Location: Azad Kashmir

Project Duration: 2010-Present

Project Donor: Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi

Introduction:

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a survey addressing the quality of education in Pakistan and AJK, and has been facilitated by ITA since 2010. HDF is partner of ASER in Azad Kashmir. ASER seeks to fill a gap in educational data by seeking to provide a reliable set of data at the national level that is comprehensive and, at the same time, easy to understand.

ASER survey was first piloted in 2009. It covered 02 rural districts in 2010, and afterward all 10 districts were covered in 2011/12/13 and 2014.

Activity Description:

The ASER model is such that 30 villages from each district and 20 households from each village are selected. This gives a total of 600 households per village. The villages are selected using a Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) sampling technique.

ASER is carried out in a campaign mode and is a truly national project. ASER involves ordinary citizens in the process of data collection and survey. In order to train these surveyors, workshops are held where the necessary skills are imparted. After the trainings are completed, the survey takes place and upon its completion, the results are then sent to SAFED by the surveyors through their respective district coordinators.

Objectives:

1. To get reliable estimates of the status of children’s schooling and basic learning (reading and arithmetic) at the district level;
2. To measure the change in these basic learning and school statistics from last year; and,
3. To interpret these results and use them to affect policy decisions at various levels.

As outcome, each year 15 thousand children are assessed and 600 public and private schools are visited for assessment. Finally the report is compiled and shared with stakeholders.