The independent monitoring unit of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department has reported high dropout rates in primary and secondary schools across at least 25 districts.
The data reveals that over a span of five years, approximately 166,000 students discontinued their education at the primary level. In 2017, out of the total enrollment of 571,163 students, only 404,000 managed to progress to the fifth grade.
When questioned about these alarming dropout rates, Education Secretary Motasim Billah Shah acknowledged the issue but claimed to be unaware of its extent.
The document indicates that within this five-year period, 29 percent of students left school before reaching the fifth grade. Furthermore, 37 percent of girls and 22 percent of boys dropped out before reaching this milestone.
The districts with the highest dropout rates were Kohistan, Torghar, Dera Ismail Khan, and Tank. In Kohistan, a staggering 80 percent of children left school before the fifth grade, while Torghar and Tank recorded dropout rates of 58 percent and 55 percent, respectively.
Over the past five years, 34 percent of children in Peshawar discontinued their education before reaching the fifth grade. Similarly, 34 percent of students in grades six through ten left public schools.
In 2017, approximately 313,000 students were enrolled in the sixth grade, but only around 207,000 made it to the tenth grade.
The Ministry of Education has requested data from the IMU, as no supporting evidence was provided for these statistics, according to Fakhar e Alam, the communication specialist at the Elementary and Secondary Education department in KP. While Alam did not confirm the accuracy of the data, he highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and floods on education. He also mentioned security concerns in the province as a factor contributing to student dropout rates.
