy projects are run by the Directorate of Literacy the technical
arm of the Department for this area. In addition to work of the Directorate the National
Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and a number of NGOs are also working in the
area. Some of the key issues are:
1. Literacy programmes have been project based, either funded or run by the federal government or donor supported. Sustainability has been poor.
2. Current capacity of the Directorate of Literacy with only 5 officers is weak. The Directorate does not have field officers and has to rely on EDO (Community Welfare) for monitoring of its centre.
3. NCHD recession from the field will create a huge vacuum for which, at present, the provincial government has neither the funds nor the organizational capacity to fill.
3.9.1.1 Directorate of Literacy
The Directorate of Literacy and Non‐formal Education was set up in 1991 with UNICEF’s assistance and in 1993 the provincial government took up its recurrent budget and made it a regular part of the Education set up. Its current programme runs in 12 districts: Mastung, Bolan, Naseerabad, Sibi, Lasbela, Killa Abdullah, Killa Saifullah, Loralai, Ziarat, Kohlu, Panjgoor and Gawadar, under ESR fund.
Table 3.21 Programmes Run by the Directorate of Literacy
Name of project Year Centres Beneficiaries
Adult literacy in Balochistan (Funded by Provincial PSDP)
1996‐ 07 252 4372
Adult literacy in Balochistan (Funded by provincial PSDP)
1998‐ 09 1322 24748
Education Sector Reform Programme (ESR)
2002‐ 03 220 2694
Education Sector Reform Programme (ESR)
2003‐ 04 350 5852
32
Education Sector Reform Programme (ESR)
2009‐ 10 140 3241
Education Sector Reform Programme (ESR)
2010‐ 11 338 7046
Education Sector Reform Programme (ESR)
2011‐ 12 382*
*9500 in process
Source: Directorate of Literacy, Government of Balochistan.
Despite its achievements the Directorate of Literacy has never been fully owned into the provincial set up. As already mentioned it has oscillated between the Department of Education and the Social Welfare Department16 and its main funds have not come from the provincial coffers.
The primary cause has been an absence of a policy framework for literacy at the provincial level. The primary focus has been on regular school education and ownership of federally driven policies has been weak. The recent provincial Literacy and EFA Plans have been the first efforts at the provincial level to change the situation and for the province to take complete charge of the literacy and NFE sector. However, at present the province lacks funding despite the will and if the ESR programme is cut as a result of the 18th Amendment it may not be possible for provincial sector plan to be implemented in the near future.
Provincial Literacy Plan (2010‐15) was prepared in 2009 by the Directorate with UNESCO’s assistance. The plan targets 1.08 additional literates including 660, 000 females. It requires,15,597 Public sector literacy centre, 1,729 Public sector community literacy centres, 984 Public sector Quranic Literacy Centre and 2,272 Private sector Literacy Centres. No funds have been allocated to the plan so far. UNESCO has also assisted in development of courses, books development, and advocacy material. Also some training was provided and a monthly newsletter released.
3.9.1.2 NCHD Literacy Programme
NCHD was formed in 2001 as an autonomous body of the Federal government and given the mandate to develop human resource in the country. Its programme was initiated in Balochistan in 2003 and includes literacy in addition to education overall and health. NCHD has been the only organization in Balochistan that has worked for literacy in all 30 districts.
The literacy programme run by NCHD consists of three phases based on the National Curriculum for Literacy 2007:
Basic literacy and numeracy are developed through phonetics etc. run in Basic Literacy Centre (BLC)
16 Till the year 2000, the Directorate worked with the Social Welfare Department but for the period of 2000 to 2005 it went to the Education Department. In 2007 it was again sent to the Social Welfare Department.
33
Advanced level with focus on reading and more complex (3 digit mathematics) run in Post Literacy Centres.
Support to learner in pursuit of further education in Community Literacy Centres (CLCs).
BLC and PLC courses are for 6 months each.
NCHD’s programmes in the province from 2003 to date are shown in Table 3.18.
The figure of 320800 learners provided by NCHD has not been verified independently but generally the impact of its work is acknowledged. It currently faces closure as the 18th Amendment gets implemented.
In addition to its work in Literacy, the Commission has also set up about 1350 feeder
Source: National Commission for Human Development
Table 3.22 Impact of NCHD’s Literacy Programme
Literacy Centres Graduating Learners
Phase
Male Female Total Male Female Total
2003‐2008
1204
10833
12037
24426
219837
244263
Jan‐June 2010
148
2309
2457
2175
48794
50969
July‐Dec 2010
64 1159 1223
1321 24247
25568
Total 1416 14301 15717 27922
292878
320800
schools. These cater to about 59,000 students. The fate of these children is also linked to the immediate future of NCHD17.
3.9.1.3 National Education Foundation (NEF)
National Education Foundation (NEF) was working as an autonomous body under the former Ministry of Education. The NEF had established non‐formal schools in the province. It closed down as a result of the implementation process of the 18th Amendment on 30 June 2011. Most ‘Key Informants’ complained of absence of any linkage between non‐formal
17 Source: National Commission for Human Development
34
schools and regular education system. After the closure of NEF practically no system of non‐formal education exists in the province.
3.9.1.4 Non‐Government Programmes
Prominent NGOs in the sector have been Society for Community Support in Primary Education of Balochistan (SCSPEB) and Institute of Development Strategies and Practices (IDSP). SCSPEB has been running a programme since 2005 in 25 centres across 6 districts. So far 4500 persons, between the ages of 15 to 30, have completed basic literacy courses in these centres. IDSP runs 5 literacy centres, set up with UNESCO’s assistance, in Quetta and Mastung districts. So far, 250 persons (age 15‐25) have been made literate by the centres. Organisations like the Balochistan Boys Scouts Association and the Girls Guides Association have also been involved in literacy training in the past.
3.9.1.5 Literacy and Equity
Critiques of literacy programmes consider it a less efficient investment in education. PEAC data reveals that learning outcomes for children whose parents have relatively higher education, are better. Also investment in literacy is an investment in poverty reduction. Table 3.22 shows gaps across gender, as well as, rural and urban values. Similar to the NERs discussed above the worst outcomes are for rural females (13 and 9) and the best for urban male (79 and 77).
Table 3.23 Comparison of Literacy Rates (Male & Females)
Literacy 10+ Literacy 15+
Rural Urban Overall Rural Urban Overall
Male 54 79 60 49 77 56
Female 13 40 19 9 33 15
Overall 35 61 41 30 56 37
Source: PSLM 2010‐11
Table 3.23 shows literacy rates for various income quintiles with 1st one being the lowest and 5th the highest. The table reveals that literacy rates increase as the income level increases. This is quite intuitive and again as in the case of other education outcomes poor fare the worst.
Table 3.24 Income and Literacy Rates (10+)
Male Female Both
1st Quintile 54 15 36
35
2nd Quintile 65 20 43
3rd Quintile 70 27 50
4th Quintile 80 30 57
5th Quintile 89 56 75
Source: PSLM 2007‐08
The best outcome is for males in the highest income brackets and the worst for women in the poorest quintile. The gap between males and females at all levels is quite wide. This hints at an attitude towards female education that has led to lower levels of literacy for women.
3.9.2 Policy (NEP)
1. Literacy rate shall be increased up to 86% by 2015 through up‐scaling of ongoing programmes of adult literacy and non formal basic education in the country.
2. Sustainability of adult literacy and NFE programmes shall be ensured by strengthening organizational structure, coordination and enhancing budgetary allocation for this neglected sub sector.
3. Government shall develop a national literacy curriculum and identify the instructional material, teacher training modules and professional development programmes to support the curriculum. The curriculum shall be objectives driven, so as to facilitate assimilation of trainees into mainstream economic activity, by imparting skills training as per local needs and market trends.
4. Government shall develop and enforce minimum quality standards for organizations involved in literacy in the form of literacy certification and accreditation regime. The literacy providers shall be required to offer the literacy programmes according to the specified standards.
5. A system shall be developed to mainstream the students of non‐formal programmes into the regular education system, and a system of equivalence shall be developed to permit such mainstreaming. New literates shall receive formal certification so as to facilitate their entry into government schools.
6. Provinces and district governments shall allocate a minimum of 4% of education budget for literacy and non‐formal basic education (NFBE).
7. Linkages of non‐formal education with industry and internship programmes shall be developed to enhance economic benefits of participation.
8. Horizontal linkages between schools and vocational/skills training centres shall be established.
9. Government schools shall initiate non‐formal education (NFE) stream for child labourers. Children involved in various jobs or work shall be brought within the ambit of non‐ formal education system through need‐based schedules and timings.
36
10. National Education Foundation (NEF) programmes, currently in practice up to grade 5 shall be expanded up to grade 10, wherever required.
11. Special literacy skills programmes shall target older child labourers, boys and girls (aged between 14 and 17 years). Special educational stipends shall be introduced to rehabilitate child labourers.
12. Arrangements shall be made to use school buildings (where available) for adult literacy after school hours.
13. Government shall develop guidelines for post‐programme initiatives. Regular follow‐up shall be made a part of the literacy programs.
14. Steps shall be taken to ensure that teachers for adult learners and non‐formal education are properly trained and have a well defined career structure allowing them to move into mainstream education.
15. International Development Partners, community and private sector involvement in awareness programmes, content, design and availability of facilities, shall be mobilised.
Balochistan developed Provincial Literacy Plan and an EFA Plan in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The EFA Plan sets a target of 64 to be achieved by Balochistan by 2015.
In 2007 the National Curriculum for Literacy was developed. It divided literacy into three levels: basic literacy, advanced and support for developing life long learning. It has been adopted by NCHD.
37
Chapter 4: Key Issues in School Education 2: The Quality Factors
Quality of school education is considered poor and the primary outcome of classroom practices is encouragement of rote learning. This is true of most public schools as well as the non‐elite private schools. Teaching‐learning processes in the classroom fail to invoke analytical critical thinking. Report of the Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEACE), gives the following results:
“It was found that the mean score of grade IV in Balochistan was less than 500 in mathematics, science and Urdu. It means that student’s proficiency is below average in these three subjects. However, the (score) in Social Studies is above the mean score”18
The report also highlights shortcomings in critical and analytical thinking and processes:
“Even students with high abilities were not able to write in organized manner on narrative and persuasive prompts”19
Over the last many years a lopsided focus on access has diluted the emphasis on quality aspects. No benchmarks or standards have been developed for quality as it does not factor into accountability of the education system either at the management or political levels. The only exception may be the examinations results and even these cannot be considered before secondary school. In any case there are problems with the examinations as measures of quality as discussed later.
Box 4.1 Defining Quality Education
“There is an impending need to debate and agree on what constitutes quality at each stage of education and the system overall. Based on this, some standards will need to be defined and pursued through development of policies, strategies and plans which target
them.” National Education Policy 2009
National Education Policy 2009 states:
The PPIU has changed the approach and quality forms an important corner stone of its proposed reforms. The ‘Balochistan Action Plan 2011’ focuses on quality and standards as a critical issue.
The five factors considered for quality are:
1. Teachers
2. Textbooks
3. Assessments
4. Curriculum
5. School Environment
18 “Provincial Report on Assessment of Students’ Learning of Grade IV 2006”; Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEACE), Quetta 19Ibid
38
4.1 Teachers
Teachers have been considered the weakest link in provision of quality education in
Pakistan. Finding quality teachers on a large scale is a challenge faced by the entire country.
NEP 2009 has presented recommendations for improvements in teacher quality and
enhances their professional ability (details in sub‐section 4.1.3).
An important intervention for improvement of teaching quality has been the STEP Project20 developed standards for teacher education and assisted the National Council for Teacher Education (NACTE) develop and publish standards for teacher education institutions in 2009. These standards are categorized into seven domains21:
1. Curriculum and Instruction
2. Assessment and Evaluation System
3. Physical Infrastructure, Academic Facilities and Learning Resources.
4. Human Resources
5. Finance and Management
6. Research and Scholarship
7. Community Links and Outreach
The Pre‐ STEP project is continuing the work by assisting the provinces adopt and implement
these standards. The project is also functioning in Balochistan with the assistance of USAID.
4.1.2 Situation in Balochistan
Balochistan faces similar problems in teaching quality as most of the country. Although in
certain aspects, like qualifications, it lags behind other provinces. Other issues in quality of
teaching and teachers include availability of teachers because of absenteeism and the ability
of the government to provide quality teachers, particularly in specialized subjects, to rural
and peripheral areas of the province. Again distances, terrain and recently security factors
reduce the possibilities. Issues of teachers are discussed here under the heads of training
(pre‐service and in‐service) and availability.
4.1.2.1 Pre‐service training
The most serious impediment to availability of quality teachers is poor pre‐service education of teachers. The current qualification required for recruitment as primary or middle teachers is considered to be of a poor quality. Secondly the process of teaching within pre‐service institutions is also considered to be of a low standard. At the primary level required teachers’ qualification is matriculation with ‘Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC)’. At the middle level it is Certificate in Teaching (CT) with intermediate. Both PTC and CT are nine months courses with low emphasis on practical training. Generally the quality of these certifications is considered poor. Poor quality of PTC and CT has been highlighted in the National Education Policy 2009, which requires all teachers to be graduates with a degree in 20 USAID and UNESCO 21 “National Standards for Teacher Education Programmes” National Council for Teacher Education (NACTE), August 2009.
39
bachelors of Education (B.Ed) by 2018. It does, however, provide a margin to ‘less developed areas’ to allow ‘Diploma in Education’ as an intermediate arrangement.
Box 4.2 PTC and CT
“Primary school teacher certification programmes are relics of the 19th century normal school model. They neither provide broad general education necessary to foster communication skills, critical thinking and creative instructional leadership nor promote in depth content knowledge of language, arts, mathematical reasoning, social and natural sciences and cultural content. The pedagogical skills taught are also designed to foster rote learning, unquestioning acceptance of textual material and passive preparation for the tests. The entry requirements (matric, FA/FSc) and time on task (12 years (sic)) are not sufficient to prepare quality teachers.” “National Professional Standards for Teachers in Pakistan” Policy and Planning Wing, Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan 2009
Balochistan falls in the category of less developed areas and diploma in education is a recognised qualification. The missing element in policy approach is absence of strategy to transit to graduation with B.Ed and pre‐service teacher training continues to train students in PTC and CT.
There are 30 teacher training institutions in Balochistan of which twenty are in the public sector and the remaining 10 in the private sector. These include 5 female, 6 male and 19 co‐education institutions. The maximum number of institutions is in Quetta which houses 15, Panjgur has 3, Lasbela, Loralai, Pishin and Sibi 2 each and Kalat and Mastung have one institution each. The Government Colleges of Elementary Teachers (GCETs) function under the administrative control of BOC.
Insufficient number of qualified and trained teaching staff, poor quality textbooks and an outdated curriculum are some of the issues that impact quality in these institutions. A 2006 report on teacher education presented the following situation of teacher educators in Pakistan22.
