Poverty, Gender, and Primary School Enrolment in Pakistan

Abstract

Primary education is at the base of the pyramid of education, and is regarded as a fundamental human right today. In addition, it has several tangible social and economic effects. As an essential component of human capital, primary education plays an important role in the economic growth and development of a country.1 Its impact on several other socioeconomic variables has also been documented in the literature. To quote a few examples, Butt (1984) has found that five or more years of a farmer’s education lead to increased farm productivity, reduced use of farm labour, and increased use of yield augmenting inputs. Azhar (1988) also reports a significant relationship between the number of years of schooling and increase in farm output due to increased technical efficiency. Studies of the rates of returns to education attribute a positive value to the rate of returns to primary education.2 This means that by acquiring primary education one can increase one’s earnings.

Transition in Primary and Secondary Schooling in Pakistan: Gender and Age Cohort Analysis

“…Examining the attainment profiles in Figures 1-3 makes it clear that it is mostly the female population that shows low school entries to begin with, and shows lower chances of completing primary and secondary levels of education. However, previous evidence from Pakistan shows that the shortfall in universal attainment (value of 100) of primary-level education varies across different socio-economic sub-groups of population [Federal Bureau of Statistics (2002); Arif, Saqib, and Zahid (1999); Sathar and Lloyd (1994)]. The attainment deficit problem in Pakistan's educational system is essentially related to low enrolment accompanied by low retention at primary level, especially of girls in rural areas.…”

“…Moreover, the substantial school costs prevent many parents from either enrolling or retaining their children in school. Evidence suggests that the bulk of the deficit comes from poor families, especially in case of decisions relating to girls' schooling [Holmes (2003); Arif, Saqib, and Zahid (1999); Sathar and Lloyd (1994)]. These studies suggest that most girls tend to drop out, or are withdrawn in initial years of schooling for both economic and socio-cultural reasons.…”

“…The few studies undertaken to examine the trends and correlates of educational attainment in Pakistan reveal that the estimates of the primary-and secondary-level enrolment vary between different sources of data and raise questions about the comparability and accuracy of reported information at a given point in time [Khan, Mahmood, and Siddiqui (n.d.); Burney and Irfan (1991); Sathar and Lloyd (1994); Arif, Saqib, and Zahid (1999); Mahmood (2003)]. 2 To deal with this situation, measures of educational attainment for birth cohorts, defined as age groups at a given time, provide a more appropriate basis to determine the actual transition in schooling and to check the consistency in reported information between different sources over a span of time.…”

Gender Analysis of Children’s Activities in Pakistan

“…Similarly the household poverty impacts the schooling of the boys and girls negatively [see also , Arif, et al (1999)] and labour force participation positively. The poverty status of the household impacts the girls' schooling and full-time labour force participation more strongly.…”

Education and Poverty Relationship in Punjab

“…On the basis of secondary data, Arif et al (1999) sought to determine the impact of poverty on primary school enrolment in Pakistan. By using logit technique, they found that the impact of poverty on male and female enrolment was alike but the effect was different as regards income.…”