Addressing Gender Disparity in Education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

1. Policy Dialogue onGender Disparity in Enrollment and Learning Levels Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar Monday, April 23, 2012

2. ASER PAKISTAN 2010-2015 • ASER - The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a citizen led large scale national household survey about the quality of education in rural and some urban areas of Pakistan. • Inspired by the ASER India & East Africa UWEZO methodology it seeks to fill a gap on learning outcomes by providing a reliable set of data at the national level on an annual basis, that is comprehensive and easy to understand. The survey’s objectives are three fold: • To get reliable estimates of the status of children’s schooling and basic learning (reading and arithmetic level)      • To measure the change in these basic learning and school statistics from last year • To interpret these results and use them to affect policy decisions at various levels.

3. Scale & Scope of Survey Coverage : In all five provinces i.e. Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, and FATA & AJK.- Rural Phase I : Year I 2010 – 32 districts across Pakistan Phase II: Year II 2011 – 85 districts across Pakistan (84 Rural + 3 Urban /2 overlap with rural districts) Phase III : Years III, IV , V all districts across Pakistan Sample: 600 households per district. Two-stage stratified sample;   30 villages per districts (PPS sampling from 1998 Census Data) 20 households per village (quadrants) 5 from each Nuances between public and private schools. In each village profile 1 govt. and 1 private school- Gender disaggregated data

4. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • 4 districts in 2010 • 14 districts in 2011 • Peshawar Urban was also surveyed for the first time • Children (Age 3-16)-24,039 children (60% male, 40% female) • Households-8,274

5. Global Context- International Commitments • At the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar (Senegal), the International Community reaffirmed its commitment to achieving Education for All (EFA). Participating countries including Pakistan adopted the Dakar Framework for Action and identified six specific goals to be Achieved, one of which was to Achieve Gender Parity by 2005 and Gender Equality by 2015. • Pakistan is a signatory to the Dakar Framework for Action 2000.

6. Current Scenario in Education • Although considerable gains have been made with regards to improving the gender equality in improving Access, however, still the goal of Gender Parity remains elusive. • Net Enrolment Rate (NER) for girls has increased from 45.8 % in 2001 to about 54% in 2009 according to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM2011). The NER for boys has increased from 61% in 2001 to 67.5% in 2009. • The gender gap as indicated in the NER though decreasing is still persistent

7. 18th Amendment & Right to Education • Article 25A under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in 2010 states “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” • After the 18th Amendment, education has been devolved completely to the Provinces. • Each provincial Government is now duty-bound to provide all the children; ALL girls and boys aged 5-16 free and compulsory education.

8. Gender Gaps in Education-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in this regards poses a very interesting case. • KP currently has large gender gaps as compared to other provinces in : • Enrollment for pre school and primary/secondary levels • Learning Levels • Out of School Children • Recently, female education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has received extra-ordinary attention, due to the sad persistent trend of blowing up of Female schools, across several Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts and FATA.

9. EVIDENCE FROM PSLM & MICS • According to the PSLM data: • According to Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2008, Net Enrolment Rate (NER) at Primary Level for Children Aged 5-9 stood at 56% for Males as compared to 41% for Females.

10. Pre school and tuition • Pre School Evidence 3-5 Years • Amongst the children who attend pre schools • 64% are boys • 36% are girls • Private Supplementary Tuition • Amongst the children who attend tuition: • 65% are boys • 34% are girls

11. Gender Gap: Evidence from ASER 2011 • Girls are far less likely than Boys to be enrolled in private schools. • Significant gender gaps exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, i.e. the difference in percentage boys and girls enrolled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. • It is the highest in Private School in all the provinces, except for Balochistan and FATA. • The Gender Gap is slightly smaller in government schools. However, it is still greater than all the provinces except Balochistan, FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan. • This may point to the fact that parents are less likely to spend their money on girls for education in private schools, and more likely to send them, if at all, in Government Schools. Note: Gender gap is the difference in % males enrolled say in government schools minus % girls enrolled in government schools in a given province/region etc.

12. Gender Gap: Peshawar (Urban) • Similarly, in the Urban Context, among the three urban areas covered (Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar), Peshawar has the largest Gender Gap in both Government as well as Private Schools.