“The various levels of teacher educators themselves are caught in the same cycle of poor teacher quality and delivery. They administer their classes in the traditional teaching style of lecture giving, dictation and notes. Trainers fail to cultivate any creative thinking, inquiry and problem solving among their trainees.”
Additionally, especially, in case of private institutions, credibility has become a major issue as there are allegations of malpractices. Similar perceptions exist about the programme run by Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) through its distant education programme.
The standards prepared by NACTE have not been institutionalized at the provincial level and the system continues to operate without a standards framework. The Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Services (BOC&ES) is the focal point for the Pre‐Step project in Balochistan. Presently the Project team is working towards adoption of teaching standards in the
22 ‘Situation Analysis Of Teacher Education: Towards a Strategic Framework for Teacher Education and Professional Development” UNESCO and USAID: 2006
40
province in consultation with BOC & ES and PPIU. It will take some time as it is a new concept in the present and the BOC will need to build capacity to adopt and monitor standards.
4.1.2.2 In‐Service Teacher Training
Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE) and Bureau of Curriculum and `Extension Services (BOC&ES) are responsible for in service teacher training in the province (BOC also administers pre‐service as mentioned in the previous subsection). In‐service training has primarily been funded and guided by donor support. While the latter has filled in a critical vacuum the lack of government ownership has led to problems of coherence and sustainability. The Education Department does not provide funds for ‘training activities’ of these organisations (only recurrent salary and repairs etc. is provided).
Conducted in the project mode efforts of these programs dilute as the funding period ends. Follow ups are normally absent leading to low long‐term impact. There is no structure (or framework) at the systemic level to gauge the impact of these trainings although individual projects sometimes have post evaluations.
The ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ recommends standards based pre‐service and in‐service teacher education and a baseline study for evaluation of teachers’ competencies. This would form the basis for the professional development programme.
4.1.2.3 Teacher Availability
Teachers’ availability is impacted by a number of factors. Firstly, the deficiency of qualified teachers, especially for girls, impacts girls’ education quality adversely.
A major deficit is of science and mathematics teachers, especially at high school levels. Again girls’ rural schools are the worst affected constraining opportunities for female students. PEACE data for grade 4 shows a lower score for girls in science and mathematics.
Another cause of low teacher availability is absenteeism. The great distances across the province limits the ability of the field staff to monitor effectively while nepotism and corruption further weaken accountability.
Table 4.1 Teachers by Gender, Location and Level
Level Urban Rural Total
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Primary 3950 1513 5463 8575 3843 12418 12525 5356 17881
Middle 2009 1512 3521 4815 2287 7102 6824 3799 10623
High 5157 3328 8485 4750 711 5461 9907 4039 13946
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Higher Secondary
39 0 39 0 0 0 39 0 39
Total 11155 6353 17508 18140 6841 24981 29295 13194 42489
Source: National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) 2009‐10
Most teachers prefer to work in urban centres and there is an imbalance in teacher availability across rural and urban areas. The schools in the latter sometimes have excess teachers.
4.1.3 Policy
National Education Policy 2009 recommends the following under the head of teachers. It
covers aspects of teacher availability, training and qualifications.
1. A Bachelors degree, with a B.Ed., shall be the minimum requirement for teaching at
the elementary level. A Masters level for the secondary and higher secondary, with a
B.Ed., shall be ensured by 2018. PTC and CT shall be phased out through encouraging
the present set of teachers to improve their qualifications, while new hiring shall be
based on the advanced criteria. Exceptions shall be made in case of less developed
areas where teachers with relevant qualifications are not available. Diploma in
Education (D.Ed) may be used as an intermediate qualification till B.Ed teachers are
available universally.
2. Teacher training arrangements, accreditation and certification procedures shall be
standardised and institutionalised.
3. Teacher education curriculum shall be adjusted to the needs of the school curriculum
and scheme of studies. The curriculum shall include training for student‐centred
teaching, cross‐curricular competencies, and an on‐site component.
4. A separate cadre of specialised teacher trainers shall be developed.
5. Governments shall take steps to ensure that teacher recruitment, professional
development, promotions and postings are based on merit alone.
6. All teachers shall have opportunities for professional development through a
programme organized on a three‐year cyclic basis. Progress in career shall be linked
to such professional development.
7. In‐service teachers training in mathematics shall be provided, with due attention to
developing conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, problem solving and
practical reasoning skills.
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8. In‐service teacher training in science shall be based on real life situations, use of
science kits and provision of science kits to all primary and middle schools.
9. Teacher allocation plans, likewise, shall be based on school needs and qualifications
of teachers. Over the next two years, Governments shall develop a rationalised and
need‐ based school allocation of teachers, which should be reviewed and modified
annually.
10. Provincial and Area Administrations shall develop effective accountability
mechanisms, including EMIS data on teacher deployment, to control absenteeism
and multiple job‐ holding,
11. Institutionalised and standardised in‐service teacher training regime shall be
established in those provinces where it has not already been done.
12. In‐service training shall cover a wide range of areas: pedagogy and pedagogical
content knowledge; subject content knowledge; testing and assessment practices;
multi‐grade teaching, monitoring and evaluation; and programmes to cater to
emerging needs like trainings in languages and ICT.
13. Training needs shall be assessed on the basis of research and training programmes.
14. Governments shall take steps to improve social status and morale of teachers. These
include: up‐scaling of teacher salaries as part of establishing a separate teaching
cadre and teaching career; teachers' professional development, and a reward system
based on performance measures.
15. Incentives shall be given to teachers in rural or other hard areas, at least to
compensate for loss in salary through reduction of various allowances given for
urban but not for rural postings.
16. The teaching workforce shall be managed on a truly professional basis, organized as
a specialised function.
17. In‐service teacher training institutions shall emphasise developing the capacity of
teachers and school managers for school development plans, to overcome low
achievement scores.
18. Special short term courses for improvement of language skills for rural area teachers
shall be designed.
19. The voice of teachers associations shall be given due consideration in decisions on
collective issues affecting teachers.
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20. Government shall aim to draw upon resources from the private sector through public‐
private partnerships, especially in the areas of teacher education and professional
development programmes.
21. International Development Partners’ resources shall be harnessed within a broad
national programme of teacher improvement for the country as a whole through
inter‐tier collaboration.
22. Maximum age limit shall be waived off for recruitment of female teachers.
Recommendations of the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ are more or less in line with those of
the NEP 2009. It calls for standards in teacher training and development of ‘continuous
professional development’ programme for in‐service teachers.
4.2 Curriculum and Textbooks
4.2.1 Curriculum
The erstwhile Ministry of Education was responsible for curriculum development and textbooks approval prior to the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The process involved provinces through ‘National Review Committees’ for various curricula. The process adopted by the Ministry was critiqued for absence of standards and non‐transparency. The White Paper on Education 2007, in addition to the aforementioned problems, points to shortage of curriculum specialists and failure to develop a feedback mechanism on curriculum implementation. It also identifies existence of ‘parallel curricula’ in the country as a problem towards long‐term social cohesion. Limited dissemination of curriculum and poor management of ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ linkages were other shortcomings of the system.
The last curriculum review was completed in 2006. It introduced the concept of standards based curriculum where students’ learning outcomes have been defined for each subject. Clear ‘student learning outcomes (SLOs)’ have been provided in the curriculum.
4.2.1.2 Situation in Balochistan
As curriculum devolves to the provincial level there is a perception of inadequate capacity as the federal level undertook the task for almost 35 years. A gap has been created and the BOC, which becomes the natural inheritor of the devolved powers, has not been involved in the function except representing the province in some of the National Review Committees. In any case its current capacity and focus has been poached by the teacher training function.
The new curriculum has only begun being implemented in the provinces in 2010. In Balochistan it has not been implemented at all and current textbooks are based on the 2002 curriculum. The ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ has called for adoption of the 2006 curriculum for implementation in the province in the absence of immediate capacity to develop a new curriculum. Recently the Chief Minister has approved a summary for adoption of Curriculum 2006 in the province The Plan calls for capacity development of BOC to undertake the task for the next review. It also recommends an overall Curriculum Implementation Framework (CIF) where the curriculum is not restricted to development of textbooks and forms the basis for teacher training, teachers’ guides and assessments as well. Under the CIF it is
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envisaged that teaching, teacher training and assessments development will all be guided directly by the curriculum and not through the medium of textbooks alone.
4.2.2 Policy
Curriculum in Pakistan is based on ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’. The ‘taxonomy’ is based on three
domains: cognitive, psychomotor and affective. The cognitive domain is further divided into
various levels from basic knowledge to evaluation the pinnacle of higher level learning. The
curriculum revision process was initiated in 2005 in parallel with the National Education
Policy review. The NEP 2009 adopted some of the concepts introduced in Curriculum 2006.
Additionally it provided some recommendations and the review process itself in terms
transparency and standardisation and adoption of a feedback mechanism. Some of the main
policy options on curriculum provided in NEP 2009 are:
1. Curriculum development shall be objectives driven and outcome based. It shall focus on learning outcomes rather than content. It shall closely reflect important social issues;
2. The curriculum development and review process, as well as textbooks review process, shall be standardised and institutionalised within the framework of the Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Maintenance of Standards of Education Act, 1976.
3. Professional Councils like Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) shall be involved in consultations for relevant curriculum development.
4. Curriculum shall emphasize the fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of Pakistan, so that each individual shall develop within himself/herself and the society at large a civic culture strong enough to withstand any extra constitutional interference, which threatens those rights.
5. Environmental education shall be made an integral part of education.
6. Emerging trends and concepts such as School Health, Prevention Education against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, Life Skills Based Education, Population and Development Education, Human Rights Education including gender equality, School Safety and Disaster and Risk Management, Peace Education and inter‐faith harmony, detection and prevention of child abuse, etc shall be infused in the curricula and awareness and training materials shall be developed for students and teachers in this context, keeping in view cultural values and sensitivities.
7. School Health Education and School Safety shall be infused within the curricula and learning materials with focus on improving school environment, enriching health education content, instituting regular mechanisms for health screening and health services of students and nutritional support to needy children in coordination with the Departments of Health, Environment and Population at the Federal, Provincial and District levels.
8. There shall be an ongoing feedback and evaluation mechanism so that a continuous improvement process is institutionalised. Feedback should flow from the primary
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4.2.3 Textbooks
Balochistan Textbook Board is responsible for development of textbooks for grades 1‐12. Over the years books in the province like the rest of the country have been criticised for poor quality. As the sole learning material available in the classroom its importance cannot be overemphasised. In 2007 a National Textbook Policy was developed through a consultative process among the provinces and the federal government. The policy aims at improving quality of textbooks through introduction of competition in textbook development and removing the monopoly enjoyed by the provincial textbook Boards.
4.2.3.1 Situation in Balochistan
Textbooks available in the province are not considered to be of good pedagogic value. They are written in a dull narrative and do not assist in development of analytical faculties of the students. At primary level local context is missing in both language and content. This makes learning difficult for students, who at this stage cannot be introduced to unfamiliar concepts and language(s), especially, in the very early years. In middle and higher levels the various technical books on science and mathematics do not explain concepts clearly and students resort to rote learning. Horizontal and vertical management of the syllabus also appears to be missing as some books are more detailed than others and consume extra time and effort.
4.2.3.2 Policy
Textbooks, even before the 18th Amendment, were prepared at the provincial level by the provincial textbook boards. The Federal Ministry of Education issued the final clearance before the provincially prepared books could be officially taught in schools. In 2007, the National Textbooks Policy (NTP) was approved through consultations among provinces and the federal government. The Policy shifted the function of textbooks to the private sector and reviewed the role of the textbook boards as regulators.
The Policy also recommends formation of resource centres within textbook boards to be used as a reference and capacity development areas for the benefit of both the government and the private sector.
Sindh, Punjab and Khyberpakhtoonkhwa have already started implementation of NTP for Phase I of ‘Curriculum 2006’. Balochistan has so far not operationalised the policy. A ‘Resource Centre’ has been established in the Balochistan Textbook Board with the assistance of German International Cooperation (GIZ).
Recommendations on textbooks in NEP subsumed the NTP 2007 concepts and recommendations. Some of the main recommendations are:
1. A well regulated system of competitive publishing of textbooks and learning materials shall be introduced.
2. Textbook Boards shall be transformed into competent facilitating, regulating and monitoring authorities. The Boards shall review and support the process of approval of textbooks for use in schools in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
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3. A Provincial /Area Committee comprising representatives of the education authorities, Textbook Boards, the private sector, teachers and other stakeholders shall be formed to select and prescribe textbooks for use in public schools in the respective province or areas of jurisdiction. Private sector schools shall be free to choose any of the books authorised by the respective Textbook Board.
4. Federal and Provincial Governments shall arrange for the Textbook Boards to provide assistance in capacity development for the national and/or provincial publishing industry to become competitive players in an expanded education publishing market.
5. Textbooks at primary level shall be developed within the context of local cultures.
6. Special textbooks shall be prepared to cater to multi‐grade environments. Alternately, supplementary reading material that helps self‐learning must be developed for such environments.
7. Curriculum Wing of Ministry of Education and provincial textbook boards shall ensure elimination of all types of gender biases from textbooks. Also adequate representation of females shall be ensured in all curriculum and textbooks review committees.
The ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ also calls for adoption of NTP 2007. This will again require time and therefore the Plan recommends adoption of books prepared in other provinces in the first phase. At present neither the private sector in the province, nor the Textbook Board, have the capacity to develop textbooks for the standards based 2006 curriculum. The Action Plan, therefore, calls for capacity development of both the private publishers to improve domestic authorship and industry as well as the capacity of the Textbook board as a regulator of textbook quality. It also calls for defining standards for textbook preparation and evaluation. Recently the Chief Minister has approved adoption of NTP 2007 in the Balochistan. This will be a challenge as the province has a very limited publishing capacity in the private sector. However the CIF in the ‘Action Plan’ includes development of publishing capacity in the private sector as an important recommendation.
4.3 Assessments
Historically assessment has been a neglected area in Pakistan in general and Balochistan in particular. ‘White Paper on Education’ published by the erstwhile federal Ministry of Education considers the quality of assessment as poor and recommends standards for examination boards and training of examiners. NEP 2009 also focuses on standards as a critical factor and recommends the setting up of standards for assessments.
“Assessment system currently suffers from several deficiencies in promoting quality education. The one with more sinister outcomes is the practice of rote learning which stops the mental growth of the child and blocks innovative learning.”
An important intervention in assessment in the country has been the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) and its provincial component the Provincial Education Assessment Centre. PEACE conducts a sample‐based assessment for grades 4 and 8, every 2 years. Its last assessment covered languages, mathematics, science and social studies. The primary purpose of PEACE is to inform policy and planning on shortcomings in qualitative
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aspects of education at a systemic level. Unfortunately the system has failed to benefit from the various reports prepared by NEMIS and its provincial branches.
4.3.2 Situation in Balochistan
Most teachers are not trained in assessments and cannot develop tests or evaluation approaches that test a student’s analytical ability. Like other quality inputs, assessments induce rote memorization, whether conducted within schools or by the external body: The Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BBISE).
