The Journey from SAFED to ASER

South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) SAFED - outcome of a regional conference on “Local Governance, Texts and Contexts: Perspectives from South Asia” February 1-2, 2006 SAFED registered in April, 2008 An information sharing, research and good practice gateway across South Asia Member Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka 3

SAFED’s Areas of Focus Policy and Curriculum Reforms Quality: Teaching and Support Systems; Assessing Learning Levels Up scaling Girls’ Education Education for Sustainable Development Human Rights, Peace and Citizenship Education Education in Emergencies Embedded in linkages with : higher education, gender and partnerships 4

Assessment Survey of Education Report ASER Pakistan a citizens’ initiative 5

ASER PAKISTAN ASER - The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a survey of the quality of education. ASER seeks to fill a gap in educational data by looking to provide a reliable set of data at the national level, that is comprehensive and, at the same time, easy to understand. The survey’s stated objectives are three fold:  To get reliable estimates of the status of children’s schooling and basic learning (reading and arithmetic level)  To measure the change in these basic learning and school statistics from last year  To interpret these results and use them to affect policy decisions at various levels.

ASER PAKISTAN The Annual Status of Education Report - ASER Pakistan is the largest annual survey of rural children done by the citizens of Pakistan every year since ASER is facilitated by SAFED and is carried out by a local organization in rural districts in Pakistan. In 2010, ASER was conducted in 32 districts, over 900 villages and households, and surveyed almost children. From start to finish, ASER takes about 100 days and the report is ready by mid January. ASER asks children whether they are enrolled in school. ASER also asks children to read a simple text and do some very basic arithmetic tasks.

ASER Pakistan 2008, ASER Pakistan 2010 preceded by ASER Pakistan Districts (Pilot) ASER Pakistan ASER Pakistan Districts (Completed) ASER Pakistan Districts ASER Pakistan Districts all districts

ASER PAKISTAN Goal:  To undertake ASER Pakistan for five consecutive years , a rigorous tracking of learning outcomes led by citizens themselves for years children Objectives  To get reliable estimates of the status of children’s schooling and basic learning (reading and arithmetic level) at the district level; and,  To measure the change in these basic learning and school statistics from last year  To share the results for action regionally and internationally to the global reporting and campaigns for quality education for all.  To leverage the results for appropriate education interventions with in- school and out of school children in Pakistan.  To build capacity for citizen led initiatives to improve understanding and options of: where, what and how well students learn

ASER Pakistan – the Architecture District Level 30 Villages per district National Level SAFED Team Collaborating Partner Organizations (Master Trainers MT) & Voluntaries Voluntary Surveyors (VSs) (CBOs, NGOs, Colleges, Universities) Provincial Level 2008: 11 District s 2010: 32 Districts 2011: 70 Districts = All Districts Chief Collaborating Partners (CCP) External Collaborator (ASER India, PCE) Village Level 20 Houses per Village

ASER ‘S LEARNING ASSESSMENT – TOOLS Reading Tools: Reading tools have been developed in three languages - Urdu, Pashto and Sindhi. Children can choose to be tested in a language of their own choice. Therefore, the ASER team has a set of tools in any basic language that the child is likely to know. There are four levels used in tools for assessing reading which are as following Alphabets/grade 1 level text Words/grade 1 level text Easy Paragraph/Class 1 level text Simple Story/Class 2 level text English Language Tools: (Reading & Comprehension) Reading: There are four levels used in tools for assessing reading – Capital alphabets – Small alphabets – Simple words /grade 1 level text – Easy sentences /Class 2 level text Meanings – There are two levels used in tools for assessing comprehension which are as following – Meaning of words: (after the child has been marked at “word” level) – Meaning of sentences: (after the child has been marked at “sentence” level)

ASER ‘S LEARNING ASSESSMENT – TOOLS Arithmetic Tools: There are four categories used in the arithmetic tool for assessing basic numeracy skills of children. These include: Number recognition 1 to 9: Number recognition 11 to 99: Subtraction: Division: Mothers’ literacy tool Mothers are ONLY be asked to read the SENTENCES Other Tools Household Survey Form Village Map School Survey Form a) Government School: Attendance teachers/students; Facilities and Grants b) Private School: Attendance teachers/students; Facilities and Grants

