Annual Status of Education Report: ASER-Pakistan 2013; national

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan went bigger this year, collecting data from 138 out of a total of 145 rural districts/agencies across Pakistan. ASER Pakistan 2013 will be the largest data set available to researchers and planners in Pakistan regarding learning levels of children aged 5‐16 years in government and non‐state schools, disaggregated by gender, sector and geography. The trends highlighted by ASER 2013 are provocative and reinforce the urgency to address the education emergency in Pakistan. Twenty‐one percent of all school aged children, predominantly girls in rural areas, are still out of school. Around fifty percent children enrolled in 3rd grade will move to the next grade without being able to perform two‐digit subtraction. These education gaps are distressing because they translate into bigger problems on the macro level, inversely affecting quality of life, economic growth, and choices open to citizens to improve well‐being.