As the only Board for such a large geographic area with poor communications structures the BBISE has to face a number of impediments in conducting examinations. The government has agreed to add two more Boards to ease some of the administrative pressures.
Box 4.2 Assessment Quality in Pakistan “Neither the traditional school examination nor the external public examinations administered for certification purposes, nor the selection tests for admission to institutions of higher education, sufficiently fulfil the criteria for standardization and comparability required for a monitoring indicator”
National Education Assessment Report 2005; Ministry of Education
Qualitatively the examination system of the BISE does not follow any prescribed standards for either papers or paper setters. No certification is required to prepare papers for the Board examinations. Examinations also suffer from an endemic cheating culture.
The provincial equivalent of NEMIS is the ‘Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEACE). Its tests are prepared on international standards for assessments. It not only reports on scores but also links learning outcomes to teaching learning practices in schools. The reports are disseminated but unfortunately they have not been taken up by the system and there is no mechanism to integrate its results into educational planning, implementation and accountability.
The “Balochistan Action Plan” calls for review of the existing education standards for the BISE and introduce certification of examiners. It also recommends training of teachers on assessments.
4.3.2 Policy
1. Education system needs to be internationally competitive and Pakistan shall make efforts to offer itself for international level academic assessments by 2015, participating in mathematics and science assessment conducted under the umbrella of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
2. Student performance shall be based on assessing competence in a specialised area that requires a given skill set. There shall be periodic reviews of the assessment system.
3. Multiple assessment tools in addition to traditional examinations shall be explored, to ensure the right balance between the uses of formative assessment approaches combined with the summative approach of high‐stakes examinations.
4. National standards shall be developed to reduce the differences in quality across regions. Assessment processes shall be standardised to become uniform across the
48
Boards over time, so that students appearing in examinations under different Boards are assessed against standardized benchmarks.
5. Examination systems shall be standardised to reduce differentials across students appearing in different boards of examinations, either through gradual reduction of the number of boards or any other mechanism deemed workable by the province/area government.
6. The Examination boards shall be responsible for capacity building of paper setters and examiners.
7. A comprehensive plan shall be prepared to eliminate cheating and use of other unfair means from examinations including addressing social attitudes towards the issue.
8. A quality cycle management shall link the various systems of assessment and institutions involved in assessment (examinations, NEAS/ PEACE, continuous assessment) to provide feedback to curriculum development, textbooks development and teacher education and professional development.
4.4 School Environment
School environment is defined by the physical facilities available as well as the general learning culture in the institution.
4.4.2 Situation in Balochistan
Balochistan has serious deficits in facilities. Table 6.1 depicts the situation. The table shows the number and percentage of public schools where the facilities, shown in the first column, are missing. Internally the school culture is coercive and hierarchical. Discipline in the classroom has higher premium than quality teaching. Questions and participative learning is discouraged. Corporal punishment is used as an instrument of coercion which suppresses the learning process. According to PEACE 2006 report children who faced a lower incidence of corporal punishment had better scores.
Table 4.2 Missing Basic Facilities in Government Primary Schools
Boys Schools Girls Schools
Drinking Water
7,020 90% 2,379 84%
Electricity 6,793 88% 2,285 80%
Toilet 6,505 84% 1,380 48%
Boundary Wall
6,102 79% 1,212 43%
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Building 582 7% 270 9%
Source: Provincial EFA Plan 2011
Problems of poor facilities, in terms of inappropriate school sizes and absence of playgrounds also exists in many private schools. However, they do provide some of the basic amenities like water, toilet etc. Corporal punishment and a coercive class culture appear to be more universal. The latter includes both, most non‐elite private schools and madrassas.
Multigrade teaching prevails in many primary schools. The situation is worsened by the fact that teachers are not trained to manage such classes nor are they provided specialized material for the purpose.
Important concomitant factors for learning are libraries and laboratories. These also suffer from policy inertia. Libraries only exist in some high schools and are not utilized as there is no procedure to ensure that students use them as extensions of their learning process. A culture of using learning materials other than textbooks does not exist. Similarly laboratories are underutilized either due to absence of technical experts or paucity of funds to replenish material.
4.4.1 Policy
According to National Education Policy 2009;
1. A framework setting out the basic standards for school facilities and teaching aid materials including playground shall be established by 2012 and shall form the basis for allocation of funds.
2. Federal government shall provide necessary resources to less developed areas for provision of missing basic facilities in all education institutions.
3. A concept of service to the society shall be introduced.
4. Student‐teacher ratios shall be standardized and enforced at school level
5. Multi‐grade teaching shall be eliminated by recruiting need based teachers and simultaneously providing training to in‐service teachers on multi‐grade methodologies till removal of teachers’ shortage in the system.
6. An awareness campaign against corporal punishment shall be initiated and teachers shall be held accountable for violations.
4.5 Quality in Other School Types
There are multiple categories of private schools and it is difficult to conclude about general trends in quality. Broadly the schools are divided into the elite schools, which are a very small number, mostly in Quetta city, and what are known as ‘the average private school’. The former normally have foreign certification, while the latter follows the local curriculum.
Private sector’s rise is indicative of erosion of confidence in public sector schools. There has only been one study on relative educational outcomes of public versus private schools,
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which was for the Punjab and not Balochistan23. The study reveals relatively better ability of students in private schools. It also argues on parental choice being indicative of better quality. While they may be relatively better than the public schools (on average) the teaching learning process remains similar and rote learning is the outcome in the classroom. These schools may still not be meeting standards required for students for upwards social mobility. In the absence of state defined standards and regulation outcomes remain uncertain.
Elite private schools catering to foreign certification have a different approach and analytical critical thinking is invoked. Students from these institutions are expected to occupy white collar jobs and high paying professions. Among the public sector institutions the ‘Cadet Colleges’ and the ‘Residential Colleges’ under the Higher Education Department are perceived to provide better quality. These colleges start at grade 6 and already student intake has been filtered to include generally bright students. Nevertheless these are among the few institutions in the province where people have greater confidence in the quality of education being imparted.
Madrassa education also emphasises rote learning but there is also training in rhetoric and logic at higher levels. The public, private elite and madrassas follow completely different curricula and assessed by very different types of examinations. This leads to potentially different outcomes for each type in terms of opportunities and the ‘affective domain’ that determines learners’ outlook on life. 24.
Traditionally national policies have, since 1947, focused on ‘madrassa mainstreaming’ to provide incentives to children from madrassas to study science, mathematics and English. The policy expected that this would improve their chances of employment beyond the traditional market for madrassa graduates. There is no evidence of the policies being successful. NEP 2009 has also provided a similar option:
“Deeni Madaris shall be mainstreamed by introducing contemporary studies alongside the curricula of Deeni Madaris to enhance prospects of their students to pursue higher studies, research and excellence and to ensure employment, recognition and equivalence.”
The policy further calls for setting of a Madrassa Development Authority at the federal level to undertake this policy task and assisting madrassa students in improvement their chances of employment in more diverse sectors.
4.5.1 Relevance in School Education
As already discussed chapter on ‘Access’, relevance of school education to the real world remains an ignored, or at best, weakly managed area. There is a missing critical link between education and the world of work (In terms of “affective domain” the issue has already been discussed above). While it drives away a lot of students from the secondary level because no major skills are provided part of the problem in poor outcomes in employment emerge from the ‘soft skill’ developed’ throughout the school years. Weak analytical ability (problem solving, self learning etc.) limits the students’ capacity to succeed in the real world situation.
23 ‘Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjab Schools (Leaps)” Andrabi et al 2007 24 ‘Denizens of Alien Worlds’ Rehman, Tariq 2005
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An important factor in social mobility and access to more ‘prestigious’ jobs is proficiency in English language. The problem has been recognized in NEP 2009 which calls for teaching English from grade 1 (in line with curriculum 2006). The policy has not necessarily help as students neither learn English nor develop relevant cognitive ability. The whole school language area requires more research before an effective policy can be developed. It is in this context that the NEP 2009 calls for a ‘study on school language policy’. The policy also calls for introduction of ‘career guidance and counselling’ of students at the secondary and higher secondary levels.
4.5.2 Quality and Management
Over the years many good programmes have been introduced in Balochistan but the impact has been either not sustained at all or diluted due to governance and management issues and structures. Some of the critical issues in governance that impact quality are:
4.5.2.1 Input Based approach
Education management is primarily focused on ‘inputs’ like additional teachers, schools and facilities. While these are critical the education department has not been able to create output based standard except, a few, for access related indicators. BEMIS does not produce critical education indicators on regular basis. Even where it has generated these indicators they are not utilized for decision‐making. Another set of output‐based indicators consist of the ‘learning outcomes’ assessed and disseminated by the Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEACE). These are also ignored in planning and policy development.
4.5.2.2 No linkages across various organisations
As per the structure of the School Education Department the Directorate of Schools is the custodian of overall management of education delivery in schools and the critical factors of quality, access, equity and relevance. Services, as inputs, are provided by the Textbook Board, BISE, PITE and BOC. There are very weak links between Directorate and these organisations and many a times conflict arises in issues like teacher training as the teacher training organisations initiate programmes without involvement of the Directorate.
4.5.2.3 Paucity of Experts
The department of education and its affiliates have a shortage of experts in various areas of education. These include education planning, textbooks and curriculum development and even examinations. The deficiency is in addition to teachers quality already discussed. 'Quality specialists' remains an essential need.
4.5.2.4 Management Capacity
Until recently teachers were posted as education managers and then reverted to teaching on transfer. This has been considered a poor policy in other provinces and KP and Punjab have developed separate management cadres. A new management cadre has been established now which would be trained and function only at management positions. One caveat will remain despite this separation. Most managers, irrespective of the background,
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are focused on administrative matters only and the more technical factors of quality education are either not understood or remain ignored because of their involvement in meeting political and other demands.
4.5.2.5 Sustainability
Sustainability of reforms has been an issue in Balochistan because of lack of coordination of donor interventions, week ownership of the government and loss of programme at the end of project life. Even within the Education Department no single body had an idea of the reforms in its various parts. In 2010 the Department of Education created the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit with the mandate to coordinate donor activity, identify reform needs in consultation with other organisations in the department and develop a sector plan for the province. PPIU has made some important strides but needs capacity strengthening to ensure that it functions as an effective reform coordination body.
4.5.2.6 Meritocracy
Politicisation of recruitment and transfer and postings has had a pernicious impact on quality of governance in the province. Teachers association are an important conduit for political intervention in the department. There is no security of tenure for education managers to buffer them against unjustified political pressures.
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Chapter5:TertiaryEducation
Tertiary education in Balochistan consists of Colleges under the Department of Higher Education, the universities which primarily hold post‐graduate classes and degrees and technical and vocational education (TVET) institutions. TVET institutions are distributed among four departments: Higher Education, Labour, Social Welfare and Industries. This chapter discusses college and university sector collectively as higher education while TVET has been treated as a separate sub‐sector.
5.1 Higher Education
Higher Education consists of undergraduate and post graduate degree programmes taught in colleges and universities in Balochistan. The Directorate of Higher Education administratively runs colleges and is responsible for physical and human resources employed. The Directorate works under the recently created Higher Education Department25. Academically the public sector colleges are affiliated with the University of Balochistan, which prescribes the curriculum, conducts examinations and awards degrees.
All degree colleges also run intermediate classes while a separate set of colleges known as ‘intermediate colleges also exist. These colleges run intermediate classes where the Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BBISE) acts as the external examination body. Strictly speaking this should be treated as part of school as recommended by a number of policies in the past.
The 7 universities in the province function autonomously with the Governor as the Chancellor in case of public sector universities. Higher Education Commission guides policies in these institutions through implementation of its plans and standards. While the HEC has no direct administrative control on the universities it provides the bulk of finances and has linked the grant in aid to implementation of its prescribed standards. Public sector universities also receive grant in aid from the provincial governments. HEC prescribed curricula for the various subjects until devolution under the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The situation remains unclear for now (discussed later). In addition to regular classes and research for PhD degrees, professional colleges are also affiliated with the University of Balochistan.
5.1.1 Policy
The HEC formed in 2001 has initiated critical reforms in the sector26. These reforms are focused on increased access to higher education and quality in universities. The latter included faculty development and research capability. The Commission has facilitated charter of many new universities in the country which has allowed access to higher education to a larger number of students.
25 Higher Education Directorate was part of the Education Department which has now been bifurcated into two different departments one managing schools and the other higher education. 26 NEP 2009’s policy provisions on higher education are based on HEC’s MTDF 2005.
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HEC offers funding for faculty to improve their qualifications through opportunities to obtain doctorates from international and national universities. At present about 25 teachers of the University of Balochistan are engaged in doctoral studies outside the country. The second critical reform has been introduction of the ‘tenure track’ system for faculty. Under the system performance, as measured in terms of research work of quality, is rewarded with the ‘tenure track’ that provides higher competitive salaries.
Research capacity has been focused as a cornerstone of the reform process. Universities are ranked by HEC on the basis of publications in international peer reviewed journals. Number of PhD scholars has also been increased. To ensure quality HEC stipulates subject Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for all PhD candidates. Where subject GRE is not available HEC conducts its own Graduate Admission Test (GAT). Also all PhD theses need at least two foreign reviewers who have a good standing in the field. The Commission has also invested in latest laboratory equipment and free access to digital libraries for all universities.
HEC have also developed curricula for 4 year bachelor’s programmes for many subjects. These have been developed through committees consisting of university professors from the country and also, in many cases, individuals from the market. Finally universities have developed Quality Enhancement Cells (QEC) as required by HEC. The QECs function as internal quality audit and guidance bodies.
HEC’s formation has been a landmark in Pakistan’s higher education and a new life has been infused in the sector after years of inertia, and probably, decay. However, the reforms process has some gaps:
i. The reforms do not focus college education, which accounts for a large share of higher education enrolment.
ii. ‘Output factors’ like learning outcomes and employability have not been focused in the reforms.
iii. Research has not been linked to the ‘local’ market even though the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2005 for higher education does reflect the need for local research. The approach is supply driven and not integrated into the market’s needs.
Policy at the provincial level has been inert over the last many years. No major reforms have been introduced either in the academic or governance areas. Resultantly colleges continue to remain divorced of the benefits of HEC’s work or any other policy driven reforms.
5.1.2 Access and Equity
Access to university or tertiary education cannot be claimed as a fundamental right but one
that needs to be earned with merit27. Access and equity in higher education focus on
providing increased opportunities to all. Over the last ten years Balochistan has seen an
27 “The State shall…..make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of merit;” Article 37c of the Constitution of Pakistan.
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expansion in these opportunities through establishment of new universities. Balohistan’s
GER for higher education is 2.3 as compared to 6 for Punjab and Sindh28.
University of Balochistan (UOB) was established as the first university in the province in 1970. Before UOB’s establishment graduate studies were affiliated with the University of the Punjab. Presently there are 7 universities operating in the province.
