Ninth Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy Human Capital Development for Sustained Economic Growth/ Public School System in Sindh: Empirical Insights

Abstract

In this paper we present descriptive statistics on the Government School Education System in Sindh. The data are obtained from latest administrative annual school census in Sindh (2011-12). Schooling System in Sindh comprises 48,932 schools of which 47,000 are primary, middle and elementary schools making Sindh one of the densest public schooling systems in the world with almost 1.8 schools catering to 1000 people in rural Sindh. Functional schooling capacity is low however with less than 15% of these schools having at least two teachers and access to basic facilities including toilet, drinking water supply, electricity and boundary wall. Against the backdrop of this massive schooling system in Sindh we examine key trends of education outcomes using Pakistan Living Standards and Measurement Surveys (2004-05-2010-11). Net enrollment rates (NERs) at primary, middle and secondary levels in Sindh have at best stagnated from 2007-2011 after a sharp increase registered in 2006; this trend is similar to the rest of Pakistan. Gains in NERs vary significantly across districts with some districts performing exceptionally better than the others. Finally, we cross-validate the statistics presented in the paper using independent household and school level census data of 300 communities for an ongoing impact evaluation study in three districts of rural Sindh.