Measuring Gender and Education Quality - The Need for Social Outcomes
Huma Zia, Sahar Saeed and Saba Saeed
Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)10th to 15th March 2014
Participation at CIES Supported by: Open Society Foundation (OSF)
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INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
• Major focus of the global community on school enrollment.• 89% of primary-age children are enrolled in school
(UNESCO, 2012).• Over time progress in reducing out-of-school children has
slowed considerably.• In spite of increase in access learning levels are low-at
least 250 million primary-school age children are not able to read, write or count well enough (GMR,2012).
• Children from poorest households are at least three times more likely to be out of school than children from the richest households (MDG Report, 2013).
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• Gender inequalities and socioeconomic disparities persist (EFA Agenda for South Asia, 2013).
• It is important that in the midst of goal setting for 2015 and post 2015, the unfinished agenda is not left behind.
• Access at the expense of learning is unsustainable!!!
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
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Facts from Pakistan• Pakistan has amongst the widest education inequalities
in the world.
• Two-thirds of Pakistan’s out-of-school children are girls.
• Literacy rates remain higher for urban areas when compared to rural & much higher for boys when compared to girls (clearly reflected in ASER 2013).
• Results from Pakistan (ASER Pakistan 2012/3) reveal a majority of 5-16 to be not achieving grade 2 learning competencies.
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PURPOSE OF STUDY
ASER: ANNUAL STATUS OF EDUCATION REPORT, PAKISTAN
LEARNING GAPS
(WEALTH, PUBLIC
/PRIVATE SCHOOLING)
GENDER DISPARITIES IN LEARNING OUTCOMES(WEALTH)
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METHODOLOGY & SURVEY DESIGN
Using ASER India 2102
data for comparison purposes
only!
Annual Status of Education Report Pakistan
2013: 138rural & 13 urban districts2012: 136 rural & 6 urban districts
Citizen led large scale national household survey (3-16 years)
Quality of education in rural and some urban areas (5-16 years).
Seeks to provide evidence on learning and access.
Learning Assessments (literacy & numeracy), School Observation (Pvt. & Public)
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Evidence of Disparities in EducationThe Case of Rural Pakistan
• The data set used to highlight the challenge of equity and to identify the relationship between students’ performance and the disadvantages they face on account of their background.
• Household indicators captured in ASER used as a baseline to determine the wealth status of households.
• An ASER composite wealth index constructed by integrating all the households indicators in the HH survey form.
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Poorest Poorer Richer Richest0
20
40
60
80
100 9182 75
60
918 25
40
Wealth Index 2012: Enrollment by Type of School
Government Private
% C
hild
ren
RESULTS – Evidence of Disparities in Education: The Case of Rural Pakistan
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4633 27
19
0
20
40
60
80
100
Poorest Poor Rich Richest
% children
Wealth index: out of school children
ASER Wealth Index(Out-of-school children)2012 2013
Overall, percentage of OOSC decreased in 2013 ~ WI 2013
4128 25
17
0
20
40
60
80
100
Poorest Poor Rich Richest
% c
hild
ren
Wealth index: out of school children
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ASER Wealth Index: Learning levels (2012)
• The learning level of children in all three subjects increases for the richest quartile.
• Poorest have the lowest learning levels:(16% Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto, 15% English, and 14% Math) and richest have the highest learning levels (42% Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto, 42% English, and 38% Math).
16 15 1426 25 2332 31 29
42 42 38
0
20
40
60
80
100
Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto: Reading Story English: Reading Sentence Mathematics: Division
% C
hild
ren
Wealth index: learning levels (highest competency levels)Poorest Poor Rich Richest
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ASER Wealth Index: Learning levels (2013)
Follows the same trends as previous year:• Poorest continue to have the lowest learning levels –
although slight improvement can be seen - 19% Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto, 17% English, and 17% Math.
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• The percentage of males and females enrolled in schools improves for the richest.
