ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is at least 50 years behind in its primary and 60 years behind in its secondary education targets, according to the UN Global Education Monitoring Report, 2016.
The report was released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Tuesday. The target world leaders set for all children to have at least a primary education by 2030 will likely be missed if current trends are to continue, the UNESCO report warned. The report further said chronic under-funding in the education sector is a crucial factor deterring nations from achieving the target.
According to the report, the literacy rate of males in rural areas from the low-income bracket in Pakistan is 64 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for their female counterparts. The report further said in Pakistan, only about 10 per cent of poor children completed lower secondary school, compared to 75 per cent of rich children in 2014.
The deadline on universal education was agreed as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) an ambitious plan to end poverty, hunger, advance equality and protect the environment. According to UNESCO, education is key to every aspect of sustainable development, including achieving increased prosperity, better health and greater gender equality as well as bringing violence under control.
Achieving universal upper secondary education by 2030 in economically challenged countries could lift 60 million people out of poverty by 2050, the report further argued. The GEM report said conflict is one of the greatest obstacles in making quality education common, keeping over 36 million children out of school. Around 263 million children are currently out of school globally, it said, adding almost 30 per cent of children from the poorest households in underdeveloped countries have never been to school.
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