ISLAMABAD: Despite making significant improvements in the educational budget, the incumbent PML-N government could not improve the literacy rate in the country. This year, the literacy rate remained at 58pc, the same as last year.

Last year, the literacy rate saw an annual drop of 2pc from 60pc to 58pc and this year there is no change in the rate, according to the recently released Economic Survey 2017-18. The survey says that the overall education condition is based on key performance indicators such as enrolment rates, number of institutes and teachers which have experienced minor improvement.

The total number of enrolments at national level during 2016-17 stood at 48.062 million as compared to 46.223 million during 2015-16. This shows a growth of 3.97 pc and it is estimated to further rise to 50.426 million in 2017-18.

The Economic Survey stated that the total numbers of teachers during 2016-17 were 1.726 million compared to 1.630 million during last year showing an increase of 5.9pc. This number of teachers is estimated to rise further to 1.808 million in FY 2017-18.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018