CHARACTERISTICS OF ASER PAKISTAN In ASER, every year, we will retain 20 villages from the previous year and 10 new villages will be added. Ten villages will also be randomly dropped each year from the previous year’s list, and 10 more villages will be added from the population census village directory. The 10 new villages will also be chosen using PPS. 20 old villages and the 10 new villages give us a “rotating panel” of villages, for more precise estimates of changes. ASER will be carried out in an inclusive campaign mode as a national movement by citizens. SAFED involves ordinary citizens in the process of data collection and survey empowering them with an accessible tool for evidence gathering & action ASER Associates (2 per district) will be selected each year to be trained in the practice, theory and research skills of ASER through a formal modular training lasting days. Workshops will be held at the national, provincial and district levels to train surveyors with necessary skills. Survey undertaken within 6 weeks and results sent to the central secretariat for ASER Pakistan for consolidation and launch co-planned with ASER Centre India A communication strategy will be finalized for the ASER findings and dissemination – support and skills will be mobilized from ASER Centre India Reports generated and final national and disaggregated reports and policy briefs prepared for the launch.. shared with the global monitoring report team in UNESCO to reflect this data not just coming with validity at the national levels but also regionally and globally (ASER Inida, ASER or UWEZO 2009) NEAS/PEC other assessment initiatives will be kept in the loop, informing them about ASER Pakistan and activity seeking synergies

How is ASER different from Other Assessment Initiatives in Pakistan? National Education Assessment System Punjab Examination Commission Annual Status of Education Report NEAS established in late 90s. A country-wide institutional presence – 9 outposts to build assessment capacity at provincial and federal levels for measuring learning outcomes, inform policy and improve quality. NEAS /its provincial centres conducted 3 rounds of subject- based assessments NEAS is a sample-based national assessment for grades 4 th and grade 8 th in four subjects: Language, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. ( PEC is a provincial initiative of the government of Punjab. Established in 2006 to address the Quality Challenge. PEC is an autonomous body to administer examinations for grades 5 and 8 in all subjects of both public and private schools. It is mandatory for the public sector and assisted private schools to appear in PEC exams. To date three rounds of assessments have been held in 2006, 2007 and 2009 ( ASER Pakistan 2008 a household based citizens led survey to measure reading, comprehension and numeracy skills for children between the ages of Launched in 2005 by Pratham, NGO/India). Conducted consecutively each year ( ) across all districts with a rural focus – ASER Centre Compared to govt. administered NEAS and PEC, ASER Pakistan is a household based rural survey examining generic skills of numeracy and literacy for Grades I & Grade II

ASER Pakistan Rural FINDINGS 16

In-School& Out of School Children - Types of Schools 17 Age Group Pre- Schooling (%) Schooling Status (Class 1 - on ward) (%) Out of School (%) Total (%) Governm ent Private Madrassa h Others Drop- out Never Enrolled In-School : 85% Out of school: 15% Govt. Schools: 76.5% Private Schools: 22% Madrassah/Others : 1.6%

Out of School Children by Gender 18 Of the out of school children surveyed (15%) in the age group 3-16 years. 11.2% of all children never enrolled in any type of schools. 3.8 % of all the children (1408) are drop outs. 54.6% of out of school children (2,503) are females.

Learning Ability of the Age Group Years 19 Reading: 16,737 children were tested on their reading abilities. 31.9% were able to read the story text or level - II text 15.2% were able to read Para text. or level - I text 16.1% of the children were able to read words 14.8% were able to read letter and 22% were categorized as beginners or can’t read. Arithmetic: 16,737 children were tested on their arithmetic abilities. 25.5% were able to do division correctly (3 digits divided by single digits with carry) 17.7% were able to do subtraction correctly (2 digits subtraction with Carry) 20.5% of the children were able to recognize numbers from % were able to recognize numbers from 1-9 and 22.5% of the children were categorized as beginner or can’t even recognize numbers

Attendance School with Std 1-5Std 1-8Others Average Children attendance79%72% 74% Teachers Attendance 75%82%76% 78% PTR % 20 Teachers Attendance is over all 78% Primary level 75%; Elementary : 82% Children’s Attendance overall : 74% Primary level 79%; Elementary level 72%

