PAGE Blog Business Weekly Magazine
No doubt, literacy rate is one of the significant indicators of education as its development is probable to have a long run impact on other significant indicators of nationwide welfare. Punjab, Pakistan’s greatest province, has taken various education reform measures to enhance outcomes.
However, about a quarter of school age children are still not attending school either because they never enrolled or because they dropped out early.
Low transition rates to secondary education are of special concern.
Moreover, present assessments have revealed that students’ knowledge and comprehension of basic subjects stays alarmingly low. Enhanced learning in schools is therefore another significant issue. Patterns in learning attainment in Punjab indicate the significance of school level factors, implying that a good school could make up for other socio-economic and regional disparities. Better quality schools also attract more students from the poorest families, because when parents expect better returns from education, the time and resources spent on schooling becomes worthwhile.
According to the present PSLM (Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement) survey FY2013-14, the literacy rate of the population (10 years and above) is 58 percent as against to 60 percent during FY 2012-13 showing a fall of 2.0 percent. The survey revealed that literacy rate stays higher in urban regions (74 percent) than in rural regions (49 percent), and is more prevalent for men (81.0 percent) as against to women (66.0 percent) in urban regions. Province wise statistics suggests that Punjab leads with 61 percent followed by Sindh with 56 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) with 53 percent and Balochistan with 43 percent.
During FY2014-15, Punjab government has allocated Rs48.31 billion against previous year Rs23.31 billion, a rise of 107 percent for 532 development projects (325 on-going and 207 new schemes) for education which includes school education Rs28.10 billion, higher education Rs14.05 billion, special education Rs0.80 billion, literacy Rs2.40 billion and sports & youth affairs Rs2.96 billion.
Presently it is also reported that the government completed award of 1.0 lakh scholarships in education and doubled the enrolment of students of other provinces in the universities of Punjab. It set the goal of attaining 100 percent enrolments in school by May 2016 although it had missed the UN-set millennium target for the outgoing year.
University Of The Punjab
The University of the Punjab is the greatest and the oldest seat of higher learning in the country. It was the first to be organized in the sub-continent in Muslim majority region. The fact that two Nobel laureates are from this University speaks volumes for its academic and research fineness. Located in the historical and culturally alive city of Lahore, Punjab University has played a leading role in higher education in Pakistan.
The management of the University strives to offer a conducive environment for the pursuit of the academic activities. On account of its quality degrees, pleasant environment and minimum tuition fees the University stays the institution of first choice for admission seeking students.
LUMS
The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is a world class academic institution with a proud history of attainment, and ambitious ideas for the future.
The plan of organizing the university took root in the mind of management, who is the guiding spirit behind the university. Through the charter, the University was given the legal right to organize degree-granting programs.
In addition to this, the government also granted authorization to organize other schools under the aegis of LUMS.