Table 5.1 Universities in Balochistan
Institution Year Established Ownership Location
University of Balochistan 1970 Public Quetta
Khuzdar Engineering University
1994 Public Khuzdar
Iqra University 2002 Private Quetta
Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences
2002 Private Quetta
Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University
2004 Public Quetta
Lasbela University 2008 Public Lasbela
National University of Modern Languages
2006 Public Quetta
Until 2002 the province had only two universities where Khuzdar Engineering University was formed when the engineering college was given the requisite status. Practically it did not add to access opportunities. The remaining five universities have entered Balochistan after 2002. These include a campus of the Islamabad based National University of Modern Languages (NUML) in Quetta.
Table 5.2: Enrolment in 3 Major Universities
Gender wise Enrolment University
Name Male Female
Total Enrolment 2010‐
11
University 4433 1200 5633
28 “Tertiary Education Support Project” Project Appraisal Document, World Bank 2011
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of
Balochistan
(UoB)
BUITEMS 4005 659 4664
Sardar
Bahadur
Khan
Women
University
(SBKWU)
0 1734 1734
8438 3593 12031
Percentage 70% 30%
An important addition has been the first women university of the province, the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University. It conducts both undergraduate and post‐graduate classes. In culturally conservative province it provides additional opportunities to girls to access higher education. In addition to the above Allama Iqbal Open University’s distant learning programme also extends to Balochistan. A number of professional institutions are affiliated with the University of Balochistan. These include Bolan Medical College, law College, agriculture college and Pearl Institute of Information Technology and Management Sciences.
Five out of the seven institutions are located in Quetta. In a geographically large province with scattered population and poor communications networks the excessive focus in Quetta limits accessibility for many students, especially, females. The University of Balochistan has recently opened a campus in Loralai.
There are 101 colleges under the provincial Higher Education Department. These include
inter colleges as well as graduate colleges. There 62 intermediate and35 degree colleges in
the province. Intermediate colleges conduct higher secondary classes only while degree
colleges have both intermediate and degree classes.
Table 5.3: Colleges and Enrolment in Balochistan
Boys Girls Total Boys Total
Boys Inter 6375 1225 7600 40 62
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Girls Inter 0 3028 3028 22
Boys Colleges 23810 2121 25931 24
Girls College 0 12340 12340 11 35
Commerce College 705 0 705 1 1
Polytechnic Boys 1047 0 1047 1 1
Polytechnic Girls 0 191 191 1 1
Physical Education 48 31 79 1 1
Grand Total 31985 18936 50921 101
Percentage 63% 37%
Source: Higher Education Department, Government of Balochistan
Current enrolment is 50, 921 (including one commerce and two polytechnic and one
commerce college). Total enrolment in degree colleges is 38,271 with 23810 boys and 14461
girls i.e. about 37% of the total enrolment is female. This is consistent with the overall
gender trend. The table does not include enrolment in private colleges as the data is not
collected and therefore no secondary information is available.
5.1.3 Quality
Poor quality of higher education and resultantly poor outcomes in terms of quality (Box 5.1).
The low quality is partly attributable to weaknesses inherited from the school system.
Students do not develop either the cognitive ability needed to pursue higher education nor
proficiency in the English language required for most subjects in tertiary education.
However, again, due to interventions by the HEC there have been improvements at the
university level but these improvements are only relative to the colleges. However, if the
reforms continue further improvement is imperative.
Qualitatively University of Balochistan has been ranked at 25 out of 97 public sector universities in the country29. However the ranking is essentially based on publications in peer reviewed and internationally recognized journals. Students learning outcomes and employment have not been a factor in the assessment. In the absence of any baseline study it is difficult to evaluate accurately the impact of the Commission’s work in Balochistan.
29 HEC ranking 2010.
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Box 5.1 Quality of Higher Education in Balochistan
According to the Annual Report of the Balochistan Public Service Commission: “With each passing year, a sharp decline in the level of candidates indicates that despite their scores in the higher educational institutions, they suffer from a shallow academic standing. Therefore, immediate and focused attention is required to ameliorate the grave situation”1 The quality of higher education graduates cannot be attributed to the higher education sector alone as weak school education can be difficult to remedy at the tertiary level.
Introduction of tenure track and improvements in qualification of staff is expected to improve quality of classroom teaching and learning as well as research capacity. Also a teacher training centre has been set up in the University of Balochistan.
A critical weakness has been examinations as most teachers even at the university level have little understanding of quality assessments. Secondly prevalence of political pressures and cheating in examinations has been a factor in some of the universities. It has been one of the reasons for the University of Balochistan to convert from semester system with internal assessments back to annual examinations conducted centrally.
The current College environment does not support implementation of a good quality undergraduate programme. Firstly the Bachelor’s programme in colleges runs the two‐year curriculum. Government of Balochistan has expressed its inability to bear the expenditure on transition to HEC’s four year curriculum30. Secondly teachers do not have the qualification needed to run a good quality bachelor’s programme. There are barely any PhDs in the faculty and nobody with research experience. The college appears as simply an extension of school and not an institution for higher education.
Poor discipline perpetuated by politicization of college campuses further dents the quality of teaching and learning. Examinations quality also remains of a poor quality with similar problems to the assessments conducted by the BISE. Papers do not evaluate conceptual comprehension of subjects and favour rote learning.
Government of Balochistan has set up the Balochistan Academy for College Teachers (BACT) for training of newly appointed lecturers in colleges. BACT has so far not trained any batch and its first assignment was training of teachers for the Aghaz e Haqooq e Balochistan package.
The intermediate class in colleges has been opposed in many policy documents in Pakistan. Twelve years for schooling have been advocated but Balochistan’s intermediate classes are all held in Colleges, barring one Higher Secondary School in Panjgur. According to NEP 2009:
“Grades XI and XII shall not be part of the college level and shall be merged with the school level, forming part of existing secondary schools where needed and provision of necessary human and physical resources shall be ensured. This exercise shall be undertaken after a detailed study of the failures of similar previous efforts.”
30 Minutes of the 7th Meeting of the Steering Committee of Provincial Education Secretaries, February 2008.
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The intermediate level has the same set of qualitative issues as the school system as students appear for examinations conducted by the BISE and books prepared by the Balochistan Textbook Board.
5.1.4 Research
Research capacity of a university defines its contribution to knowledge growth and subsequently economic growth and development. The ability of an institution of higher education to change the frontiers of knowledge makes it a dynamic living structure. Globally a huge gap exists between universities in the developed countries and the developing world. More than 80% of cutting edge research is conducted in the former31. Even with improvements it will remain extremely difficult for the developing country universities to catch up.
University of Balochistan is the premier university for research in the province. It has been rated at the 25th position in public sector universities in the country. HEC supported reforms have helped the university in improved capacity as the number of published research articles has gone and up, so has the number of PhD qualified teachers. Currently 25 teachers are studying for PhD abroad.
The main deficiency has been non‐linkage with local industry. While it will be difficult for universities in Balochistan to compete even nationally in the short run it can develop its research niche within the province on areas and issues not focused by national and international research. Currently this is not being pursued at a systemic level and remains a key deficit in the research policy.
5.1.5 Relevance
Employment outcomes for students remain poor. In response to a recent advertisement under the Aghaz I Haqooq I Balochistan package 38,000 applicants applied for 5,000 positions. These included over 250 doctors and about the same number of engineers and MBAs. Poor employment outcomes result from;
1. Weak planning vis‐à‐vis employment opportunities and lack of information with parents and students. Normally a specific field becomes the ‘fad’ and most candidates aspire to join the field. BUITEMS was formed initially as an IT university and now includes other faculties as IT candidates began to glut the market and opportunities reduced.
2. Universities have no linkages with the market and employers. With few exceptions internship programmes or equivalent have not been instituted. The main industrial area of Lasbela normally recruits graduates from Karachi, Sindh.
3. Weak or no career counseling for students. Most students normally aspire to work close to home and have little idea of opportunities beyond Balochistan both nationally and internationally32.
31 “Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise” World Bank/UNESCO 2000. 32 This was the view of participants in ‘Workshop on Higher Education’ held by UNESCO for its ‘Situation Analysis for Sector Planning in Balochistan’.
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Weak linkages with outcomes have been a clear deficit in education policies in general and even the HEC’s reform has not focused sufficiently on this aspect. Universities do not have linkages with potential employers and normally do not trace the career paths of their graduates. As already mentioned HEC has modified its university evaluation criteria to add the employment of graduates as a factor in assessment.
Similar to universities students in colleges have little or no idea of the market opportunities and subjects are selected either on the basis of the ‘general trend or whatever is available as per merit. Career counseling or information on market trends is not available to the students.
5.1.6 Governance Higher education sector is smaller as compared to the school sector and therefore the issue
of scale is less pronounced. However, it has its own set of problems that include poor
coordination across organisations, politicisation of campuses and teaching staff and
shortage of funds to ensure quality, especially, at the college level. Finally the 18th
Constitutional Amendment impacts higher education differently as compared to the school
level.
5.1.5 Coordination
Higher education governance presents a set of complex organisational set up. Universities
are autonomous with the Higher Education Commission guiding standards and providing
curricula. Colleges are administratively under the provincial government through the Higher
Education Deportment, but for the qualitative factors the university provides the curricula
and conducts examinations in case of degree level and the Education Department for
textbooks (and after the 18th amendment also curriculum). There are some linkages across
the organisations but these are restricted to specific activities. For example the Higher
Education Department is represented in the University of Balochistan’s Board of Studies
that selects textbooks but there is no regular feedback mechanism between the two in the
form of an ongoing process. Similarly the Department is yet to establish stronger linkages
and formal systems for involvement in the work of the Textbook Board and the Bureau of
Curriculum.
5.1.6 Absence of a Regular Database
Like the rest of the country the sector lacks a ‘Higher Education Management Information
System’ 33. Unlike the school sector where a BEMIS has existed for over 20 years there is no
regular data collection system in the higher education sector in the province. This depicts a
management structure that has a low demand for data despite the complex nature of the
sector.
33 “Tertiary Education Support Project” Project Appraisal Document, World Bank 2011
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5.1.7 Politicisation and Violence
Linkages of student politics with mainstream political parties have distorted the objectives of representative student bodies in campuses. While unions are banned political groups continue to be active on campuses, which impacts both discipline and merit. Violence from students groups remains a perpetual threat in public sector universities which has resulted in universities making elaborate security arrangements.
A more recent phenomenon has been ‘target killing’ of professors. None of these killings have been on campus and nor do they appear to be undertaken for a singular reason. However, these killings have created an environment of fear among the academic community in the province.
5.1.8 Financial Situation
Universities in Balochistan meet part of their financial obligations from students and examination fees. Other sources include provincial grant in aid and grants received from the Higher Education Commission.
Table 5.4 Sources of University Budgets (Rs million)
University of Balochistan (UoB)
Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University (SBKWU)
Annual Budget from HEC 544.568 90.015
Tenure Track from HEC 22.449 0
University own resources
120 12.582
Annual Grants from Provincial Government
220 70
Pledge from Chief Minister
10 0
Scholar Ship schemes 2.5 2
Total 919.517 174.597
Percentage of HEC HEC Contribution
61.66% 51.56%
Source: University of Balochistan and Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University34
34 Own sources include tuition fees, registration, examination, Laboratory, Library &sports receipts.
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Table 5.2 gives the share of HEC in total budget for 2010‐11 for two universities: University of Balochistan and the Sardar Bahadar Khan Women University. The shares are 61% and 51% respectively. University of Balochistan was originally allocated about 878 million but it was slashed to 544 after cuts in HEC’s own budget.
At the college level the recurrent budget, similar to school education, primarily consists of salaries. This is detrimental to provision of quality education as replenishment of laboratories and upgradation of libraries requires even more resources at the college level. Development funds are also limited and with no donor interest in College education it does not have any ongoing foreign funded project.
The main financial problem of the higher education sector (both college and university) is an exponential growth in expenditure needs as the quality improves. In addition to the laboratories and libraries funds are needed for continued professional development of teachers, meeting the salary brackets for quality staff and research. Most universities in the world do not relay on state funds alone and other sources are always explored35. At present such a concept does not appear an option in Balochistan in the near future.
5.1.9 Post 18th Amendment Situation
Unlike school education the 18th Constitutional Amendment did not eliminate federal role in higher education completely. The subject of ‘Standards in institutions of Higher Education’ has been retained at the Federal level and the relevant entry in Part II of the Federal Legislative36 List reads as follows:
“Standards in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical institutions.”
The implications of the change remain unclear as curriculum does not have a mention in the above entry. Secondly there has been a difference of opinion between the ‘Implementation Committee for the 18th Amendment’ and the Higher Education Commission on the latter’s role under the new Constitutional design. The matter currently remains sub judice.
5.1.10 Private Sector in Higher Education
There has been an increase in higher education institutions in the private sector. According the National Education Census there were 8 Intermediate and degree colleges in the private sector in the province but there was no university in the sector. Currently there are 13 private sector institutions in teacher education alone while data for other sectors is not available. Two private sector universities have also been established as shown in Table 5.1. Most private sector institutions in the province are in Quetta.
35 “with the exception of the Scandinavian economies which have very high taxation levels, few countries in the world have been able to significantly expand their higher education system, while at the same time improving its quality, without requiring a growing financial contribution to the cost of studies from students and their families.” Malaysia and the Knowledge Economy: Building a World-class Higher Education System; World Bank (2007). 36 Matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List fall within the jurisdiction of the Federal government but needs consultations with the provinces through the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
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5.2 Technical and Vocational Education and Training
TVET has been a weak sector in Pakistan in general and Balochistan in particular. A low
industrial base and low tech mining in most areas reduces opportunities for skilled
personnel while at the same time low productivity of labour prevents quality of mining and
other skilled work. Organisationally it is divide among four departments which has been a
major obstacle to its effectiveness.
Technical and vocational education got on track as a separate tributary in early 60s in
Quetta. In 1962 the sole Polytechnic Institute for Boys at Quetta offered DAE in civil
technology only, four more technologies were added in 1991. The institute was raised to
the level of College of Technology in 2001 and three more technologies were further added
under the ADB (Asian Development Bank) assisted technical education project.
In 2006 Balochistan TEVTA was set up with a mandate to have all organisations under the
authority. It could not, however, materialize and it ended up with the task of coordination.
Effectively the coordination process is dormant.
5.2.1 Situation in Balochistan
Four different departments manage their respective sets of TVET institutions. These include:
a) The Labour and Manpower Department
b) The Education Department
c) The Industries and Commerce Department and
d) The Social Welfare and Women Development Department
Among them there are 102 institutions in the province (Table5.4).
Table 5.5TVET Institutions in Balochistan
Allied TVET
Departments
Institutions Number Capacity/Enrolment
Education
Department
1.Poly technic
2.Mono technic
3.Poly technic (to be
functional in 2011)
02 (1Male,1
Female)
01 (male)
04 (3 M,1 F)
418
Industries
Department
Vocational
Centres/Embroidery &
Carpet weaving
41 850
64
Labour and
Manpower
Department
Technical / Vocational
Training Centres
24 1740
Social
Welfare
Department
Vocational / Rehabilitation
Centres through Zakat
Funds
30 870
Total 102 3878
Source(s): Relevant Provincial Departments
The division of the sector into four organisations leads to lack of coordination in development. In 2006, Balochistan Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (BTEVTA) was formed. The Authority was expected to take control of all institutions. This did not materialize and Secretary Labour designated as ex officio chairman of BTEVTA was given the task of coordination. Recently a law has been promulgated by the provincial assembly to provide a legal framework to arrangement as the original BTEVTA had been formed through an ordinance that expired.
