The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan 2025 national report, officially released on March 26, 2026, shows that the number of "Out of School Children" (OOSC) aged 6-16 years in Pakistan is now 5 million, not 25 million generally reported. "The findings on access are encouraging. Enrollment levels are high, with 92.2 percent of children aged 6–16 in school and only 7.7 percent out of school", says the ASER Pakistan 2025 report. ASER Pakistan is a citizen-led initiative, primarily led by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in collaboration with various national and international partners to promote foundational learning. It also works closely with over 10,000 volunteers and numerous local civil society organizations such as the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), PAL Network (People's Action for Learning), UNESCO and federal and provincial government departments in Pakistan.
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| Enrolling Out of School Children in Pakistan. Source: ASER Via Bilal Gilani |
The latest ASER report contains a table showing that the 6 to 16 age group has around 66 million boys and girls. Based on these numbers, the out of school children's population is now 5.3 million. Of the total number of enrollees, 62% attend government schools and 27% are in private schools.
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| Number of Out-of-School Children 6-16 Years is 8% (5 million). Source: ASER Pakistan 2025 |
The number of out-of-school Pakistani preschoolers in the 3-5 years age group is 41%, according to the ASER Pakistan 2025 Report. It indicates that most Pakistani parents do not send their children to school before age 6.
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| Number of Out-of-School Children 3-5 Years is 41%. Source: ASER Pakistan 2025 |
Earlier, the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in December 2025 put the OOSC figure for children 5-16 years at 20 million. One important difference is the age bracket: ASER's figure of 5 million is for 6-16 years while the HIES figure of 20 million is for 5-16 years.
While the public spending on education remains low in Pakistan, the private sector spending is higher. Recent data indicates annual education expenditure exceeds Rs. 5 trillion ($18 billion), driven by roughly Rs. 2.8 trillion in household spending (private) and Rs. 2.23 trillion in government (public) funding, highlighting a major shift towards private financing.
The total (public+private) spending on education has been rising. In 2024-25 it was $18 billion in USD terms, twice the national defense budget of Pakistan. This appears to be driving higher school enrollment. In addition to increasing access, the key challenges for Pakistan include improving learning outcomes and reducing drop-out rates at higher grade levels.
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Would be interesting to know the breakdown of how much of US$18 billion is government spending vs private spending vs charitable spending. Considering the amount spent by organizations like TCF and zindagi trust i wouldn't be surprised if the nonprofits are the biggest spenders.
ReplyDeleteZamir
Facebook post by Idara e Taleem o Agahi ITA
ReplyDeleteASER Pakistan 2025 | Scale & Scope (National)
The reach of ASER Pakistan continues to grow, capturing the real picture of education across the country.
- 209,338 children assessed
- 158 districts covered
- 128,768 households surveyed
- 6,227 government schools
- 3,136 private schools
These numbers reflect the strength of citizen-led data in shaping education policy and driving meaningful change.
#ASER2025 #ASERPakistan #Education #DataForDevelopment #LearningOutcomes #Pakistan
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1393883596108227&set=a.626405859522675&type=3
AI Overview
ReplyDeleteAccording to the ASER Pakistan 2025 report released on March 26, 2026, 92.2% of children aged 6–16 are enrolled in school, reducing the out-of-school children (OOSC) figure to 5 million, significantly lower than previous estimates. The report highlights 7.7% of children (6–16) are out of school, with higher enrolment driven by increased private and public spending exceeding Rs. 5 trillion.
Key ASER Pakistan Enrollment Statistics (2025):
Net Enrollment (6-16 years): 92.2%.
Out of School Children (6-16 years): 5 million (approx. 7.7%).
Regional Focus: The data emphasizes rural-urban divides, with rural areas showing high enrollment, but with continued disparities.
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan
Key Trends in ASER Data:
Declining OOSC Figures: Previous, higher estimates (e.g., 25 million) are challenged by recent ASER 2025 data, which notes that the 5 million figure represents the 6-16 age group, whereas other surveys may use different age brackets, such as 5-16.
Gender Parity: Girls' enrollment has improved, with girls performing equally or better than boys in rural literacy and arithmetic.
