ISLAMABAD-The country’s Human Development Index rankings are very less in number and there is a need to create emergency in the country on all the sectors of human development index, said Farah Hamid Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training.
While addressing at the seminar organized by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), she said that the coordinated gap analysis key findings report developed by NCHD and IRC will be very useful for the policymakers and organizations engaged in development initiatives in the country.
National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with IRC-IVAP has organized the launching ceremony to highlight the key findings of Coordinated GAP analysis conducted in 41 districts covering 16,400 household.
The sample was distributed to urban and rural areas, 20 villages from each district were covered including 90 key informant interviews. The event was attended by officials from Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, UNESCO, UNICEF, Hope-87, ALIGHT, Acted, BISP, JICA- Pakistan, Academy of Educational Planning and Management, National Education Assessment System, National Education Foundation, Federal Directorate of Education, NCHD and IRC.
A presentation was delivered about the key findings of Coordinated Gap Analysis. The report depicts that during the lockdown period, people availed health services from government hospitals/BHUs 18.90%, private clinics 37.60%, self-medication 24.20%, Homeopathic 2.20% and 15.60 % consulted local practitioners. 20% of the family members caught COVID-19 from the household patients. 51% member faced stigma due to lockdown. Symptoms of aggressive behavior, sadness, depression, substance abuse, anti-social, sleeplessness, and less willing to take care of the siblings were observed during the situation. Talking about the impact towards education report reveals that different modes were opted by the children, 6.2 % utilized Government Tele School Session, 8.40% went for online school arrangements, 7.40% used assignment based tasks, and 69.2% availed self study with parents. Closure of schools interrupted learning of 57.50% pupils and resulted in dropout increase to 13.40%. Report further highlight that 89.90% source of income was negatively affected by this pandemic and lockdown.
Col. (Retd) Dr. Amirullah Marwat, Chairman NCHD said that the COVID-19 pandemic precautionary measures are not being adopted by people in general and it cause increasing cases in the country. It is important that people should be aware on adopting the guidelines and adopt social distancing practices to protect each other from this pandemic.