ISLAMABAD: Although the government has spent billions of rupees on the renovation of school/college buildings in the capital under Prime Minister Educational Reforms initiative, it still almost at the bottom among all other provinces/regions, revealed a report issued on Tuesday. According to the report titled ‘The Pakistan @ 70; District Education Rankings’ compiled by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) was at eighth position out of nine in respect of infrastructure, while Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) was at the rock bottom and stood at number 9. The report states the ICT remained at number 8 infrastructure-wise, as it got 33.44 infrastructure score. The availability of electricity rate at primary schools was 63.41 percent, availability of water in these schools was 69.59 percent, and toilets were available at 69.18 percent schools. There are still 32.15 percent such primary-level schools where there is not boundary wall, while 30.63 percent primary schools have no buildings. The ICT was followed by AJK, which received infrastructure score of 24.38. The availability of electricity rate at primary schools was 30.66 percent, availability of water 42.44 percent, while toilets were available at 46.26 percent of such schools. There are still 49.17 percent primary-level schools where there is no boundary wall, while 24.48 percent primary schools have no buildings. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) topped the charts in almost every category. The province secured 73.58 infrastructure score. Other provinces: Punjab, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), stood at second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh number, respectively. However, the ICT secured best position in primary education with 87.85 score followed by AJK that got 87.7 score. The FATA remained at bottom with 52.2 score and Balochistan stood very near at 52.9. Punjab, KP, Sindh and GB obtained scores of 71.83, 65.19, 54.74 and 74.2, respectively. As per the report, the overall primary education situation was not much better, as the country’s primary education score was 67.96 and enrollment score was 67. Very surprisingly, learning score at primary level was hardly at 55.45. Similarly, retention score at primary level was 60.3 and gender parity score was 89.9. Published in Daily Times, August 24th 2017.