Comment by Riaz Haq on April 2, 2026 at 5:56pm

Facebook post by Idara e Taleem o Agahi ITA

ASER 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


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Comment by Riaz Haq on April 2, 2026 at 6:15pm

AI Overview
According 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.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 4, 2026 at 5:05pm

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.

https://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.

Comment by Riaz Haq 7 hours ago

Benazir Nashonuma Programme: Delivering Breakthrough Results in Preventing Malnutrition - Pakistan | ReliefWeb

https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/benazir-nashonuma-programme-d...

Operating under Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) – the country's flagship social protection programme – the Benazir Nashonuma Programme has become a cornerstone in the fight against malnutrition in Pakistan.

The final results of the cohort study of the Independent Impact Evaluation presented in May 2026 show some of the strongest results ever documented globally for a nutrition programme, with impact on stunting reduction and child survival. The evaluation is conducted by the Institute for Global Health & Development at Aga Khan University and funded by the Gates Foundation. It followed two groups from early pregnancy – Nashonuma participants and non-participants – both enrolled in BISP Kafaalat.

The evaluation has documented significant impact on maternal outcomes, including full coverage of antenatal care (at least once), improved pregnancy weight gain (+24 g/week), and 0.36 g/dL smaller decline in hemoglobin concentration among Nashonuma participants. It also showed lower adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight reduced by 6%, preterm births by 11%, and small vulnerable newborns by 7%. For child health outcomes, stunting at 6 months was 22% lower among Nashonuma beneficiaries (equivalent to 9.4 percentage-points), especially reflecting improved maternal nutrition, and at 12 months, it was 18% lower (equivalent to 10.1 percentage-points). The evaluation also found reduced child anemia by 12%, increased full immunization coverage by 17%, while <25% of women achieved adequate dietary diversity.

Launched in 2020, the Benazir Nashonuma Programme targets pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 2, focusing on the pivotal first 1,000 days. Through its integration with BISP, Nashonuma can reach the most vulnerable mothers and children. The programme is delivered through 578 facilitation and 169 stabilization centers and has reached 4.6 million women and children so far.

Nashonuma provides a comprehensive package of nutrition-specific and -sensitive interventions:

1. Antenatal and postnatal care services, child growth monitoring and immunization.
2. Awareness sessions, Social Behavior Change to foster positive maternal, infant and young child nutrition, health, hygiene, breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
3. Conditional cash stipends provided by BISP.
4. Provision of specialized nutritious food (SNF) and Multi-Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for mothers and children. SNF consists of 75 and-50 grams of nutrient-packed paste to complement the diet by filling nutrient gaps.
5. Screening and Management of Moderate and Severe Acute Malnutrition for children and mothers, including lifesaving treatment.

The Nashonuma Programme is managed by the Government of Pakistan under BISP. The World Food Programme (WFP), in close partnerships with Health Departments, supports the management of the 578 Facilitation Centers and the procurement and distribution of SNF to prevent stunting. The centres also screen for, and manage, acutely malnourished children and women. Severe cases with medical complications are referred to one of the 169 nutrition Stabilization Centres supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which provide lifesaving medical treatment and therapeutic milk (F-75 and F-100), as well as Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). UNICEF provides RUTF for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, MMS for women’s micronutrient deficiencies, and manages Social Behavior Change Communication & community engagement.

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