LONDON: The demand for women’s education is on upswing in Pakistan where even parents in rural areas are motivated to send their wards for quality education despite meagre sources of income. Ms. Beala Raza Jamil, Directorof Institute for Professional Learning and of Idara-e-Taleem-O-Agahi and coordinator South Asian Forum for Education Development (SAFED) revealed while making a presentation to officers of Pakistan High Commission Tuesday on the findings of survey by Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010 in rural areas of Pakistan.The survey was facilitated by South Asian Forum for Education Development (SAFED). Sharing some encouraging results of the government’s policies Ms. Jamil informed that at primary levels attendance is marginally higher in government schools than in private schools, which is a promising trend in government schools due to policies of local and facility based recruitments much like the private schools.
The survey acknowledges that Pakistani government has been consistently supporting a partnership approach for meeting the Education For All (EFA) targets and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 2001.“The government of Pakistan on the one hand is cognizant of an urgency to improve public sector managed schools, it has also aggressively mandated restructuring of the six education foundations (national and provincial) for a more robust programme of supporting non-elite low cost private schools and the National Education Policy NEP 2009 reflects this position,” Ms. Jamil added.
She informed that survey will be extended to all the districts of Pakistan and by 2012 all 138 districts would be covered. ASER 2010-2015 is continuous annual survey, and measures learning levels of children 3-16 years and mothers’ literacy.