In addition to the four departments included in BTEVTA specialized vocational and technical training is also provided by organisations and projects under the departments of ‘Livestock’, Fisheries, Health and Minerals. These remain outside the BTEVTA’s purview. Overall there is no coordinated planning and implementation even across the four departments that form Authority.
The most critical problem of the sector is the failure of its graduates to obtain relevant employment in the market. While no tracking system exists and also a tracer study has never been conducted most key informants met were of the view that most graduates of the system do not find the right employment. This was corroborated in the interview with members of business community who showed little faith in the quality of the public sector TVET system in the province. ‘Employment Exchanges’ that were developed to facilitate qualified persons in job search have become redundant as employers do not use them for head hunting.
Inability of the system to generate employment for their graduates stems from two critical factors: slow economic growth rate and absence of linkages between supply and the demand in the market. Most instructors never get back into the market after being employed by the government. They have little idea of the changes in their respective sectors. Most equipment in technical streams is outdated with some as old as 30 years. Even the curriculum has not been revised for years. For vocations being run by the Department of Labour it was last revised in the early 1990s. There has, not only, never been a tracer study but also no comprehensive market analysis has ever been conducted. The system remains completely supply driven.
Similar to other educational streams, salaries form 90% of recurrent financial allocations to the sector. This does not cover the costs of replenishment and up‐gradation of equipment and material for most streams. Most major development expenditure has been through foreign funded projects. These have not been as easily available as the school sector.
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Balochistan Province is more or less half of the country in terms of landmass. There are two Polytechnic and eleven Technical and Vocational Training centres in the Province of over 7 million people. The two Polytechnic Institutes are located in Quetta and the seventeen vocational training centres are in major districts. Students from all 30 districts across Balochistan come over to these two institutions in which quota are fixed for districts, the number normally is 5 seats per district which is very low as compared to the number of people and secondary school graduates who opt for technical education. The foundation stone of Government Polytechnic Institute for Women was laid in 1996 and became functional in 2002.The Government Polytechnic Institute for Women Quetta is offering DAE in four disciplines:
Fashion Designing and Dress Making Information Technology/ Computer Sciences Electronics Office Management and Secretarial Practices
There is an urban bias in the vocations offered to women and many of these skills remain unutilized outside Quetta.
5.2.2 Policy
National Education Policy 2009 provides the following recommendations for TVE sector.
1. Inputs of all stakeholders like Industrial/Agricultural/Service sectors etc. shall be
institutionalized to ensure their inclusion in all current and future reforms of TVE to
enable the sector to meet market needs.
2. Skills Standards and Curriculum should be developed and standardized at the
national level.
3. The TVE curriculum shall be developed in standardized modules for each trade to
eliminate differentials across various training institutions to provide opportunities to
the trainees for horizontal/vertical mobility and also help in assessment and
certification of apprentices in non‐formal sectors for their entry into formal
vocational/technical sectors.
4. TVE shall be extended according to the need of the area i.e. Tehsil, District and
Division.
5. Skills‐based vocational training courses, relevant to the local labour market, shall be
offered to the graduates of literacy programmes by the National Education
Foundation, provincial/ area literacy department/ directorate and relevant NGOs.
6. Level‐wise prerequisites for entry as a teacher in TVE shall be defined and Teacher
professional development shall be focused as an ongoing process.
7. Terms and conditions of service for TVE teachers shall be compatible with market
demand of their services and skills.
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8. Local conditions and requirements must be considered while making any
recommendation for replication of TVE models, implemented in other countries.
9. A study to evaluate failures of vocational training interventions at school level shall
be commissioned to make more realistic recommendations, including cost
requirements, for making it part of general education up to Secondary School Level.
10. Technical and vocational education institutions shall particularly focus on agro‐based
vocational skills to deal with both agriculture and livestock.
11. Curricula for vocational education shall allow flexibility for adaptation in accordance
with the requirements of local market, including absorption of future changes in the
market.
12. Technical education institutions before offering (if planning to offer) degree
programmes, shall also seek clearance from Pakistan Engineering Council before
launching such programmes.
13. Governments shall take practical measures to remove social taboos attached to TVE
and promote dignity of work in line with teachings of Islam.
14. Courses at the secondary and higher secondary level shall be reviewed with a view to making them more relevant to the needs of the employment market in order to better prepare those students not planning further studies.
15. A study shall be conducted to evaluate the impact of technical matriculation and explore ways of introducing an improved system of technical and vocational education at high school level. The stream shall offer two‐way link with the academic stream and also provide links to a revamped vocational and technical sector at higher levels.
16. Approaches shall be found to provide students with a window to the world of work. This could involve short assignments with the local enterprises and institutions or “job shadowing’ approaches to familiarise students with the work environment.
National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC) was created in 2001
with the objective of developing policy and curriculum in TVE while also acting as a
coordinator for national education. . Some of the strategies37 prepared by NAVTEC include:
A National Qualifications Framework (NQF) shall be established in consultation with
professional bodies (like PEC, PM&DC, ICAP etc.) along with a changed programme structure
that encompasses all qualifications in the country, both academic and vocational/technical.
The NQF shall be competency based and provide entry points and progression routes
throughout the structure of qualifications. In particular, it shall provide the possibilities of
two‐way cross‐over between the academic and the applied streams, with clearly mapped
out recognition of credit points for each competency level.
37 “Skilling Pakistan: National Skills Strategy 2009-13” NAVTEC 2009.
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1. The business sector, in particular, shall be included in advising on the course and programme content, and in providing training positions and job shadowing opportunities for students in the applied streams. The business sector could also help teachers by giving specialised lectures and short training programmes.
2. All administrative jurisdictions and stakeholders shall be involved in a consultative process to develop the NQF programme. Expertise shall be sought from countries that have applied the NQF approach in recent years.
3. To address the problem of fragmented governance structures, a coordination mechanism between higher education, school education and technical, vocational education shall be developed.
4. Government shall develop a suitable framework for technical and scientific education and training with close involvement of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
5. Teacher training in the industries during vacation period every year for improvement of technical know‐how on technological changes shall be initiated.
6. Commerce stream shall also be introduced under technical education and vocational training regimes.
7. A University of Technology shall be established at the national level Public Private Partnerships (PPP) shall be strengthened in this area. A regular tracking system shall be instituted for graduates to get feedback on relevancy. B.Tech technologists should also be registered by the Pakistan Engineering Council
8. Vocational training facilities, Polytechnic Institute and Colleges of
Technology shall be established on need basis.
In 2009 NAVTEC also developed a “National Skills Strategy”38. The document looks at quality
and access issues. Some of the areas it addresses include ‘apprentice ship’, competency
based trainings’ and enhancing ‘mobility of workers’. It also contains strategies to enhance
female participation in the sector. It also reiterates the concept of National Qualifications
Framework.
38 Ibid
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Chapter 6: International Commitments in Education
The international Education for All movement was initiated in Jomtien in 1990. In 2000 the Dakar Framework elaborated the six goals of EFA to be achieved by 2015. Pakistan as a member state of the United Nations and signatory to the EFA commitments has articulated its commitment to the goals in various policies and plans that started with the National Plan of Action for EFA in 2001. The federal Ministry of Education was the main custodian of EFA and not only developed the original NPA but also included its components in the Education Sector Reforms (ESR) programme and the National Education Policy 2009. Various development partners in the country also structured their support around the EFA goals.
The strong federal ownership of EFA did not transfer to the provinces effectively, at least in the initial years. Donor programmes ensured a shift in provincial development efforts towards the EFA goals. The provincial ownership in Balochistan has increased recently and resulted in preparation of the provincial EFA Plan, with UNESCO’s assistance, in May 2011.
The six EFA goals are mainly focused on basic education, primary and pre‐primary, with an emphasis on increased access, gender parity and quality improvements. This chapter evaluates Balochistan’s progress towards these goals as well as its comparative performance vis‐à‐vis other provinces.
In addition to EFA Pakistan has also committed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which include two education related goals.
1. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
2. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary school.
Progress towards EFA can be calculated through indicators identified by UNESCO. There are 18 core indicators but all of these are normally neither available nor used. The two main sets used by EFA Global Monitoring Reports are: the EFA Development Index (EDI) and 7 ‘Basic or Proxy Indicators for EFA’39. There is an overlap in EFA and MDG indicators and therefore the analysis in this chapter also covers the latter.
6.1 EFA Development Index (EDI)
EDI is a composite index consisting of 4 indicators: primary NER, adult literacy, survival to grade 5 and Gender EFA Index (GEI). Gender Parity Indices calculated through the first three indicators forms the GEI.
The EDI measures overall progress towards EFA and is primarily used as an ordinal measure across countries. Table 6.1 shows Pakistan’s performance along with some selected countries. According the latest EFA Global Monitoring Report Pakistan is ranked at 119.
Table 6.1: Ranking of Selected Countries on the EFA Development Index
EDI NER Adult GEI Survival till
39 For details please see Annex
69
Literacy Grade 5
Bangladesh 112 100 115 95 121
India 107 61 111 108 114
Pakistan 119 123 118 119 111
Japan 1 1 28 1 19
Switzerland 7 21 1 36 19
UAE 46 27 76 25 1
Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011; UNESCO
Balochistan’s performance in comparison with other provinces has been given Table 6.2. It appears as the weakest among all provinces on all counts except survival rate till grade 5. Under this indicator the provincial performance is better than Sindh, though lower than both KPK and Punjab.
The following table does not give “EDI”‐ which should have been an index value‐ it gives “ranking” of the provinces. Could we also have the EDI values & methodology of calculation on which this ranking is based?
Table 6.2a provides the provincial position of the various values of the indicators used in the EFA Development Index as well as EDI for each province. The EDI is a composite index with equal weightage given to each of the four indicators: Primary (Adjusted) NER, adult literacy, survival rate till grade 5 and gender specific EFA Index (GEI).
The primary adjusted NER measures all children of primary age going to school either at the primary or the secondary level. Such specific information of age is not possible to obtain within the currently available data sets in the country. However, experience and general data trends reveal that the tendency is to begin education at a later stage. This is evident from a higher NER for the age group 6‐10 as compared to age group 5‐9. It has been assumed that enrolment of primary age children is negligible beyond the primary age and therefore primary NER for 6 to 10 years has been used.
The GEI is a composite index of female to male ratios of adult literacy and primary and secondary GERs. Adult literacy is for the 15+ age group. The EDI values range between 0 and 1 with the latter showing achievement of EFA goals.
Table 6.2a: EFA Development Index for Provinces
NER Adult Literacy
Survival Rate till grade 5
GEI EDI
Punjab 72.3 57.2 58.5 0.78 0.47 Sindh 66.5 58.2 45.8 0.75 0.43 KPK 65.8 46 57.7 0.52 0.43
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Balochistan 56.5 39.7 50.7 0.46 0.37
Source: NEMIS and PSLM 2008‐9
Table 6.2b shows the ranking of the provinces based on values in Table 6.2b.
Table 6.2b: Ranking of Provinces on EDI
NER|(Primary) Adult Literacy
Survival Rate till grade 5
GEI EDI
Punjab 1 2 1 1 1
Sindh 2 1 4 2 2
KPK 3 3 2 3 2
Balochistan 4 4 3 4 4
Source: PIHS 2001‐2, various PSLMs and BEMIS
Balochistan ranks 3rd on Survival Rate till grade 5 and 4 for all other indicators. Also, overall, Balochistan ranks 4th within the country in terms of progress toward EFA.
6.2 The MDG Indicators
The MDGs were developed as a set of targets to eliminate poverty therefore they address a
number of socio‐economic areas including education. As already mentioned there are two
goals related to education. The indicators for these goals are:
Indicators for Goal 2:
i. Net enrolment ration (NER) at the primary level.
ii. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach the level of primary (survival rate at
primary).
iii. Literacy rates of 15‐24 years olds, women and men (Youth literacy).
Indicators of Goal 3 (Education related only).
i. Ratio of boys to girls on primary secondary and tertiary education (ratios of relevant
GERs).
All of the above indicators are used in different EFA goals also. Only the last indicator on
GER is a bit tricky in the Balochistan context as GER for tertiary education is not
71
documented. However, as a proxy GER ratios for primary and secondary can be used. In the
following section these indicators have been measured, along with others, for evaluating
progress of various EFA goals. Wherever required, relevance to MDGs has been indicated.
6.2 Basic or Proxy Indicators for EFA
The seven ‘Basic or Proxy indicators’ evaluate progress of individual goals. There is one indicator against each goal except Goal 6 where two indicators have been included. Most of the goals have clear targets, mostly built into the goals or the indicators. In case of Pakistan targets for four of the goals are clear and have also been articulated in the “National Plan of Action for EFA 2001‐15”. The targets on Goal 3 ‘youth literacy’ and Goal 6 “quality’ are not clearly given in any national document. Although the survival rate indicator would determine goals achievement at 100. The goals themselves do not clarify the target. Targets have been assigned to their respective indicators for the purpose of this report.
Pre‐primary enrolment in Pakistan is in the Katchi class, which cannot be considered as the prescribed or desired ECE and hence pre‐primary GER for the existing pre‐primary set up has not been used. The provincial EMIS’ including BEMIS do not separately classify ECE for data collections and therefore the indicator’s trend cannot be calculated. Pakistan’s performance against this indicator is not reported in the EFA Global Monitoring Report.
Goal 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
Table 6.3 Early Childhood Education
Indicator Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
Pre‐primary GER 47 Not calculated 50
Source: Balochistan Provincial EFA and ECE Plans 2011
The provincial EFA plan has calculated ECE enrolment for Balochistan at 47 which has been provided as the present situation. Under the EFA National Plan of Action (2001‐2015) a target of 50% enrolment was set which has also been set as the target for the provincial EFA Plan. The GER does not necessarily represent the requirements of ECE envisaged under EFA (and also National Curriculum and National Education Policy 2009). The coverage for effective pre‐primary ECE is only 1.6%.
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Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
Table 6.4 Universal Primary Enrolment
Indicator Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
Primary NER 56.5 71.5 100
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
The indicator for Universal Primary Education (the target of this goal) is Primary Net Enrolment Ratio. Two age sets are used in Pakistan Social and Living Measurements Survey for primary data (5‐9 and 6‐10). The table and diagram below use NER for 6‐10 as for all years this age group has a higher NER than 5‐9. Essentially this presents a more ‘optimistic’ picture of the situation. According to projections based on past trend Balochistan will reach NER of 72 overall, 85 for males and 58 for females by which year?. This falls far below the target of 100 required by EFA. At current trend the province will reach this target between 2026 and 2027.
