Literacy Trends in Pakistan - UNESCO Islamabad

All this suggests that a considerable number of non-literates, in the form of non-enrolled and dropout children, are being added every year to thealready massive pool of illiterates. It has been estimated that if past trends continue, and no significant acceleration occurs in the rate ofpromotion of literacy, Pakistan could well end up with the dubious distinction of being home to more than 108.7 million non-literates by 2025AD, as per projection procedures adopted in National Education Policy (1998-2010), keeping in view the population growth factor. To preventsuch a denouncement, it is important to launch, a massive national effort aimed simultaneously at the eradication of illiteracy, and Education ForAll (EFA) in accordance with the goals of Dakar Framework of Action.13.5 Lack of Institutional InfrastructureOne of the root causes of sporadic, staggered and half-hearted programmes of adult literacy in the country is that adult literacy and non-formalbasic education have not been institutionalized in Pakistan. There never existed permanent organizational set-up at national and provincial level.In 1981, a Literacy Commission was created at federal level, on adhoc basis, under development budget. Neither was this Commissionconverted into a permanent body (i.e. under re-current budget) nor was any efforts made to staff this important organization with competentexperts and specialists. During 1982-2000, most of the time, the executive posts of the Commission were filled on political grounds but notbased on professional competence or experience of incumbents in the field of literacy and mass education. During 1990s, Balochistan created askeleton structure in the form of Directorate of Literacy and Non-formal Education. After the abolition of National Literacy Commission atFederal level in 2001-2002, Punjab has recently started to shape literacy and mass education in an institutionalized form. Punjab earlierconstituted the Punjab Commission for Literacy and EFA, and now in 2003 a separate Department of Literacy and Non-formal Education headedby a separate Minister, but it is still in its infancy. Sindh and NWFP have not established any institution on a permanent basis for this importanttask. The absence of a system of equivalence of certification for Non-formal basic education institutions is another constraint. The formaleducation system remained reluctant to accepting and recognizing any equivalence for entry into the formal system.14. LITERACY AND FERTILITY-A STRONG CORRELATIONTable VIII-A to VIII-E in Part II of this profile and Table 15 (Part-I), shows that literacy rate has strong correlation with fertility rate. Statisticson literacy rate and fertility rate in Pakistan indicate that the fertility rate is directly dependent on the level of education of mothers. In otherwords, the educational level of mothers inversely influences family size. The illiterate women in Pakistan have 4.71 children on an average,while literate and secondary school certificate holder women have 3.63 –3.21 children. This correlation is quite significant and emphasizes theimportance of literacy and schooling because studies suggests that schooling of girls also affects fertility. Table 15 reveals that among illiteratewomen, Sindh has the highest fertility rate while in the province of Punjab as well as in other provinces, literate women and specifically thedegree holders have the lowest fertility rate.32