Moalims

PESHAWAR: Centre for Governance and Public Accountability (CGPA) has deplored persistent gender disparities in delivery of public education services in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

As per the Annual Schools Census Report for 2014-15, released by the Education Management Information System Cell of the K-P Elementary and Secondary Education department, there are 28,178 government schools within the province. Of these, only 37% are designated for girls while the remaining schools are exclusively for boys. Similarly, 65% appointed teachers in schools are male; only 35% teachers are female.

This immense gap in education preferences signifies gender inequality in the region and has serious implications on female literacy rate in K-P.

Worlds apart

Primary schools comprise of 80% of the established 28,178 schools, leaving only 5,635 schools for middle, secondary and post-secondary levels throughout the entire province.

According to the report, even primary level schools require immediate attention since at least 10,370 schools are managed by two or less teachers.

For example, students from grades two and three sit together with multiple blackboards within a single classroom. School authorities mentioned it was impossible to reach out to grade seven students with only two teachers on duty already conducting classes at the primary level.

The CGPA analysis noted 17.2% of schools have damaged or non-existent boundaries, 31.7% are without any water supply, 39.4% have no electricity and nearly 15% contain no toilet facilities.

Declining affair

Overall enrolment in government schools is 4.17 million for the year 2014-15, which is slightly higher than 4.16 million in 2013-14. Of enrolled students, 57% are boys and 43% are girls while only 68% of the total population of children are enrolled into schools.

Overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the primary level (based on the population of five-to-nine-year-olds projected by K-P Bureau of Statistics) is 89% while GER in government primary schools is 63%.

Total number of sanctioned posts for teachers in government schools is 138,033, while the strength of active teachers is only 123,380. This indicates at least 11% of allotted positions are still vacant.

The average student-to-teacher ratio at the primary level stands at 42:1, while at secondary school level it is 23:1.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2015.