PESHAWAR - The Pakistan District Education Ranking 2016, a report compiled by education campaigner “Alif Ailaan” has presented a disappointing situation of government-run schools in Peshawar as many lack even basic facilities, forcing parents to keep their children away from such institutes.

While sharing details of the survey with journalists at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, Lubna Nisar a representative of Alif Ailaan said that during the past several years district-based reports had been launched on education to point out inadequate facilities and attract government attention aimed to improve the situation.

She informed that Peshawar was ranked 75 out of total 145 districts of Pakistan, and it was ranked 14th out of total 25 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to the report.

“Almost 77 per cent of government-run schools in the district cater only to the primary level needs. There are 1,385 government schools out of which 1,060 are primary schools,” she informed.

Referring to the report, she said that 23 per cent of the total children aged 5 to 16 years were out-of-school. Among those, 15 per cent boys and 35 per cent girls are out-of-school, she added.

The survey report, she said revealed that poverty plays a vital role in keeping children out-of-school as 42 per cent of children belonging to poor families were out-of-schools, whereas only nine per cent children from rich households are out-of-school.

She also claimed that 20 per cent of all children aged 5 to 16 have never seen a classroom.

The net enrolment rate in schools of provincial capital Peshawar at primary level, she said, was 60 per cent which dropped to 24 per cent at the middle level and is only 10 per cent at high school level.

Net enrolment rate of girls at primary level is 56 per cent, whereas for boys this percentage is at 64 per cent, she said.

Almost 43 per cent students are enrolled in government schools while 57 per cent students in private schools, she said and ,added, that only 50 per cent girls and 74 per cent boys survive till class 5th.

The average number of years spent in school for Peshawar was six, she said.

Females, on average, spend four years in school whereas males spend an average of eight years, she added.

About the quality of education in provincial capital Peshawar, she said that 74 per cent of class 5th students could not even read a simple story in Urdu (text of class 2), whereas 67 per cent of class 5th students could not read a sentence in English (text of class 2) and 70 per cent of class 5th students even could not do class-III level two digit division.

Similarly, about school infrastructure in Peshawar, Lubna Nisar said that water was not available in 20 per cent of primary schools, and 41 per cent schools do not have electricity while eight per cent did not have toilet facilities.

Likewise, four per cent schools did not have a boundary wall, while three per cent primary schools had just one classroom, she said.

At primary school level, on average there are 5 classrooms in one school, she added.

The representative revealed that 9,430 teachers were appointed in the 1,385 government schools, she said.

In nine per cent of primary schools, only one teacher was appointed, while at primary level as many as 53 students were taught by one teacher, she stated.