Despite adequate funding, access to sanitation, water and education remains elusive for much of the rural population.
KARACHI:
A recent government-commissioned survey has revealed that Punjab has better educational and healthcare facilities compared to other provinces, while Sindh and Balochistan remain the least developed provinces in this regard.
These figures come from the Integrated Household Economic Survey 2024-25, conducted by the federal institution, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The survey is conducted every five years; however, this was the first time a digital survey was conducted.
According to survey data, the overall literacy rate among people aged ten years and above in Pakistan is 63 percent. Punjab has a literacy rate of 68 percent, while Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) each have a rate of 58 percent. Meanwhile, Balochistan has the lowest literacy rate at 49 percent.
Similarly, the highest number of out-of-school children between five and sixteen years of age is recorded in Balochistan. According to the survey, 45 percent of children in Balochistan are out of school, compared to 39 percent in Sindh, 28 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and only 21 percent in Punjab. The survey showed that the childhood immunization rate was higher in Punjab than other provinces. In Punjab, 79 per cent of children received full vaccinations after birth, while the proportion remained at 66 per cent in Sindh, 69 per cent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 54 per cent in Balochistan.
According to the survey, the overall neonatal mortality rate in the country is 35 percent, while the infant mortality rate is 47 percent. A higher proportion of these deaths occur in rural areas, where the rate is 50 percent, compared to 42 percent in urban areas. The survey does not provide details by province for this category.
Surprisingly, Sindh has the highest number of households without sanitation facilities. The survey data showed that 14 per cent of households in Sindh lack sanitation facilities, compared to 12 per cent in Balochistan, while only five per cent of households in both Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) lack such facilities. Sindh is also the only province where a higher proportion of rural residents still depend on hand pumps for drinking water compared to other provinces.
According to the survey, 34 percent of Sindh’s population uses hand pumps and 14 percent uses motor pumps. In rural Punjab, 20 percent use hand pumps, while 43 percent use water pumps. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shows a similar situation, where 12 percent depend on hand pumps and 42 percent on motor pumps. In Balochistan, 8 percent use hand pumps and 21 percent use motor pumps for drinking water.
Taj Mari, president of the National Party in Sindh and former leader of the ruling party in Balochistan, opined that the poor state of basic facilities in Sindh was unacceptable because after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the provincial government was given substantial resources.
“Despite this, there have been no significant improvements in health, education and other basic needs. The main reasons are corruption and lack of merit-based hiring. Even today, most government departments in the province still offer jobs based on recommendations,” Mari noted. Since Taj Mari belonged to a rural area of Sanghar district, he was asked why, according to the survey, the largest number of people in rural Sindh still got drinking water through hand pumps; reflecting a situation not even seen in Balochistan.
“In many areas, hand pumps are installed simply as political bribes to show that money has been spent, even when there is no real need for them. For example, in my area, there is no fresh underground water available, but many hand pumps have been installed that serve no practical purpose,” Mari said.
The Express PAkGazette also tried to get a response from Sindh Chief Minister Abdul Rasheed Channa’s spokesperson by sending him a questionnaire through WhatsApp, but did not receive a response.