Facilities: Provision and Use 21

58 % Male and 42% female

ASER Pakistan 2010

Access – Children (6-16 Years) School Enrollment and Out of School Children First time Use of Age Band 6-10 years according to NEP 2009 %Children In Different Types Of Schools% Out of School Total Age Group Govt.Pvt.MadrasahOthers Never Enrolled Drop- out Total By Type

15% 32% 35% 6% 5% 3% 15% Over all = 20% Out of School Children (Age 6-16 years)

Access – Children (6-16 Years) School Enrollment and Out of School Children

Enrollment and Out of School Children (Age 6-16 years) Proportionately More Girls in Private Schools.. Households do pay for Girls’ Education! Echoing trends of GMR..slightly more Girls are out of school than boys … up to age 13

Access – Children (6-16 years) Gender Gaps

Access – Children (6-16 Years) Gender Gaps

Access – Children (6-10 Years) Gender Gaps

Access – Children (6-10 Years) School Enrollment and Out of School Children Sr #DistrictsSchooling Out of School 1 Islamabad99%1% 2 AJK97%3% 3 Gilgit95%5% 4 Punjab92%8% 5 KPK89%11% 6 Sindh72%28% 7 Balochistan67%33% National 83%17%

Access – Children (3-5 Years) School Enrollment and Out of School Children Age GroupGovt.PrivateMadrasahOthers Out of school (%) Total Total By Type EFA/NPA target = 50% enrollment by 2015 In PAKISTAN it is QUALITY as key challenges with hardly any teachers/ Training on ECE or infrastructure in govt. schools - encouraging early drop outs !

The EFA National Plan of Action Target 50% by Are we almost there ? But what is the quality of access and learning ? Children in Pre School (Age 3-5 years) Over all = 45% 33% 31% 48% 64% 73% 68% 52%

Access – Children (3-5 Years) School Enrollment and Out of School Children

Class-wise Enrollment Diminishing return.. Disappearing children adding to the out of school stock

Class-wise Enrollment Gender GAP Diminishing return.. Disappearing children adding to the out of school stock

Private Tuition by School Type School/ Class Govt.6.6%7.1%8.0%9.3%10.8%10.7%11.7%16.4%21.8%17.9% Pvt.20.8%26.1%25.3%28.6%28.9%28.6%26.2%29.7%31.5%26.7%

22% 5% 6% 12% 9% 28% 9% Over all = 14% Paid Tuition (Govt. & Private Schools)

Learning Levels

Learning Levels (Government and Private) not controlled for differences in learning

Learning Levels- Gender Gaps

Learning Levels- Language Gender Gaps

Learning Levels- English Gender Gaps

Learning Levels- Arithmetic Gender Gaps

Learning Levels Out of School Children - Opportunity for Second Chance Programs Children in schools when not learning well are at risk of dropping out throughout the school cycle.. Adding to the pool of OOSC!

Attendance

Water Facility

Toilet Facility

School Grants School Funds Grants received by school Government SchoolPrivate School Primary (1-5) Elementary (1-8) High (1-10) OtherPrimary (1-5) Elementary (1-8) High (1-10) Othe r No. of school received any grant Average amount of Grant

Mothers' Literacy

Mother’s Education and Child Development (Lahore)

Upcoming Policy Briefs Comparisons Across Provinces Gender ECE Enrollment trends by gender Education provision; Public ; private ; madrassahs and others Learning Levels by Gender Learning Levels by Public and Private Learning Gaps Public & Private controlling for differences – regressions Tuitions – public and private Out of School Children – policy implications Governance - Attendance of Students & Teachers – Public and Private Facilities in Public and Private Schools Mothers Education /Literacy

Weblinks For All Advocacy Needs Kindly look up the website for updates and quick access district wise and overall For media coverage look up. tml tml

Partnerships for ASER Pakistan 2011 Rs. 300,000 per district including training; survey and basic dissemination ASER 2011 and onwards in a consortium mode many supporters can do this by district In 2011 establishment of ASER Centre to train 2 ASER associates per district through certification across Pakistan - 60 day training and 40 days implementation - multiplying capacity A citizen led sequel 16 weeks CHALO PARHO BARHO to improve literacy and numeracy levels classes 1-5- Sept- Jan each year to be measured by ASER. Rs. 100 per learner Second Chance Learners Program in the design phase for catching up and reintegrating drop outs OPEN CALL FOR PARTNERS Need Partners and Many Players

END