Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In 1956, Pakistan adopted a national constitution and became an Islamic republic. In 1971, an ethnic civil war split the original borders of
Pakistan. East Pakistan, the rebelling faction, gained independence from West Pakistan to become Bangladesh.
Pakistan has four provinces (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh), two autonomous territories (Azad Jammu Kashmir, Gilgit-
Baltistan), and one federal territory (Islamabad Capital Territory).
Pakistan’s youth population is growing rapidly, making up over a third of the country’s total working population, a percentage which is
expected to increase through 2025. Pakistan will be challenged to create sufficient jobs to match this youth population growth. But future
workforce success would ask much of a struggling education system, with a high ideal; the Constitution of Pakistan obliges “The State shall
provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law.”
One in ten of the world’s school-aged children are Pakistani. 56% of male students—compared to 44% of their female counterparts—are
attending school. 60% of the country’s population over the age of 10 can read and write, with disparate literacy rates of 69% for males and
45% for females. Yet even the higher male statistic is desperately far behind the world male literacy rate of 90%, and Pakistan’s female
population reads and writes at a rate of just over half that of the world average. In Islamabad, the nation’s capital, the literacy rate is
encouragingly high—87% in Islamabad. In more remote areas, like the rural Balochistani district of Kohlu, just 20% of residents can read and
write.
In many rural communities, existing schools are limited in efficacy by a lack of toilets, clean water, and protective boundary walls. In
mountainous and remote environments, students without access to these essential facilities will often stay home, rather than attend a school
where they are cold, thirsty, or unsafe. And especially for young female students, who need and deserve access to private, sanitary
restrooms, a lack of sufficient toilet facilities is often enough to keep girls away out of fear or embarrassment or convince girls’ families that
they should not attend.
Our work in Pakistan includes construction, scholarships/higher ed, teacher training, women’s literacy and vocational training, and public
health. In 2016, through Central Asia Institute and our supporters, the disadvantaged youth and adults in Pakistan received $1,498,937 in the
form of school construction, scholarships and higher education programs, teacher training, women’s literacy and vocational training, and
public health education.
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In 1956, Pakistan adopted a national constitution and became an Islamic republic. In 1971, an ethnic civil war split the original borders of
Pakistan. East Pakistan, the rebelling faction, gained independence from West Pakistan to become Bangladesh.
Pakistan has four provinces (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh), two autonomous territories (Azad Jammu Kashmir, Gilgit-
Baltistan), and one federal territory (Islamabad Capital Territory).
Pakistan’s youth population is growing rapidly, making up over a third of the country’s total working population, a percentage which is
expected to increase through 2025. Pakistan will be challenged to create sufficient jobs to match this youth population growth. But future
workforce success would ask much of a struggling education system, with a high ideal; the Constitution of Pakistan obliges “The State shall
provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law.”
One in ten of the world’s school-aged children are Pakistani. 56% of male students—compared to 44% of their female counterparts—are
attending school. 60% of the country’s population over the age of 10 can read and write, with disparate literacy rates of 69% for males and
45% for females. Yet even the higher male statistic is desperately far behind the world male literacy rate of 90%, and Pakistan’s female
population reads and writes at a rate of just over half that of the world average. In Islamabad, the nation’s capital, the literacy rate is
encouragingly high—87% in Islamabad. In more remote areas, like the rural Balochistani district of Kohlu, just 20% of residents can read and
write.
In many rural communities, existing schools are limited in efficacy by a lack of toilets, clean water, and protective boundary walls. In
mountainous and remote environments, students without access to these essential facilities will often stay home, rather than attend a school
where they are cold, thirsty, or unsafe. And especially for young female students, who need and deserve access to private, sanitary
restrooms, a lack of sufficient toilet facilities is often enough to keep girls away out of fear or embarrassment or convince girls’ families that
they should not attend.
Our work in Pakistan includes construction, scholarships/higher ed, teacher training, women’s literacy and vocational training, and public
health. In 2016, through Central Asia Institute and our supporters, the disadvantaged youth and adults in Pakistan received $1,498,937 in the
form of school construction, scholarships and higher education programs, teacher training, women’s literacy and vocational training, and
public health education.