With nearly 67 percent of its population below the age of 30, Pakistan stands as one of the youngest nations in the world. This vast youth bulge presents us with a golden opportunity to capitalise on a potential “demographic dividend,” while also presenting the challenge of providing adequate services, jobs and engagement opportunities for our youth.
While the country has reached middle-income status and made some progress in developing its human capital, the pace has been slower than that of other developing countries and regional peers. The sluggish pace of human capital development poses challenges not only to realising this potential demographic dividend, but also to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and attaining upper-middle-income status by 2047. Among the critical factors in human capital development, providing quality and inclusive education is of paramount importance
Recently, the Planning Commission integrated various school education indicators into a holistic composite index at the district level. The objective is to make data available in a form that is easily understood and utilized, by policymakers and other stakeholders, to inform advocacy, policy planning, resource allocation and accountability around school education.
The District Education Performance Index (DEPIx) is a comprehensive tool that measures the performance of education systems at the district level, focusing on key outcomes, such as access, learning, equity; processes such as governance; and inputs including public financing and infrastructure.
The DEPIx is structured across five domains: Infrastructure & Access, Learning, Inclusion (Equity & Technology), Governance and Management, and Public Financing. A total of 34 indicators have been used to measure these domains.
The District Education Performance Index is a tool to measure the performance of education systems in districts across the country. While the findings paint a grim picture, including disparities across provinces, it also provides a starting point for policymakers and stakeholders to drive meaningful change…
DEPIx covers 134 districts across Pakistan, including Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The report covers the years from 2020-23, depending upon availability of data. The report classifies districts into five education performance categories: very high, high, moderate, and low.
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