Despite adequate funding, access to sanitation, water and education remains difficult to achieve for a large part of the rural population.
KARACHI:
A recent survey conducted at the request of the government revealed that Punjab has better educational and health facilities than other provinces, while Sindh and Balochistan remain the most underdeveloped 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 carried out every five years; however, this was the first time a digital survey had been conducted.
According to the 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 number of out-of-school children aged between five and sixteen years is highest 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 child vaccination rate was higher in Punjab than in other provinces. In Punjab, 79 percent of children received full vaccinations after birth, while this proportion stood at 66 percent in Sindh, 69 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 54 percent 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 greater 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 toilets. The survey data showed that 14 percent of households in Sindh do not have toilets, compared to 12 percent in Balochistan, while only 5 percent of households in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) do not have such facilities. Sindh is also the only province where a higher proportion of rural residents still rely on hand pumps for drinking water compared to other provinces.
According to the survey, 34 percent of people in Sindh use hand pumps and 14 percent use motor pumps. In rural Punjab, 20 percent use hand pumps while 43 percent use water pumps. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa presents a similar situation, where 12 percent depends 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 Sindh National Party and former leader of the ruling party in Balochistan, said the poor condition of basic facilities in Sindh was unacceptable as after the 18th constitutional amendment, the provincial government received substantial resources.
“Despite this, there has been no significant improvement in health, education and other basic needs. The main reasons are corruption and lack of merit-based recruitment. Even today, most ministries 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 never before seen situation 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 example, in my area, fresh groundwater is not available, and yet many hand pumps have been installed without any practical purpose,” Mari said.
The Express PK Press Club also tried to get a response from Sindh Chief Minister Abdul Rasheed Channa’s spokesperson by sending him a questionnaire via WhatsApp, but no response was received.
