Conducted by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in joint cooperation with many civil society and partner bodies including the DCHD, CRDO, CMDO, Development Hamza Development Foundation, Society for Human Development , EHED Foundation.
According to the report, 11,000 educated volunteers/citizens visited 154 districts (including new districts added in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan) in 4,527 villages. For the year 2018, the ASER rural survey assessed 196, 253 children of 5-16 year age cohort in Language (Urdu/Sindhi/ Pashto), English and Arithmetic competencies.
The report aimed to inform the progress or lack thereof with respect to Article 25A of the Constitution, making education a fundamental right for 5-16 year old children since 2010 and also for tracking progress towards SDG 4 measuring learning at the lower primary level.
According to the report, proportion of out-of-school children has decreased as compared to 2016 (19%). In 2018, 17% of children were reported to be out-of-school.
It stated that nationally, there is a constant gender gap in out-of-school children but still with more girls than boys are not being en-rolled or have dropped out of school.
Early childhood education was also assessed in the report. It said that from 2014 when the enrolment was recorded at 39 percent, it declined to 37 percent in 2015 and 36 in 2016 and rising to 37 percent in 2018 again in rural Pakistan. "Overall, government schools have witnessed a surge of 8 percent (71 percent) in enrolment for ECE, whereas private sector holds 29 percent of total enrolment," it recalled.
The quality of education, in the report, is claimed as improved than past. It said that 56 percent class 5 children could read a class 2 level story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto compared to 52 percent in 2016. In English, 52 percent class 5 children could read sentences (class 2 level) compared to 46% in 2016. For Arithmetic, 53 percent class 5 children could do two-digit divisions as compared to 48 percent in 2016.
For Language (Urdu), AJK (78 percent), ICT-Islamabad (75 percent), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (58 percent) along with Punjab (69 percent) have taken the lead. For English and Arithmetic, AJK, GB, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 92 percent, 63 percent, 65 percent, 55 percent respectively and 73 percent, 63 percent, 60 percent, 69 percent respectively were found to be the best in terms of assessment results.
The difference in learning levels is starker for English, where 68 percent Grade V could read English Class II level sentences compared to 49 percent public sector students.
For arithmetic 63 percent children enrolled in class V and going to private school can do 2-digit division as compared to 51 percent government school children enrolled in class V.
In some provinces this gap may be getting narrower for instance in Punjab (6 percent). However the private sector edge is a consistent feature. This is corroborated by other studies too in Pakistan.
The conducted survey in the report also explained that boys are outperforming girls in literacy and numeracy skills. As many as 47 percent of boys were found able to read at least sentences in Urdu/Sindhi/ Pashto as compared to 43 percent girls. For Arithmetic, 43 percent of Class V boys were able to do Class II level subtraction as compared to only 39 percent Class V girls. For enrolment, overall girls' enrolment (rural) has been increasing since 2014, from 35 percent to 39 percent in government schools and from 37 percent to 41 percent in 2018 in private schools. If given attention, this increase in enrolment can also lead towards an increase in learning for girls.