Education performance of most districts falling: report

ISLAMABAD: According to a report, 58 percent of Pakistan’s districts have been found falling in the education performance index (DEPIx) and the remaining were  under-performing.

At the launch of the DEPIx 2020-23 report, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said it was a matter of concerns that the districts were not making any progress. 

“Pakistan’s national average score on the index is a modest 53 out of 100, placing the country in the low performance category,” said the report compiled by the Planning Commission in collaboration with international experts and government agencies.

Pakistan’s 124 districts have scored an average of 53 percent in education with no district falling into the high-performance category except Islamabad.

The minister said Pakistan had made progress in human capital development but the pace was slower compared to other emerging economies.

He was of the view that Pakistan’s education indicators lagged behind. He said, “Unless we achieve 90 percent literacy and universal primary enrollment, we cannot enter the development arena.”

The report covered 134 districts including Islamabad, all districts of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. They were classified into four categories: Very High, High, Medium, and Low.

Punjab emerged as the top performer with a score of 61/100, followed by KP with 55/100, Sindh and Balochistan 51.5/100 and 46/100, respectively. None of the provinces reached the “High” or “Very High” performance categories, with both Punjab and KP falling into the medium.

The index also highlighted significant disparities across different domains of the education system.