ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday said ‘learning poverty’, currently 75 percent in country according to World Bank study, was the real challenge and the Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the situation.
Launching the Covid-19 Learning Losses Report, he said the Federal Education Ministry had launched a dedicated TV channel ‘ TeleSchool’ in just fifteen days of the first school closure and according to this ITA report 32 percent children watching this channel is good initiation.
The study is aimed at assessing the extent to which the constitutional right to education ( Article 25-A) and Pakistan’s commitment to education SDG-4 has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It evaluated learning losses incurred due to school closures using the ASER assessment tool and identified the extent to which factors like parental education and wealth index of households and access to technology enabled children to continue learning.
Shafqat Mahmood in his virtual address said that this study has drawn the attention towards serious educational issues and it would eventually help in policy formulation.
He said the ministry in collaboration with AIOU, was working on content development. “We are introducing education technology in the sector and
hiring Ed Tech specialists in the ministry to create a hybrid learning
environment”, he added.
He said this would help to improve learning levels of rural areas schools and low income educational institutions across the country. “By merging different organizations I.e. AEPAM & NEAS under the ministry, we are establishing Pakistan Institute of Education ( PIE) which will be state-of-the-art think-tank for data gathering, research and assessment mechanism at the national level, ” he added.
With the support of World Bank 250 million USD, the Federal Education Ministry along with the provinces, will be launching a project for disadvantaged districts to upgrade their infrastructure, to focus on out-of-school children and to reduce the learning poverty, he added.
During the pandemic, to conduct the exams was an uphill task but due to collective decision making through IPEMC, the issue was tackled successfully, the Minister said. “If we did not conduct the examinations, the issue of learning losses might have worsened in higher classes as well, ” he remarked.
Shafqat Mahmood said, in next IPEMC, introducing remedial courses to cover the learning losses will also be discussed.
The minister also highlighted the teachers training programme, Waseela-e-Taleem programme and enhancing the Internet connectivity throughout the country by the government.
Shafqat Mahmood thanked the ITA and ASER to conduct this useful study and assured that, the ministry will closely examine the report and its findings will be incorporated in policy making by the ministry.
The reports was launched by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), with the support of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The launch, held virtually on Zoom, was also attended by Ms. Ellen Van Kalmthout, Chief of Education at UNICEF Pakistan;
M Ali Kemal, Economic Policy Advisor at the SDG Support Unit, Ministry of Planning Development and Reform; Ms. Kim Bradford Smith, Education Team Leader at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO); and Dr. Faisal Bari, Senior Research Fellow at IDEAS Pakistan and the Interim Dean of School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
The study titled ‘Measuring Learning Losses due to Covid-19’ is the first step towards collecting gender disaggregated and focused evidence to assist government as they grapple with impactful response to this pandemic. The estimates reported are from a survey conducted across 16 rural districts of Pakistan, four in each province, using the ASER Pakistan tools. The survey covers a total of 9, 392 households, 25, 448 children aged 3-16 and 21, 589 children aged 5-16 (43 percent 57 percent boys), 457 government schools and 198 private schools.
The report pointed out that enrolment for age group 6-16 has dropped by 2 percent in 2021, as compared to enrolment for the same age group in 2019.
UNICEF Pakistan Education Chief Ellen Kalmthout said the report was a big step forward to think upon what could be done to bring children back to school, especially post-COVID-19 while also creating alternative learning pathways for children. “At the end, children do need schools. They can’t learn on their own.”
During school closures parents/caregivers stepped up to support their children’s learning. Support from household members is reported at 63 percent by children as a very positive response. About 32 percent children reported that their schools provided them with learning materials during the closure periods, whilst 58 percent reported that their school management/teachers/head-teachers never reached out to them.
About 32 percent reported that they took some learning support from PTV TeleSchool programs and 40 percent of children who had smart-phones available in their households, reported that they used phones for continuing learning.
Speaking about this aspect, Kemal said: “63 percent of the children are getting support from their families and over 22 million children are not going to school. Mothers’ education is very important as they teach kids in early years. The overall situation is bleak but we are looking for solutions for out-of-school children that should also include communities.”
The learning losses for children in grade 3 were significant. Class 3 children who can read an Urdu story drops from 19 percent in 2019 to 15 percent in 2021, who can read English sentences from 21 percent in 2019 to 8 percent in 2021 and who can solve 2-digit division from 17 percent to 10 percent.
Smith from FCDO said “While the report demonstrates the need to reorient the education system; we need to focus on getting foundational learning right, address inequalities by focusing on the most marginalised and poorest, and therefore no/low tech options; and finally, invest in teachers’ ability to teach and in family support for better learning outcomes.”
Similarly, Dr. Bari said “The study rightly reports people with no access to technology but we need to do more research on family support as parents who are engaged in jobs are not able to support the children.”
While the study reveals a gloomy picture of learning losses, programmes must be devised to support the learning of all children specially focusing on young children and girls, especially grade 3 for foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN). Education and digital inequities must be tackled through targeted social protection programmes (Ehsaas) for all children – poorest especially girls.
Parents are active stakeholders in children’s education and households demonstrate resilience. Ed-Tech should be expanded for its potential to provide solutions for improved interactive learning. Facilities in schools need urgent maintenance incorporating new standards for safe schools with non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to tackle such unforeseen pandemic in future.