Pakistan needs 81,200 schools in next 20 years: UN report

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) released a report highlighting dismal condition of schools in different parts of the country and growing illiteracy in its wake, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The report relays that the province of Punjab will require 35,000 schools in the next 20 years whereas Sindh will need 25,000, Khyber Pakhtonkhwa 14,000 and Balochistan 7,200.

It also adds that one out of four children between the age group of five and 16 is out of school. The percentage breakdown depicts that 22% boys and 31% girls are not enrolled in Punjab. Similarly in Sindh, 46% girls of the aforementioned age group do not attend school. In Khyber Pakhtonkhwa, the percentage stands at 40%.

The report further states that more than half of the overall female population in Balochistan has no access to schools.

https://arynews.tv/en/22-5-million-children-school-human-rights-watch/

A  Human Rights Watch report last year in November had stated that Pakistan’s school system was in a crisis, with a lack of government facilities creating “education deserts” for poor children, especially girls.

It said one third of girls across the country were not attending primary school, compared with 21% of boys. “By the ninth grade, just 13% of girls are still in school.”

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report titled, “Shall I Feed my Daughter or Educate Her?” observed that most of the serious barriers to education lie within the school system. “A chronic lack of investment in education has led to a shortage of government schools, particularly girls schools. Other factors include prohibitive school fees, corporal punishment, poor quality schools in the public and private sector, a lack of regulation and corruption.”