JEHLUM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY | Phnoe (0544) 646532 |
| Rani Nagar , G.T . Road , Jhelum |
Monday, December 21, 2009
Jehlum Chamber of Commerce
Literacy Rate of District Jhelum
Punjab Education Department’s annual literacy statistics for 2006:
Lahore trails Rawalpindi by 5.8%
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: The second largest city in the country was ranked the second most literate district in Punjab with a literacy rate of 64.7 percent. According to the annual statistics issued by the Punjab Education Department, Rawalpindi beat Lahore to the top spot with a literacy rate of 70.5 percent. Jhelum, surprisingly, beat bigger urban centres to claim third place in the rankings with a literacy of 63.9 percent, while Rajanpur district came in last with a poor showing of 20.7 percent.
The rankings also boded well for smaller cities such as Toba Tek Singh, Chakwal, Narowal and Mandi Bahauddin, which ranked higher than larger urban centres with better educational facilities and easier access to higher education, such as Bahawalpur, Jhang, Multan and Mianwali.
Daily Times learnt that the Education Department had marked the province’s 15 least literate districts and will work to fully facilitate education there and take measures such as providing a monthly stipend to female students to give the families an incentive to send them to school. In these statistics, the yardstick for literacy was indicated as a person above the age of 10 who could read or write in the language he/she is being instructed in.
Lahore Executive District Officer (Education) Zahid Hussain Khan said that several variables were at play in determining Lahore’s literacy rate, including diversity of population, a larger land mass and the city’s rapid expansion.
He said that Rawalpindi had multiple advantages since it was a twin city with Islamabad, the federal capital, and was less populated than Lahore. In addition, he said that most residents of Rawalpindi were more well-to-do when compared with the average Lahori family.
However, he said that the Education Department was working to increase literacy in the provincial capital and said that, “the minor gap between Rawalpindi and Lahore would soon be closed”.
He said that a rise in literacy was directly proportional to increased enrolment and a decrease in the number of dropouts from public schools. The EDO said that the department has developed a more efficient system to collect data from the schools and offices in different parts of the city. He said further that district officers had been asked to conduct frequent visits to the schools and keep the department abreast of different developments. The department was also planning to encourage the parents, especially remote areas to enrol their children in schools.
“We are planning to effectively engage school councils, union council members and social welfare organisations to help the department cope with the problems it is facing in a bid to increase literacy,” the EDO said.
Renowned educationist and Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi chairperson, Dr Baela Raza Jamil, told Daily Times that the government needed to go all out in its commitment to the cause of education to increase the literacy rate, especially in the less-literate areas where social and economic exploitation, feudalism and lack of efficient government machinery was hampering educational development.
Baela said further that the government needed to depute its best people to handle educational affairs and start joint ventures with civil society organisations to initiate capacity-building in remote districts.
Districts Literacy Ratio
Rawalpindi 70.5%
Lahore 64.7%
Jhelum 63.9%
Gujrat 62.2%
Sialkot 58.9%
Chakwal 56.7%
Gujranwala 56.6%
Narowal 52.7%
Faisalabad 51.9%
T.T. Singh 50.5%
Attock 49.3%
M. B. Din 47.4%
Sargodha 46.3%
Sahiwal 43.9%
Sheikhupura 43.8%
Multan 43.4%
Mianwali 42.8%
Hafizabad 40.7%
Khushab 40.5%
Khenewal 39.9%
Layyah 38.7%
Okara 37.8%
Jhang 37.1%
Vehari 36.8%
Kasur 36.2%
Bahawalnagar 35.1%
Bahawalpur 35.0%
Pakpattan 34.7%
Bhakkar 34.2%
R.Y. Khan 33.1%
D.G. Khan 30.6%
Lodhran 29.9%
Muzaffar Garh 28.5%
Rajanpur 20.7%
Tehsil and Union of Dist Jhelum
| Tehsil | Unions | Total Unions |
| Jhelum | BADLOT, BOKEN, CHAK KHASA, CHOTALA, DARAPUR, DHANYALA, DINA-I, DINA-II, GARH MAHAL, JEHLUM-VII, JHELUM-I, JHELUM-II, JHELUM-III, JHELUM-IV, JHELUM-V, JHELUM-VI, KALA GUJRAN, KHUKHA, KOTLA FAQIR, MADU KALAS, MONAN, MUGHALABAD, NAKKA KHURD, NARA., PANDORI, SANGHOI, SOHAN | 27 |
| Pind Dadan Khan | AHMEDABAD, CHAK SHADI, DAULATPUR, DHARYALA JALAP, GOLEPUR, GUJJAR, HARANPUR, JALALPUR SHARIF, KANDWAL, KHEWRA-I, KHEWRA-II, LILLA, P.D.KHAN, PINDI SAIDPUR, SAUWAL, TOBA | 16 |
| Sohawa | ADRANA, DOMELI, JAJIAL, KOHALI, LEHRY, NAGIAL, PAIL BANE KHAN, PHULREY SYDAN, PIND MATAY KHAN, SOHAWA | 10 |
| Total Number of Tehsils = 3 and Total Unions = 53 | ||
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