13. Gender Gap: Out-of-School Children • At All Age-Groups more Girls than Boys continue to be Out-of-School in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • The largest Gender Gap exists in Age-Group 6-10. • The Gender Gap is reduced but continues to exist till the Age Group (14-16).

14. Evidence from PSLM • PSLM Data also corroborates the Gender Gap in Out-of-School Children. • PSLM 2010-11 found that for Rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 69% of Males had ever attended school compared to 31% Females.

15. The Importance of Gauging Quality of Education: Learning Levels • The number of years spent in school is only one measure of educational outcomes. • There is a citizen led movement that emphasizes the importance of the ‘quality’ of schooling or actual learning rather than merely years of schooling attained.

16. Gender Gaps in Learning Levels-Reading • Girls underperform dramatically in reading when compared to boys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa –Girls’ performance is consistently poor compared to boys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. • The gap in performance is as high as 10 percentage points in English, while similarly it is about 11 Percentage Points in Urdu Learning Levels. • This means that Girls constantly under-perform in Reading as compared to Boys, in both in English, as well as Urdu. • Girls in Urban Peshawar are especially disadvantaged in terms of reading levels: The Gender Gap in Peshawar is considerably high when compared to Lahore & Karachi

17. Gender Gaps in Learning Levels-Arithmetic • Girls also under-perform in Mathematics achievement compared to Boys – What is striking is the fact that the gender gaps in mathematics are almost identical compared to reading levels (10 percentage points) . • The Gender Gaps are higher in Peshawar Urban (15 Percentage Points) which is greater than Lahore Urban (0 Percentage Points) and Karachi (-3 Percentage Point).

18. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continues to pose larger Gender Gaps than Punjab, Sindh, AJK, and is at parity with Gilgit-Baltistan. In the inter-provincial context, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa clearly lags behind Gender gaps in Learning Achievement – Urdu Gender Gap in Reading Levels (% of Males who can at least read a sentence - % of females who can at least read a sentence), ages 6-16 Gender gaps in Learning Achievement - Arithmetic Gender Gap in Mathematics Levels (% of Males who can at least subtract - % of females who can at least subtract), ages 6-16

19. An Inter-District Comparison of Gender Gaps in Out-of-School Children with Literacy Ranking According to PSLM. Gender Gap in Out-of-School Children (% of Females who are out-of-school - % of Males who are Out-of-School)

20. Inter-District Comparison of Gender Gaps for Out-of-School Children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa show great Disparities. • The Gender Gap for Out-of-School Children is highest in Upper Dir, the District which has the Third Lowest Literacy in Khyber Pakhutnkhwa according to the Literacy Ranking of PSLM. • Similarly, Haripur and Abbotabad with the Highest Literacy (1 and 2 Literacy Ranks respectively) also boasts the Lowest Gender Gap for Out-of -School Children. • This goes on to show that District-wise there continue to exist disparities in terms of Females access to Education.

21. Does Increase in Literacy Rate Always Translate to Reduced Gender Gap? • In certain cases, overall high Literacy does not translate automatically to a reduced Gender Gap in the District. • For instance, D.I.Khan the District with one of the lowest Gender Gaps for Out-of-School Children (1 Percentage Point) has Lowest Literacy (22)Rank. • Similarly, Mardan a District with a very High Gender Gap for Out-of-School Children (4.3 Percentage Points), has a higher Literacy than Districts with comparatively lower Gender Gaps like Charsadda, Tank and Batagram.

22. Policy Recommendations • Immediate Steps are needed to improve Female Enrolment Rates. • Improve Cultural Sensitization of the Community to Female Education. • Improve School Facilities ensuring safety • Take Measures to improve Inter-District Gender Gaps. • Increase in Literacy Rate does not necessarily lead to decrease in Gender gaps. • Implement policies/programs backed by resources to improve girls’ (and Boys’) Learning Outcomes

23. And Most Importantly …. • Legislation on Right to Education- The Provincial Assembly needs to take necessary steps to legislate on the Right to Education, Article 25 A with consultation ensuring that g Gender-specific clauses are present sufficiently; the Government /state is bound to address the Gender Gaps for access, quality and equity in the minimum time period.

24. For more information visit: www.aserpakistan.org Email: safedafed@gmail.com