Pakistan education sector assessment

• In Event: Climate resilience in education: strategies for more resilient systems

Proposal

This presentation will share the findings of a 2023 Basic Education Sector Assessment, commissioned by USAID/Pakistan, which explored the current state of the sector including the impact of 2022 floods. The assessment included two phases. First, a desk review explored secondary data from available government policy documents, statistical publications, national and provincial/regional sector analyses and plans, student learning assessment data, and literature produced by a range of different agencies and individuals. Second, based on that review, a five-person research team of international and local education experts conducted primary data collection at the federal level and five provinces/areas including Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Interviewees represented federal, provincial, and district-level government, international and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), independent academics and researchers, and school personnel including teachers and head teachers. Data from these 84 interviews offer a qualitative perspective of the on-the-ground challenges and opportunities present in the basic education sector. The challenges are significant. According to its National Commission on the Rights of Child 2022 report, Pakistan has 22.8 million out-of-school children, representing 44% of the total school-aged population. While progress has been made over the past 20 years, net enrollment rates overall are still well below universal, with rural and low socioeconomic status populations, girls, and children with disabilities at the greatest disadvantage. This presentation will shed light on the intersection of these challenges and the reality of impacts of climate change on the sector and explore strategies for improved programming and additional research.

Author

• Meredith McCormac, RTI International