This indicator overlaps with the one of the three relevant education indicators of Goal2 of the MDG.
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
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In the graph a trend line has been imposed on the total as the data has a deviation 2006‐7, the year in which NER suddenly rose to 60 from 44 only to fall again to 58 in the following years.
Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes;
Table 6.5 Youth Literacy (15‐24)
Indicator Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
Youth Literacy (!5‐24)
57.7 72.3 65
Source: Census 1998 & EFA Mid‐Decade Assessment 2005
Youth Literacy Rate is not reported in PSLMs, the projections were picked from two years: the 1998 Census and the ‘EFA Mid Decade Assessment Report for Pakistan’ prepared by the Ministry of Education. The latter provides the figure for 2005‐06. While target for 2015 has not been given in any national document but using the condition applied to adult literacy of a 50% increase the target comes to 65. It has been used here.
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
Projections show that the target achieved by 2015 will be 72 overall (91.7 for males and 37.4 for females). The target will be achieved by the province.
This indicator overlaps with the one of the three relevant education indicators of Goal 2 of the MDG.
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Goal 4: Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;
Adult Literacy
Indicator Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
Adult Literacy 15 + 40 45 66
Source: PIHS 2001‐2, various PSLMs and BEMIS
Pakistan reports adult literacy at 10‐plus but adult literacy for 15‐plus has been used for calculations, as required by the requisite indicator under EFA. The NPA gave this target as 86%. Provincial targets have not separately been envisaged in the NPA. The provincial EFA Plan has set this at 64. However, both the targets are for 10+ population. Based on the principle that effectively illiteracy will be halved over the period 2001‐2015 the provincial target would be 66 for overall literacy rate for 15 plus. If separately taken for males and females the targets would have been 75 and 56 respectively. The target, at current trend, will be achieved only by 2046.
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
On all three counts Balochistan, given the current trend, will fail to meet the target. By 2015 it would have reached 42 for the province, 60 for males and approximately 21 for females.
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Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality;
The target for this indicator is 1. The GPI for basic or proxy indicator has been developed as composite of GPIs for primary and secondary calculated through GER comparisons. 40 Balochistan appears to be completely away from target in this indicator.
Table 6.7 Gender Parity
Indicator Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
GPI based on primary and secondary GERs
0.57 0.59 1
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
Source: PIHS 2001‐2 and various PSLMs
Again one can see improvements but they are at a slow rate. The linear trend line in red has been imposed to get a clearer idea of the direction. Again the indicator is projected to fall below the required level if the current trend continues. At current rate the target will be achieved by 2035.
40 This is different from the GEI included in the EFA Index which also includes a ratio of female to male adult literacy.
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This indicator overlaps with the one of the three relevant education indicators of Goal 3 of the MDGs.
Goal 6: improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills
Expansion in educational access always threatens to dilute quality. EFA therefore clearly focuses on both access and quality. Under the basic or proxy indicators two sets are used: survival rate to grade 5 and pupil teacher ratio. Quality is best measured in terms of ‘learning outcomes’. There are limitations of the indicator as it covers only the ‘cognitive domain’ and not the ‘affective domain.
Table 6.8 Quality education
Indicator(s) Situation 2009‐10 Projected 2015 Target 2015
Survival to grade 5 50.7 68 100
Pupil‐teacher ratio at primary level
33.2 36 25‐35
Source: National Education Management Information System (NEMIS)
Secondly comparability across various countries also makes it difficult to make learning outcomes a universal indicator. Pakistan has not developed quality indicators of its own despite regular production of learning outcomes data by the National Education Assessment System (NEAS).
Source: National Education Management Information System (NEMIS)
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EFA uses two proxy indicators for quality for the purpose of goals 6: survival rate to grade 5 and teacher pupil ratio at primary. Survival rate is a measure of internal efficiency of the education system and is considered to be perfect at 100. The proxy indicator assumes that low survival rate (or high drop out) is impacted by poor quality. The trend for survival appears to have stagnated at around 50% for overall as well as male and female since 2005‐06. The same is reflected in the projections which continues till 2015 when it is 50.7 overall, 50.6 for males and 50.8 for females.
The second proxy of pupil student ratio is an input based indicator reflecting quality. Internationally, 35 to 25 is considered a good range. The overall figure for Balochistan is 36.7, with male 32.97 and female 42.27. Apparently this reflects good quality. The indicator reflects overall ratios and not the on ground situation in schools where due to lack of rationalization, actual ratios vary across urban and rural areas.
Survival rate will be used for calculating the time to achievement as it has a more straightforward implication. At current trend the indicator will be achieved only by 2029.
This indicator overlaps with the one of the three relevant education indicators of Goal 2 of the MDGs.
6.3 Summary of Progress
Table 6.9 shows Balochistan’s possibilities of reaching the requisite goals. In all except goal 3 the response is unlikely. In case of youth literacy there is probability. Indicators for Goals 2, 3, 5 and 6 also represent the relevant indicators for the education related MDG goals.
Table 6.9 Balochistan’s Progress towards EFA Goals
Will Target be Reached? State of Supportive Environment
Definitely Probably Unlikely Strong Fair Weak
Goal 1: Early Childhood Education
√ √
Goal 2: Universal Primary Education
√ √
Goal 3: Youth Literacy
√ √
Goal 4: Adult Literacy
√ √
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Table 6.9 Balochistan’s Progress towards EFA Goals
Will Target be Reached? State of Supportive Environment
Goal 5: Gender Parity
√ √
Goal6: Quality Education
√ √
In terms of supportive environment there has been an improvement in the response of the government in responding to the education challenge. However, the pulling out of NCHD and NEF and the end of support from the federal government in the form of the ESR, to the literacy and non‐formal education sector has the potential to impact achievement of some of the targets. Formation of Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) as the reform coordinating and monitoring body, EFA and ECE Plans, Balochistan Action Plan and the move towards a sector plan are all indicative of a responsive environment.
79
Chapter 7: Financial and Budgetary Analysis
As already mentioned Balochistan collects only 3.5% of the budgetary requirements as revenues. The National Finance Commission (NFC) and other flows from the Federal Government provide the main source. The Education Budget is about 18% of the total although it mostly consists of recurrent expenditure with a high salary budget. The Education Budget alone does not exhaust the moneys allocated to the sector. Separate schemes made under the funds provided to members of provincial assembly are also expenditures on education. Similarly not all foreign funding is accounted for and finally the expenditure on private sector is unknown. In terms of spending there are cost inefficiencies as well as low utilization issues of development budget.
In a low population density area with a poor communications network and long distances this would appear intuitive. However, the primary factor in the higher expenditure is not the demographic situation. It is the salary structure as explained below. The fiscal space constrained by a very high and increasing salary component will present serious obstacles for the province in ensuring ‘free and compulsory education’ for the 5 to 16 age group, as envisaged in the Constitution after the 18th Amendment.
7.1: Budget Analysis
The 2011‐12 education budget of Balochistan is about Rs. 22 billion (Table 7.1). As can be
seen there has been a revision which has increased the revised budgetary figure.
(Rs. Million)
Table 7.1: Budgetary Allocations to Education
2010/11 Budget 2010/11 Revised 2011/12 Budget
19,607 19,686 22,044
Source: Budget Documents 2011/12
As a percentage of the total budget the original for 2010‐11 and 2011‐12 are 18% of the
total allocated while the revised budget for 2010‐11 is 19% (Table 7.2). The increase in the
revised budget may primarily have come from the salary increase due to the time scale
factor (discussed later).
Table 7.2: Education Allocations as % Provincial Total Allocations
2010/11 Budget 2010/11 Revised 2011/12 Budget
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18% 19% 18%
Source: Budget Documents 2011/12
In fact the higher amounts for both these years, as compared to previous (Table 7.3) have
been due to the time scale factor.
7.1.1: Recurrent versus development
The trend for the education sector appears in Table 7.3. There is a continuous increase in
education budget’s share in the total budget but at the same time there is a decrease of the
share of development expenditure in the total. Also visible in Figure 7.1.
(Rs million)
Table 7.3 Actual Expenditures and Share of Education
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
Total
Education
Expenditure
5,842 6,086 7,223 7,496 9,476 11,926
Current 5,001 5,519 6,611 7,072 8,760 10,955
Development
841 567 612 424 716 971
Share of
Education in
Total
Expenditure
13.40% 15.20% 14.90% 13.50% 15.00% 17.40%
Share of
Development
Expenditure
14% 9% 8% 6% 8% 8%
Source: Various Budget Documents
A major share of recurrent budget is salaries, like other provinces. However, in case of
Balochistan a potential financial problem looms in the form of the time scale issue.
Teachers automatically upgrade to the next grades pay after fixed number of years and
not as per promotions based on availability of positions, seniority, and fitness criterion.
This places a double increase on the salary bill: the jump to higher pay scales and routine
increments and inflationary adjustment (if any) made by the government. Unless some
policy review is undertaken the ‘time scale’ problem will completely shoot through the
financial outlays making it difficult for the province to meet the salary bills of teachers.
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7.1.2: The Budget development process
Limited fiscal space provides few options for managers to prepare budgets. Incremental
budgeting is undertaken with a percentage added to the previous year. The development
budget is sourced through government funds as well as donor money. In case of
government funds a large sum is allocated to members of the provincial assembly
(approximately 220 million rupees each). The allocation across sectors and the type of
expenditure or project is as per the discretion of the relevant MPA. The department is not
involved in preparation of the scheme or prioritization. Most of these projects are
infrastructure based wherein a school or a college is built without a feasibility analysis. The
department ends up owning the building and is liable to all future recurrent expenditures.
The other source of development budget is foreign assistance. Here the amount allocated to
the province is not always transparently known the government in case of grant money
which adds to issues of development planning. However, there has been no demand from
the government either of transparency as current planning processes do not take a
programmatic or sector wide approach.
There is a feeling within the province that it has not received a fair deal from the
development partners. This is especially true of the larger donors. The principle of PSDP
allocation has been violated. Under the Planning Commission’s formula the Federal PSDP
funds for development work in provinces will be distributed as per the NFC formula plus
additional 5% for KPK and Balochistan as less developed provinces. Although development
partners are not bound by the formula the spirit of the PSDP formula remains essential to
equitable development within the country. Neither the Planning Commission nor the
Economic Affairs Division has undertaken an analysis of the issue.
Balochistan is the only province with no Direct Budgetary Support (DBS) component. This is
due to a higher perceived fiduciary risk. The province has not helped its cause it has the only
provincial assembly without a Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
7.2: Cost Efficiency
Analyses of district data for 2010‐11 reveal cost inefficiencies across the levels and districts
in the province. This reveals internal inefficiencies across various levels of education as well
as districts. Similarly Table 7.4 gives a range of cost across districts with Quetta having the
least and Sherani the highest cost overall41. The cost rises with the increase in level of
education for both districts but there is a huge gap at each level across both districts.
41 Complete list of districts given at annex.
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Table 7.4: Cost Inefficiencies (Amount in Rupees)
Enrolment Per Capita Annual Cost District
Primary Middle Secondary Primary Middle Secondary
Quetta 90,909.00 24,525.00 12,415.00 4,174.00 11,073.00 28,512.00
Sherani 4,999.00 218.00 52.00 9,868.00 126,597.00 352,529.00
Source: Budget 2010‐11
The main reason is poor enrolment as can be seen. Low enrolments and non‐rationalised
teacher deployment lead to cost inefficiencies. This means the immediate problem is cost
effectiveness rather than overall financial outlay. In case of secondary education even
Quetta has a high per capita expenditure at Rs. 28,512 per annum which translates into over
2000 rupees per student per month. This is more than 99% of private schools fees. In case of
Sherani, the per month unit cost comes to ten thousand plus for middle and over thirty
thousand for secondary42.
Figure 7.2 shows average cost at each level for all districts combined. Middle and secondary
levels when converted to per month values give figures of about three thousand and seven
thousand, respectively. This, again, is very high as compared to even elite schools.
42 Cost of textbooks and the provincial establishment have not been added. Also this pertains to school education only and not college education.
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Source: Budget 2010‐11
As over 90% of the expenditure is accounted for in salaries there is a clear issue of
rationalization or focusing on increased enrolment in high per unit cost districts.
7.3 The Future Challenge: Article 25 A
The biggest challenge faced by the province will be the implementation of Article 25A of the
Constitution. Most cost analysis of Article 25A of the 18th Amendment43 reveal an increase
in the current budget by a multiple of the present outlays. Logically Balochistan would face a
similar situation.
Given the limited ability for domestic resource mobilization and an already high allocation
for education routine will not improve the state of affairs. Unless a clear vision is provided
for educational development for the future including review of the current expenditure
pattern, policies and strategies Balochistan will find it extremely difficult to meet the targets
of article 25 A or EFA.
7.3.1 Financial Implications
Implementation of Article 25A will increase the share of education expenditure in the
budget. Actual increase will depend on the strategies employed. Two critical factors are
organizational capacity and finances available. Even if funds are provided without adequate
improvements in organizational capacity implementation will not be possible. Since
organizational capacity (and societal perceptions and attitudes) cannot change in the short
run implementation will have to spread over a few years. The models prepared for this
report are based on the indicators targeted in table 3.18.
43 “Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment: Challenges & Opportunities for Education Sector” ISAPS 2011.
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7.3.1.1: The Model
Four simulation models have been used with the fourth one providing a comparison of costs
if the service delivery is outsourced. The following sources have been used to construct the
model:
1. Population Census 1998 projected through NIPS’ population growth rate.
2. Budget 2010‐11 (only district budgets have been considered)
3. PSLMs from 2004‐5 along with PIHS 2001‐2.
Population projections have been made on the basis of population proportions in the
Population Census 1998 and the growth rate of 2.6 has been used as given by National
Institution of Population Studies (NIPS). Age cohorts of 6‐10, 11‐13 and 14‐15 have been
used for primary, middle and secondary respectively. (Have you taken into account that only
students who have passed primary are eligible for middle education; and those who have
passed middle level are eligible for enrolment in secondary level? Remember that you can
not assume that all population of 11‐13 years old can be admitted to middle education to
make its NER 100). District level costs for each level (primary, middle and secondary) in
2009‐10 have been used to calculate unit cost. Median value has been used instead of
mean. The latter overestimates the costs as it does not factor in current inefficiencies of the
system, especially, beyond the primary level.
Many schools have low enrolment and a high teacher salary bill. At the secondary level this
becomes most stark as the highest average cost is for district Sherani at Rs. 352,000 per
year. Most districts have an average cost of Rs. 100,000 per student at the secondary level.
Hence the use of median for per unit cost. An inflationary impact of 10% per annum has
been included. Textbooks cost have not been included, nor has the cost of any other service
that may be provided free of cost, been added. Again given the system inefficiencies per
unit cost should be able to cover textbooks cost as the system reduces its losses.
