PESHAWAR: The far-off districts of Torghar, Buner and Karak have stood first, second and third respectively for the second consecutive time in the monthly education ranking for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Peshawar and Swabi were ranked fourth and fifth respectively, while Kohistan, Mardan and Mansehra remained at the bottom of the ranking, the education department said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

The department with the support of the Department for International Development of UK presented the district performance scorecard (DPS) for Feb 2019 during a special ceremony here on Tuesday.

Education dept releases district performance scorecard

The event was held at the directorate of education with additional secretary of the education and secondary education department Irfanullah Mehsud and director (education) Dr Hafiz Ibrahim in the presence of district education officers of all districts, including Frontier Regions and newly-merged tribal districts.

According to the relevant officials, the DPS is meant to improve the performance of district education offices through better governance and data utilisation. It tracks the implementation of district education plans, fosters inter- and intra-district learning and encourages best practices.

Data for the scorecard was obtained from boards of intermediate and secondary educations, independent monitoring units, Provincial Institute for Teachers Education, and School Quality Management Initiative.

The officials said the overall performance on key education indicators was satisfactory. The boys’ schools in Buner achieved their student attendance rate target, while Haripur, Tank and Shangla districts improved the student enrolment.

They said Peshawar and Karak districts achieved their targets for the availability of basic facilities in 93 percent and 73 per cent of schools.

The officials said the overall participation rate of teachers training programme and professional development days was 86 percent.

They said Peshawar, D I Khan, Haripur and Bannu were able to complete 100 percent visits for school quality management initiative.

The officials said the indicators set by the education department for the ranking of district education included student learning outcomes, student attendance rate, enrolment, teachers’ attendance, available facilities, non-functional schools, parent-teacher meetings, development funds utilisation, and percentage of functional biometric devices.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2019