• Girls lag behind boys disproportionately if poor.
6273 78 84
3955 64 76
020406080
100
Poorest Poor Rich Richest
% Children
Wealth Index 2012: Enrollment by GenderMale Female
Wealth Index: Enrollment by Gender
Poorest Poorer Richer Richest0
20
40
60
80
100
67
77 79 86
47
6368
80
Wealth Index 2013: Enrollment by Gender
Males Females
% C
hild
ren
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Wealth Index: Learning Levels by Gender (2012)
• Learning levels of males and females improve from the poorest quartile to the richest quartile.
• Highest learning levels of females are seen in the richest quartile across the three competency levels (41% Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto, 40% English, and 36% Mathematics).
• Similarly males falling in the richest income group perform better in language and numeracy tasks than children falling in low income groups.
19 18 17
28 27 26
34 33 31
43 4339
0
10
20
30
40
50
Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto:Reading Story
English: ReadingSentence
Mathematics:Division
% C
hild
ren
Wealth index: learning levels - MalePoorest Poor Rich Richest
12 11 10
22 21 18
29 27 25
41 4036
0
10
20
30
40
50
Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto:Reading Story
English: ReadingSentence
Mathematics: Division
% C
hild
ren
Wealth index: learning levels - Female
Poorest Poor Rich Richest
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Wealth Index: Learning Levels by Gender (2013)
• Learning levels of males and females improve from the poorest quartile to the richest quartile.
• Highest learning levels of females are seen in the richest quartile across the three competency levels (42% Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto, 41% English, and 36% Mathematics) – 1% improvement in English & local language.
• WI 2012 & 2013 show similar trends – very slight improvement over the year.
02040
15 13 1225 25 2230 28 2642 41 36
Learning Levels - Females
Poorest PoorerRicher Richest
% C
hild
ren
Urdu: Reading St
ory
English: R
eading Sentence
Mathematics: Divi
sion
02040
21 19 1931 30 28
35 33 3344 43 39
Learning Levels - MalesPoorest PoorerRicher Richest
% C
hild
ren
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Evidence of disparities (Pakistan 2012)
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Evidence of disparities (India 2012)
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Learning Gaps: Public and Private Schooling (Pakistan 2012)
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Learning Levels of children (class 5 - by type of school and province)
Territory Name
Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto(Can read at least story)
English(Can read at least
sentences)Arithmetic
(Can at least do division)
Public Private Public Private Public PrivateNational 46 61 38 63 40 54Punjab 63 71 58 70 54 60Sindh 40 61 23 53 28 43FATA 24 49 20 54 32 54KP 35 51 34 56 34 48GB 50 53 57 66 49 52Balochistan 48 62 28 48 39 40AJK 59 66 52 69 47 57
Learning Gaps: Public and Private Schooling (Pakistan 2013)
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The Need for Social Outcomes• MDGs do not sufficiently address the problem of
intersecting inequalities (wealth, age, grade, public private).
• The strategies do ensure that ALL children are enrolled in school; the critical question is: are ALL children learning?
• The question of learning how much and what, is actively being pursued by South Asian/ African and soon Latin American citizen groups through a rigorous evidence based innovative approach.
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• The results of ASER 2012/3 (Pakistan) suggest that education targets should also focus on learning levels due to disparities.
• Global tools on learning measurement have to be aligned with new realities and challenges (pre primary, primary, post primary).
• Post-2015 development agenda has to involve measuring a broader range of indicators to ensure reflection of intersecting possibilities.
The Need for Social Outcomes
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CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
• Better baseline data and statistics are needed, that are popularly accessible & comprehensible.
• All countries should prioritize learning gaps in children from early grades through high school beyond the age and grade frameworks.
• The culture of assessments should be inculcated in households and communities.
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“It’s important to invest more in children most
excluded & girls to address the factors
hindering the development of such
groups from education as a fundamental right
(5-16 years)”
THANK YOU…
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