The target for achievement of Article 25 A is an NER for secondary that is approximately
equal to 100 (Table 3.18). However, the target cannot be approached if near to 100 NERs
and survival rates are not achieved for secondary as well as lower tiers of primary and
middle. The model assumes a certain level of system inefficiencies with some repetitions
therefore the target has not been given as exactly hundred. However, the calculations have
been made on the basis of 100 NER. A small caveat for calculations is the age range for
Article 25 A. The upper limit of 16 falls somewhere in the middle of ‘higher secondary’ and
no data exists for calculation of NER at this level, therefore the closest approximation of NER
for age groups 14‐15 is used. This means that the relevant primary NER for calculations is 5‐
9.
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7.3.1.2: Simulation 1: Target by 2025
The first simulation has been based on the assumption that the target will be achieved by
2025. This means that primary NER increases by 2.75 points per year, middle by 5.3 and
secondary by 6.25 points per year. Initial additional budget is Rs. 44 billion in the first year
and it continues to increase till 2025.
The graph reveals the difficulty of achieving the target in the short run. If the date were
brought even nearer than 2025, the per year additional cost might rise to completely
prohibitive level.
7.3.1.3: Simulation II: NER Increase by 5 Points
The second simulation assumes an increase of 5 points in the NER annually for all three
levels. The graph in figure xx shows that primary enrolment of 100% will be reached by
2019‐20, middle by 2026‐27 and secondary by 2028‐29.
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This means that the target of 25A will be achieved almost twenty years from today. Per
annum cost increases in the initial years and falls once 100 NER is achieved for the primary
level. The highest cost is in 2019‐20 where it approaches 70 billion rupees.
7.3.1.4: Simulation III: NER Increase 10 Points
An increase of NER by 10 points for each level will lead to achievement of the target by
2020‐21. Again the budgetary impact of the initial years will be much higher and probably
beyond the financial capacity of the provincial.
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7.3.1.5: Simulation IV: Public‐Private Option
While the first three models have been built on actual costs incurred by the state the fourth
one presents a different option of public private partnership. Under the model a per unit
monthly cost of Rs. 1,500 has been used to estimate private sector expenditure. The
amount is greater than the fee charged by the average private sector school but lower than
the median value of per month per child cost in the public sector by about 1000 rupees.
It is obvious that for each year the private sector cost is almost 50% of the public sector
funded costs.
This option presents advantages of multiple strategies, the cost and effort saving. The real
problem will be the capacity of the private sector in the province to handle the scale, as well
as, the department’s ability to outsource and regulate.
7.3.2: Implications of Different Strategies
Education budget for 2011‐12 is about Rs. 20 billion. Implementation of article 25 A will
require more financial resources than currently allocated to school education in the
province. The least expensive option of public private partnership costs about Rs. 20 billion
rupees greater than the current budget. This means almost twice as much. It will also mean
revamped organizational capacity. Since neither can be changed drastically in the short run
implementation of the article will be over a time period a few years and not immediate. The
degree of impact on both finances and shape of the organization will depend on the
strategies adopted. The period will also be determined in view of the time required for the
above two to materialize.
Irrespective of the strategy employed quality factors will need to be focused to ensure the
relevant survival rates are achieved. The most critical and cost intensive factor will be
teachers. Firstly the system will have to ensure availability of teachers with requisite
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qualifications. Even if the standards are relaxed in the initial period eventually qualified
teachers will be required in large numbers for both the public and private sectors. This
places a major impact on institutions that provide teacher training services on both
quantitatively and qualitatively.
A purely public sector approach has prohibitive budgetary implications unless the
implementation is spread over many years which will seriously dilute the purpose of the
amendment. Ideally it has to be a mix of public and private service delivery because of the
lower financial implications of the latter as well as lesser organizational adjustment. The
following set of strategies should be used:
1. Ensure excess capacity of the public sector school is filled in.
2. Evaluate expansion capacity of public sector schooling.
3. Outsource service delivery to private sector.
The BEF model can be evaluated and scaled up. In fact a thoroughly planned process will
probably cost less than the Rs.1500 per unit used for Simulation IV. It will require a major
change in the Department’s approach to service delivery and it will, as already stated, have
to develop capacity to regulate the private sector.
Finally, the target(s) of Article 25A cannot be reached by a focus on access alone. As shown
above a close to 100% survival rate will have to be attained. Survival rate is a proxy indicator
for quality and achievement of the targets will either not be reached at all or not sustained
if the quality and relevance of education are not improved. It is therefore imperative that
quality enhancement is part of the strategies for implementation.
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Chapter 8: International Support to Balochistan
Programme Title: Early Childhood Education (ECE) & Releasing Confidence and
Creativity (RCC)
Duration 2002‐2011
Donor Agha Khan Foundation
Districts Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Loralai, Ziarat, Mastung, Noshki and Lasbela
Objectives of the
project:
Introduction ECE in Government Schools
Teacher Training
Strengthening of PTSMCs
Additional Room Construction
Accomplishment:
In order to establish ECE in Government Schools, the Programme focused
at the outset on 100 Government schools in 7 districts of Balochistan
namely Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Loralai, Ziarat, Mastung, Noshki and Lasbela.
In those schools 70 additional rooms were constructed for ECE and all the
100 schools were appropriately equipped with ECE material. It was made
certain that all relevant ECE material was provided to classes I & II of the
schools. Moreover 100 Teachers were appointed on contract basis for the
ECE classes in the above mentioned schools. The teachers were given
thorough training of ECE methodology. The training was conducted to ECE
and regular teachers of all focused schools.
Programme Title: Primary Education Support Project (PESP)
Duration: 2005‐2010 (on‐going)
Donor: UNICEF with support from various other donors
Districts: Lasbela, Khuzdar, Kalat, Pishin, Sibi, Harnai, Zhob and Shirani
Objectives of the
project:
Replication of IPSPG
Teachers Training
Community Participation
Up‐gradation of Primary schools to Middle standard (replication of CGMS)
Introduction of ECE
Accomplishment:
To provide a boost to regional and local development and to reduce gender
disparity, all girls’ schools of the 8 aforementioned districts were targeted
under the project. Additional teachers were hired in the schools for this
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purpose and PTSMC were formed and strengthened. During the project 80
girls schools were upgraded and in 100 girls schools ECE was introduced.
Provision of material, missing facilities, general repair and renovation of
schools were carried through PTSMC. Under the project 300 schools were
focused on as Child Friendly School and WESS facilities were the centre of
attention of the project.
Project: Adult Literacy
Duration: 2003‐2010
Donor: USAID
Districts: Killa Saifulla, Noshki/Chaghi, Turbat, Gawadar, Punjgoor, Mastung and
Quetta
Objectives of the
project:
Improve the literacy rate
Accomplishment:
More than 10,000 illiterate adults have been enrolled in Adult Literacy
Program. National Literacy Guidelines and National Literacy Curriculum have
been developed. Moreover, 6 month Adult Literacy model has been
developed and tested.
Project: Japan Middle Level Education Project (JMLEP)
Duration: 2000‐2010
Donor: JBIC
Districts: All districts of Balochistan
Objectives of the
project:
Up‐gradation of Primary schools to Middle level
Teachers Training
Accomplishment:
Under the project 200 primary schools were to be upgraded to Middle level.
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Program Title: CIDA (strengthening of Teachers Training Institutions) (Debt Swap)
Duration: 2008‐2012 (Delayed/ extended up to 2013)
Donor: CIDA
Location/districts: Panjgoor, Uthal, Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung, Sibi, Loralai, Pishin, Quetta
PITE, BOC and Elementary Colleges
Objectives of the
project:
Strengthening of Teachers Training Institutes
Module development
Establishment of computer labs
Accomplishment:
Under the Programme, a Computer Laboratory was established in Provincial
Management Unit (PMU). Out of 2600 faculty staff 571 were given TTI
training and salaries of 13 IT instructors, 16 drivers and others were also paid
during the Programme (42 remaining). Other than conducting trainings and
provision of material, general repair and renovation of 14 teacher training
institutions is 80% done and the remaining part is in progress. About 16
transport buses have also been provided to the training institutions and 14
AC and generators have also installed been in the training institutions
Program Title: EDLINKS (Links to Learning)
Duration: 2008‐2011
Donor: USAID
Districts: Loralai, Killa Saifullah, Pishin, KIlla Abdullah, Katchi, Sibi, Jaffarabad, Khuzdar,
Awaran, Kech, and Punjgoor
Objectives of the
project:
Teachers Training
Student Learning Improvement
Accomplishment:
During the Programme 285 Middle and High schools were targeted for
intervention. About 500 teachers, 150 Education Managers and 160 RPs
were trained. Moreover 21 Teachers have been sent to USA under Teachers
Attachment Program and a Student group has also been sent to USA under
Student Exchange Program. An Excel Camp has been organized to check
capacity and capability of students, during the camp Improved Testing
systems have been tested.
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Program Title: Pre‐STEP
Duration: 2008‐2013
Donor: USAID
Location: BOC and 4 Elementary Colleges of Quetta, Sibi, Pishin and Panjgoor
Objectives of the
project:
Strengthen Pre Service Training
Policy action support of 2009 National Education Policy
Accomplishment:
The target of the Project is to Support the Government’s plans to introduce a
four year Bachelor of Education B. Ed. (Hons) Elementary Programme. So far
with the help of the Programme, ADE has begun its activities in 2 GCETs and
B. Ed. (Hons) in Balochistan University. Other than the aforementioned
achievements, the Programme facilitated capacity building of faculty of
GCETs and Education Department of Balochistan
Project: BEP 5 year program
Duration: 2009‐2014
Donor: RNE through SC‐UK
Districts: Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah
Objectives of the
project:
Access by optimum utilization of existing facilities
Accomplishment:
Under the Programme 200 schools will be provided missing facilities. In 105
schools ECE classes will be introduced. Similarly, 25 girls’ primary schools will
be upgraded to middle standard and 10 girl’s middle schools will be
upgraded to high standard.
Program Title: Balochistan Education Support Program (BESP)
Duration: 2006‐2011
Donor: World Bank through BEF
Districts: All Districts of Balochistan
Objectives of the
project
Access through replication of Community School Programme and fellowship
model
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Accomplishment:
Under the Programme 650 community schools and 200 Fellowship schools
have been established.
Program Title: Education for All
Project: EFA Plans
Duration: 2010
Donor: UNESCO
Districts: All Districts of Balochistan
Objectives of the
project:
Development of EFA Plans for the province and districts
Accomplishment Provincial and District EFA Plans developed
Program Title: Afghan Refugees Education Project (AREP)
Duration: 2002‐2011
Donor: UNHCR and UNICEF
Location: Refugee Camps in Balochistan
Objectives of the
project:
Provision of Education to Refugee Children
Accomplishment:
Under the Programme, around 5000 Children were enrolled in Refugee
schools from Primary to Elementary level. Teachers were hired and trained
under the Project to facilitate the schools. To improve the condition of
schools, community participation was encouraged.
Program Title: Refugee Affected Hosting Areas (RAHA)
Duration: 2009‐2010
94
95
Donor: UNDP/UNHCR/CAR
Districts: Pishin, Quetta, Chaghi, Loralai
Objectives of the
project:
Schools in Refugees Affected Areas
Accomplishment:
The Project focused on schools in Refugee Affected areas and rehabilitated
missing facilities.
Chapter9:Balochistan’sMediumTermDevelopmentNeedsBalochistan’s education needs focus on
1. Improvements in enrolments and retention rates or transition rates to ensure more children, have access to, and complete schooling and that eventually the province can successfully implement the requirements of Article 25 A.
2. Improving quality of education at all levels with purpose of improving educational outcomes for all children and enhancing the society’s capacity for economic progress, reductions of poverty and diffusion of entrenched power structure for strengthening the democratic process.
3. Increase relevance of education to real world at all levels, especially secondary school and higher education.
4. Make TVET relevant to the market locally, nationally and internationally.
5. Improving literacy in poor communities, especially women, to improve productivity, allow greater empowerment.
6. Reducing inequalities across genders and various income groups through interventions on both quantitative and qualitative inputs.
7. Develop resource mobilization and financial efficiency strategies in the education sector.
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improvements in enrolments and retention rates or transition rates to ensure more children, have access to, and complete schooling and that eventually the province can successfully implement the requirements of Article 25 A.
1.Ensure schooling for all 22,000 settlements in the province
Young children, parents and community
‐Mapping of all settlements in the province
‐Ensure reaching all children in the province through using multiple approaches of service delivery e.g community schools, public‐private partnerships etc.
‐Revive GIS capacity of EMIS to map settlements and school needs
‐Change the current criteria of linking school setting up criteria to population within a radius
‐Adopt and expand the feeder school system introduced by NCHD.
2. Ensure universal primary enrolment
School age children, parents and community.
Awareness and advocacy within communities
‐Partnership with communities, non‐government ‐‐
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Increase the role of Parent
Expand the scope of ‘free education’ beyond fee exemption and textbooks
Improve survival rates through improvements in education quality (details under quality section)
organizations and private sector to provide schooling in all 22,000 settlements
‐Teacher School Management Committees (PTSMCs) to be involved in enrolment and retention efforts.
‐
Increase middle enrolment by at least 50%
Children in middle school and passing primary,.
Improve the current primary to middle ratio of 1:11 to 1:4 .
Improvement in quality to increase survival rate
Strengthen Non‐Formal Education to primary level target drop outs and bringing them back into mainstream education
‐Up‐gradation of primary schools where feasible;
‐introduce community schools model in villages with no middle schools and upgrade current ones (including feeder schools) to middle.
‐ Government of Balochistan to develop a system of non‐formal education to replace the vacuum left after closure of the National Education Foundation.
Increase transition rates to secondary from middle and also survival rates at secondary level
Students at secondary level,
Improve quality* and relevance of secondary education.
‐Introduce vocational skills at the secondary level after review of failures of the past efforts like the ‘matric tech scheme’
Improve access and quality of education for special children
Children with disabilities, parents, communities
Expand special schools beyond the present 4 districts;
Implement inclusive education concepts in mainstream schools.
‐ In service training of teachers involved in special education.
‐ Exposure , and training, of teachers in routine schools to special education and children with disabilities to allow ‘inclusive education’ to succeed where possible.
‐Community
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awareness on ‘inclusive education’ through involvement and education of PTSMCs.
Reduce gender disparities at all level by at least 50%
Female child in school and outside.
Provide incentives to parents to send children to school.
Community awareness on importance of female education.
Reduce disparities in school availability across males and females especially at the middle level.
‐ Introduce a stipend programme for girls in poorest districts;
‐Education of PTSMCS and use of media for community awareness.
‐Prioritise girls primary schools for up‐gradation and expansion of community schools.
*Details under quality enhancement strategies
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improving literacy in poor communities, especially women, to improve productivity and greater empowerment.
Development of a framework for implementation of the provincial development plan
Directorate of Literacy, communities
Review capacity of Directorate of Literacy including district set ups
‐Comprehensive capacity assessment of the current literacy structure to be undertaken as part of the sector plan situation analysis being undertaken by the Government of Balochistan.
Funding for implementation of provincial literacy plan
Directorate of Literacy, communities
Increase provincial allocation and develop strategy for sustained donor support.