Private vs. Public Schools: The ASER 2023 report noted a high demand for private schools (46.5% of students in 2021-22), and substantial private household spending on education, estimated around Rs 2.8 trillion.
Pre-school Enrollment: The ASER 2025 report highlighted that 41% of children aged 3-5 are not in school, indicating most parents begin schooling at age 6.
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Pakistan
Methodology & Context:
ASER 2025 covered 158 districts, surveying 128,768 households and 209,338 children.
The 2023 report highlighted that while enrolment is rising, the 2022 floods negatively affected the education of 30% of children, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan.
Interesting and inspiring - but it is data and the govt to private comparison may be off. One would expect many more attending govt schools, unless non profits are playing an exceptional role.
ReplyDeleteI think nonprofits like TCF are making an important difference in growing K-12 enrollment and improving quality of education in Pakistan
DeleteSalam I wanted your opinion on this ASER report. 5 million out of schools dose not reflect the reality. I have been working with TCF for decades and the number is more like 25 to 30 million. I wanted to understand the reality and who these people are and what is the sample size they are working with. Appreciate your candid views
ReplyDeleteI know it’s hard to digest 5 million OOSC figure from a sources when you’ve been hearing 25 million from multiple sources for years. But I personally find ASER credible based on their track record and partners/funders they work with.
DeleteHaving said that, there are difference in methodology. For example, ASER 2025 uses 6-16 years age bracket while other sources use 5-16 years age group. Many parents do not want to send their children to school before age 6. Another difference is better tracking of private vs public schools enrollment. Private schools like those run by nonprofits like TCF are enrolling a lot of kids who were previously out of school.
Here’s the ASER 2025 presentation:
https://aserpakistan.org/document/aser/2025/presentations/ASER-2025-Presentation-National.pdf
I am well aware of the report and it dose not match with the reality - they are using very small size and proving their numbers. You can make any number lie. ASER has been doing a good job related to learning outcomes based on small sample size which does give a fair idea. However the 2025 Report also includes estimates of OOSC based on a very small sample size of 117,580 households out of 38,340,566 households as per 2023 census. That’s just 0.3% and in my opinion doesn’t form a basis of comparison with the OOSC derived through 2023 census. It’s NOT an apple to apple comparison.
DeleteStatistically 117,580 is a very large sample size for a population of 38 million. The ideal sample size for such a large population is 664, according to Qualtrix.
DeleteIt gives you 99% confidence level with a margin of error of 5%
https://www.qualtrics.com/articles/strategy-research/calculating-sample-size/
ASER 2025 adopts a census-based, nationally representative sampling framework using Enumeration Blocks (EBs) from the 2023 Population Census. This replaces the earlier rural–urban split design and aligns ASER with national statistical standards through a stratified, two-stage sampling approach with defined probabilities and weights.
ReplyDeletehttps://aserpakistan.org/FAQs-ASER-2025
The shift was made to:
Improve national representativeness
Strengthen statistical rigor (weights, probabilities, sampling design)
Align with Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) systems
Enhance policy relevance and credibility
This transition allows ASER to function not only as a citizen-led assessment, but also as a dataset that is more directly usable within official planning and monitoring processes.
ASER 2025 serves as a new national baseline under an improved methodology. It provides a more robust snapshot of children’s access and learning levels across Pakistan, which future rounds can reliably build upon.
The transition was undertaken in collaboration with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE). Their involvement strengthens the technical robustness of the survey and supports its integration into national data systems.
Yes. While the methodology is now more closely aligned with official systems, ASER retains its household-based, citizen-led approach, which allows it to capture data on all children—whether in school or out of school—and ensures independent, community-grounded insights.
The 2023 ASER report said 12% of the 6-16 age group were out of school. The 2025 ASER report says that 8% of the 6-16 age group are out of school.
ReplyDeleteUnless there is an unusual number of 5-year olds, the 5-16 age range adds 10% to the 6-16 age group. If we take the ASER numbers, and assume that no 5 year old is in school, then we get not-in-school 19% in 2023 and 16% in 2025.