Islamabad :The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the world’s largest crisis like 2nd world war, it impacted the economy and all other sectors including health and education. The world is observing new normal and seems to be adopting it. The country’s human development index rankings are very less in number and there is a need to create emergency in the country on all the sectors of human development index, said, Mrs. Farah Hamid Khan, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training.
While addressing at the seminar organized by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Mrs. Farah Hamid Khan said that, the COORDINATED GAP ANALYSIS Key findings report developed by NCHD and IRC will be very useful for the policymakers and organizations engaged in development initiatives in the country. She encouraged NCHD to make this report a live document and advised to contribute in other sectors as it has outreach in large number of districts.
While highlighting the initiatives of Ministry of Education and Professional Training, Mrs. Farah Hamid Khan, Federal Secretary further said that, MoE has taken varied initiatives to provide quality education to the children and working on Education, Policy and Research for the data collection, research for policy analysis to enhance the role of provinces in education.
Col. (Retd) Dr. Amirullah Marwat, Chairman NCHD said that, the COVID-19 pandemic precautionary measures are not being adopted by people in general and it cause increasing cases in the country. It is important that, people should be aware on adopting the guidelines and adopt social distancing practices to protect each other from this pandemic.
He further said that, NCHD is thankful to IRC for joining hands with us for making this analysis happen and this report will provide an insight to the decision-makers in developing sustainable initiatives.
The study can help us a lot in devising new techniques and strategies for better and faster learning as a lot of time has already wasted due to this pandemic. It would also facilitate to develop a policy in future to improve teaching learning process in such contexts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped at national borders. It has affected people regardless of nationality, level of education, income or gender. But the same has not been true for its consequences, which have hit the most vulnerable hardest. When there arouse such disasters precautionary measures only help you out from it. The only precautionary measure that works in such situations is social awareness” said, Mr. Hassan Baig, Director General NCHD while addressing the participants at the “launching ceremony of Coordinated Gap Analysis COVID-19 Report”.
National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with IRC-IVAP has organized the launching ceremony to highlight the key findings of Coordinated GAP analysis conducted in 41 districts covering 16,400 household. The sample was distributed to urban and rural areas, 20 villages from each district were covered including 90 key informant interviews. The event was attended by officials from Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, UNESCO, UNICEF, Hope-87’, ALIGHT, Acted, BISP, JICA- Pakistan, Academy of Educational Planning and Management, National Education Assessment System, National Education Foundation, Federal Directorate of Education, NCHD and IRC.
A presentation was delivered about the key findings of Coordinated Gap Analysis. The report depicts that during the lock down period people availed health services from government hospitals/ BHUs 18.90%, private clinics 37.60%, self medication 24.20%, Homeopathic 2.20% and 15.60 % consulted local practitioners. 20% of the family member caught COVID-19 from the household patients. 51% member faced stigma due to lockdown. Symptoms of aggressive behavior, sadness, depression, substance abuse, anti-social, sleeplessness, and less willing to take care of the siblings were observed during the situation. Talking about the impact towards education report reveals that different modes were opted by the children, 6.2 % utilized Government Tele School Session, 8.40% go for online School arrangements, 7.40% used assignment based tasks, 69.2% availed self studied with parents. Closure of schools interrupted learning of 57.50 % pupils and resulted in dropout increase to 13.40%. Report further highlight that 89.90% source of income was negatively affected by this pandemic and lockdown.
Participants provided their suggestions in light of the highlights of study. These suggestions will support in finding a way forward to both the parties.