‐Ensure inclusion of literacy plan in the education sector plan being developed by the provincial government to allow sustained and structure donor support.
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‐Government to increase allocation to the literacy sector through providing for programme implementation and not just salaries of the Directorate’s staff.
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improving quality and relevance of school education.
1. Development of standards for quality inputs, processes and outputs (as envisage in NEP 2009)
Education managers, teachers, curriculum and textbook developers, teachers and Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and students.
Adopt a standards based approach to quality education management.
‐Standards be developed for qualitative inputs, processes and outputs.
‐Use PEACE data as learning outcome standards;
‐Expand PEACE to secondary level;
Adapt standards on textbooks from other provinces;
Adopt NACTE standards for teacher education;
Implement SLO based Curriculum 2006
Review standards for schools’ physical infrastructure
Develop standards for assessments.
2. Improve teachers competencies
Teachers and students Review teacher competency benchmarks to improve teaching quality.
Develop Continuous Professional Development Programme for teacher
‐Establish accreditation mechanism for pre‐service teacher education as per NACTE guidelines in consultation with the Pre‐Step Project
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professional development;
working in the province;
‐‐Build capacity of PITE to undertake CPD that covers all aspects of professional development and involves all teachers on a regular basis
‐
Improve textbooks quality Publishers of textbooks, textbook authors, Balochistan Textbook Board.
Strengthen local authorship and publishing capacity;
Capacity development of Balochistan Textbook Board.Ensure availability of books based on Curriculum 2006 at the earliest.
Adapt Textbook Policy of 2007 of outsourcing the publishing function;
Activate the ‘Resource Centre’ in Balochistan Textbook Board to increase authorship capacity.
Adapt textbooks developed in other provinces for implementation of phase 1 of curriculum 2006;
Improve assessment quality within schools as well as the external examinations conducted by the Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.
Board of intermediate and secondary education, teachers, students
Capacity Review of BISE to enhance its ability to manage quality of examinations.
Improve capacity of teachers in assessment techniques and approach.
Eliminate the endemic cheating from examinations
Examiner certification process for external examiners employed by the BISE
.
‐Capacity of BISE to be reviewed as part of the current situation analysis for sector plan development
‐Assessment training for teachers to be part of CPD;
‐Examiner certification process for external examiners employed by the BISE
‐.Development an awareness campaign against the cheating culture endemic in the province involving PTSMCs and the media.
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Develop provincial capacity to develop curriculum
Bureau of curriculum Capacity enhancement of Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Services
Review capacity of BOC & ES as part of the on going situation analysis of the Sector Plan
‐Exposure visits of the officials of BOC and the Directorate to other countries to understand curriculum development processes
‐Training workshops and seminars on curriculum involving BOC & ES and other critical stakeholders.
Curriculum Implementation Framework
Teachers, examination boards, Bureau of Curriculum, Textbook board and Directorate of School and Directorate of Colleges.
Curriculum to be used by teachers and examiners in addition to textbook developers;
.
‐Training of teachers and examiners on curriculum use.
‐Ensure dissemination of curriculum at school level through distribution of copies and seminars at the district level;
‐Coordination and feedback mechanism across various quality services i.e textbook board, PITE, BOC, BISE and the Directorate of Schools
Develop a more participatory school culture
Teachers, head teachers, community, education managers.
Awareness of teachers and community;
‐ Involvement of PTSMCs in advocacy;
‐ Head teachers training and awareness workshops;
Improve relevance of secondary education
Secondary school students, communities, employers
Develop a system for tracing career paths of the students and utilising the information in review of curricula and other inputs and practices.
‐Undertake a tracer study evaluate outcomes (and causes for outcomes) of education for dropouts, as well as graduates, to inform policy development.
‐Review causes of failure of past efforts
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‐Based on the above studies review the current programmes and curricula, especially, at the secondary school level
‐ Guidance and counselling for students
*Details under governance strategies
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improving responsiveness of governance and management system to educational needs
1. Create a demand driven approach focused on outputs with clearly defined indicators.
Directorate of Education
Review of capacity and approach of Directorate of Schools to move towards an output based management and accountability approach;
Identify key input, process and output indicators;
Identify key input, process and output indicators;
Strengthen BEMIS to develop these indicators and collect data all educational institutions the province.
2. Move from project based to programmatic development model
Develop an education sector plan
Already initiated by the Governemnt fo Balochistan
3. Improve expertise in specialist tasks
Curriculum developers, examiners, textbook developer and education planners.
Development of specialization in textbooks, curriculum, assessments and teacher training
Improvement in planning and monitoring capacity
Included in capacity reviews of various organisations recommended above.
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improve quality and relevance of Higher Education and improve opportunities for all.
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1. Improve Quality and relevance of university education.
Students of higher education, education managers, teachers, examination system.
Develop linkages between market and higher education;
‐Chambers of Commerce and Industries and professional bodies be involved in curriculum development and review of quality in the universities and colleges.
‐ Universities should institute tracking mechanisms for their graduates;
‐ Career counselling and guidance for students on opportunities in the province, nationally and internationally
De‐politicisation of campuses
Students organisations, political parties, campus managers.
Awareness and advocacy against politicisation of students and teachers’ politics in colleges and universities.
‐ Negotiations with political parties and development of a code of behaviour on campuses through support of political parties
Link research to local needs
Universities, local and national organisations in the market, Planning and Development Department of the government of Balochistan.
Develop links between local market and research in universities;
‐Government of Balochistan to fund research on local issues;
‐ Stipulate partnership with a local university for all foreign funded consultancies in the province
Qualitative improvements in College Education
‐Colleges to move towards a 4 year under graduate programme as envisaged in NEP 2009 and the HEC programme.
Develop standards for learning outcomes; teaching and examinations
Review Capacity of Directorate of Colleges to graduate from performance of routine administrative functions to focus on quality
‐ Pilot 4 year degree programme in selected colleges;
‐ Encourage visiting Phds in colleges selected for 4 year programmes
‐ Introduce research methodology in college courses (initially the 4 year pilot programmes)
‐ In ‘Pilot colleges’ allow access to research capacity of
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matters.
.
universities
‐Initiate dialogue with HEC to adopt its teacher improvement plan allocation of funds to colleges from the proposed Tertiary Education Support Project of the World Bank;
Improve relevance of college education
College students, employers and community
Develop counselling and advisory system; exposure of students of world of work through internships etc.
‐Career counselling and guidance for students on opportunities in the province, nationally and internationally
Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Make TVET relevant to the market locally, nationally and internationally.
Improve quality of instruction in TVE institution
Teachers, students, technical personnel, employers and managers of TVE
Develop linkages of teaching with the market
Continuous professional development programme for teachers with opportunities to move into and out of industry
‐ Enhance incentives for persons from the market to be part of faculty;
‐Develop a teacher training programme for teachers of polytechnics through the Balochistan Academy for College Teachers.
‐Upgrade the facilities and quality of the Staff Training Institutes for improving trainings and professional development of teachers in vocational programmes.
‐Encourage faculty to work with the market
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Needs Target Groups Strategies Actions
Improve resource mobilization and financial efficiency
Increase capacity of the education budget to fund reform
Department of education, teachers, community, political leadership, children.
Review the time scales concept for future teacher employment;
Alternate strategies of service delivery which are cost efficient without compromising quality and expansion.
‐Dialogue with teachers associations be undertaken to agree on a ceiling and ensure new recruits are not provided the same terms and conditions.
on a regular basis by making relevant changes in the terms and conditions of service.
Improve employment outcomes for graduates of TVE
Teachers, students, technical personnel, employers and managers of TVE
Involve private sector in curriculum development and review, management of institutions and instruction.
Opportunities for students for internships and apprenticeships.
Guidance and counselling on career options within the province nationally and internationally.
‐Develop a mechanism for regular dialogue with the chambers of commerce and industries and other professional bodies.
‐Introduce legislation to ensure mandatory involvement of the private sector in curriculum development and programme monitoring in the TVE sector.
‐Career guidance system be developed in institutions.
Annex:
Education and the 18th Constitutional Amendment
The 18th Constitutional Amendment has impacted education in two domains: devolution to the provinces and access to free education to all children from ages 5‐16. The latter has already been discussed in previous section. The pre‐18th Amendment Constitution contained two legislative lists that divided functions between the federal and provincial governments in the country. These were the Concurrent Legislative List and the Federal Legislative List respectively. Under the Concurrent Legislative list both the federal and the provincial governments could undertake executive functions and also legislate on the subjects. However, in case of a conflict the federal law would prevail. Federal Legislative List was the exclusive domain of the Federal Government.
Under the Concurrent Legislative the list the following entries were on education:
“38. Curriculum, syllabus, planning, policy, centres of excellence and standards of education.
39. Islamic education.”
In 1976 the Federal legislature promulgated the “Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Maintenance and Standards Act 1976”. The law gave the federal government exclusive powers to develop and notify national curriculum and approve textbooks. With the repeal of the Concurrent Legislative List the law’s impediments on provinces for curriculum development and textbooks approval were also rendered redundant. The legal status for all other areas listed in the Concurrent List remains unaffected.
In addition to the purely legal implications a number of policy and implementation issues have also arisen. These have resulted from decisions of the Implementation Committee on the 18th Amendment. The Committee abolished the Ministry of Education as a consequence of the amendment. The Ministry, in addition, the legal function of development of national curriculum and approval of textbooks, also developed national education policies and performed the role coordination across provinces. Both these areas now need a response from the provinces, firstly in terms of a need and secondly the answer to a need (if required). The above vacuum plus some other transitional issues would need to be considered carefully including federal funding in certain areas.
Overall the amendment has had a positive impact on provincial attitude and has been welcomed. In Balochistan it is being considered a challenge and greater ownership of quality of education and international commitments like EFA is now visible. There is, in the response, a cautious understanding of the limitations of the current capacity of the provincial government.
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EFA Goals: Calculating EDI and EFA Indicators
EFA Development Index is calculated using four indicators: Adult Literacy, Primary NER, Survival Rate to Grade 5 and Gender EFA Index (GEI). The GEI is a composite of Gender Parity Indexes (GPIs) calculated for gross enrolment ratios for primary and secondary and adult literacy. EDI itself is an arithmetic mean of the four indicators.
Mathematically
GEI= (GPI(Primary)+GPI(Secondary)+GPI(Adult Literacy)}/3
EDI=1/4 NER(Primary)+1/4(Survival Rate to Grade 5)+1/4(Adult Literacy)+1/4(GEI)
EDI has been developed by UNESCO and the Annual EFA Global Monitoring Reports attempts to calculate it for all countries. As a composite indicator it simply ranks countries in terms of relative efficiency vis‐à‐vis EFA as a whole. It does not focus on individual goals though the four indicators used are also separately ranked.
In this report the same has been calculated for all the four provinces for the year 2009‐10 where data has been projected using past values provided in the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey for 2001‐2 and Pakistan Living and Social Measurements Surveys for 2004‐5, 2005‐6, 2006‐7, 2007‐8 and 200‐9. In case of survival rate data from National Education Management Information System has been used.
Basic proxy Indicators
The basic or proxy indicators are used by the EFA Global Monitoring Report for measurement of individual goals. These are the bare minimum for each goal. The set of indicators against the six goals are given in the table below.
Goal Indicator
Goal 1: Early Childhood Care and Education Gross enrolment ratio in pre‐primary
Goal 2: Universal Primary Education Net Enrolment Ratio at Primary
Goal 3:Learning needs of all youth and adults
Youth Literacy Rate (15‐24)
Goal 4: Improving levels of adult literacy Adult literacy rate (15+)
GPI:GER primary Goal 5: Gender Parity
GPI:GER Secondary
Survival to grade 5 Goal 6: Education Quality
Pupil teacher ratio in primary
These indicators have been calculated using different data sources but mostly PSLMS till 2008‐9 and Pakistan Income and Household Survey 2001‐2.
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District and Level Wise Enrolment and Per Capita Cost
District Wise Enrolment and Per Capita Expenditure Enrolment Per Capita Expenditure District
Primary Middle Secondary Primary Middle Secondary
Awaran 15,056.00 1,996.00 770.00 5,015.00 24,350.00 105,699.00
Barkhan 13,997.00 1,082.00 595.00 5,327.00 40,372.00 126,714.00
Chagai 18,914.00 1,818.00 826.00 2,357.00 26,451.00 57,971.00
Dera Bugti 17,869.00 1,362.00 723.00 6,778.00 80,694.00 145,393.00
Gawader 20,985.00 5,622.00 2,327.00 3,296.00 20,550.00 48,387.00
Harnai 7,210.00 1,031.00 417.00 5,828.00 25,257.00 75,798.00
Jafferabad 60,301.00 7,604.00 3,672.00 5,524.00 19,603.00 50,482.00
Jhal Magsi 12,669.00 914.00 496.00 8,474.00 82,235.00 132,662.00
Kachhi(Bolan) 23,951.00 2,958.00 1,468.00 4,857.00 26,618.00 69,487.00
Kalat 23,042.00 3,417.00 1,250.00 6,795.00 24,880.00 61,633.00
Kech 58,301.00 11,825.00 5,366.00 891.00 13,031.00 46,324.00
Kharan 14,016.00 1,827.00 765.00 5,241.00 24,085.00 52,306.00
Khuzdar 43,288.00 3,622.00 1,786.00 4,484.00 27,213.00 68,046.00
KillaAbdullah 41,622.00 4,367.00 1,581.00 4,676.00 16,223.00 75,518.00
KillaSaifullah 27,960.00 2,788.00 1,212.00 9,335.00 26,255.00 78,990.00
Kohlu 10,502.00 758.00 447.00 10,175.00 83,269.00 114,571.00
Lasbela 35,880.00 5,921.00 2,642.00 7,304.00 22,475.00 70,928.00
Loralai 42,690.00 3,257.00 1,614.00 5,391.00 35,234.00 69,690.00
Mastung 20,722.00 3,126.00 1,466.00 8,646.00 28,762.00 72,127.00
Musa Khel 10,212.00 1,301.00 731.00 8,069.00 25,223.00 78,488.00
Nasirabad 22,794.00 2,307.00 1,120.00 8,153.00 29,210.00 74,301.00
Noushki 21,530.00 3,641.00 1,726.00 5,521.00 21,955.00 77,593.00
Panjgur 28,323.00 5,019.00 2,449.00 5,830.00 18,045.00 49,010.00
Pishin 58,611.00 7,132.00 2,607.00 6,352.00 31,284.00 81,104.00
Quetta 90,909.00 24,525.00 12,415.00 4,174.00 11,073.00 28,512.00
Sherani 4,999.00 218.00 52.00 9,868.00 126,597.00 352,529.00
Sibi 16,997.00 3,616.00 1,850.00 9,380.00 22,479.00 62,240.00
Washuk 9,917.00 932.00 370.00 4,916.00 48,523.00 68,791.00
Zhob 19,032.00 3,265.00 1,720.00 11,466.00 18,925.00 55,523.00
Ziarat 10,176.00 1,925.00 756.00 8,743.00 22,049.00 86,265.00
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