SHANGLA: Over 70 per cent of girls between five and 16 years are out of school in Shangla and Kohistan districts due to lack of facilities, infrastructure and poverty, according to the District Education Rankings Report released on Saturday by Alif Ailaan, a nongovernmental organisation.

According to data compiled by the NGO, Shangla is ranked 120 of the 145 districts of Pakistan, while it ranks 23 of the 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The report said that almost 83 per cent of the total government schools in the district catered only to the primary level needs. There are 723 government schools in the district of which 603 are pri-mary schools. Of these schools, 73 per cent (527) are for boys and 27 per cent (196) for girls.

The report said that 50 per cent of the total children aged between five and 16 years are out of school in Shangla. It said that 35 per cent of all the boys and 70 per cent of the girls are out of school in the district. Similarly, in Kohistan district about 60 per cent of the total children are out of school, including 82 per cent of girls and 43 per cent of boys.

The report noted that net enrolment rate at primary level was 33 per cent, which dropped to 10 per cent at the middle level and only 4 percentathigh schoollevel.

Net enrolment rate of girls at the primary level is 28 per cent whereas for boys this percentage is higher at 37 per cent. Almost 86 per cent students are enrolled in government schools and 14 per cent in private schools. The report mentioned the average number of years spent in school for Shangla is three. Females, on average, spend one year in school whereas males spend an average of five years, the report said.It says that poverty is a key factor in this regard as 62 per cent of the children belonging to the poorest families are out of school whereas only 22 per cent children from rich households are out of school. It states that 47 per cent of all the children aged between five and 16 have never seen a classroom.

The report claimed that the quality of education was also weak, as 75 per cent of class-5 students can`t read a simple story in Urdu (text of class-2), 68 per cent of class-5 students can`t read a sentence in English (text of class2), and 84 per cent of class-5 students can`t do class-3 level two-digit division.

According to the report, water is not available in 62 per cent of the primary schools, while 78 per cent of schools do not have electricity.

On average,around54 students are taught by one teacher at the primary level, it said.

Regional coordinator of Alif Ailaan, Hafeezur Rehman, told this scribe that situation regarding education was very bad in Shangla, Kohistan, Battagram and Torghar districts where there was a dire need for improvement.