Education Policy 1959

The 1959 Education Policy commenced with a harangue on the undesirable attitudes of the

people towards public duty, government, nation-building, manual work and education. It called

upon the people to revise their “concept of government and their relationship to it”, for “a

corresponding transformation ...

Within government and among its officials”, for “a revision of attitudes on the part of the

professional educator”, for “the traditional views toward education ... held by people ... to be

altered”, and so on. It lamented that less than 50 percent of the children of primary school age

were enrolled in schools and recommended eight years compulsory education to make the “child

functionally literate”. Regarding adult education, the Report admitted that “during the last 30

years a number of campaigns have been launched to eradicate illiteracy, but only very limited

results were achieved” Defining the objectives of the educational system, it stated that “the

reorientation and reorganization of education in Pakistan which we have suggested will ...

provide us with the trained manpower, educated citizenry, and competent leadership we require”.

Stating the objectives of adult education, it said:

"the aim of adult education cannot be anything other than the general aim of all

education, i.e., the development of the individual to his full capacity in his

personal and social life so that he may be a happy, healthy and useful citizen

and able to make his optimum contribution to the community in which he

lives ... Starting with the pressing needs and problems of the community

concerned, it may, in the long run, include skills of reading, writing, speaking,
 listening, and calculation; vocational skills; domestic skills; skills of self-

expression in arts and crafts; personal and community hygiene; simple and

practical science; civics; economics; spiritual and moral development; and

training in reasoning and scientific thinking."

The lofty aims were, however, qualified thus: "Before these broader aims can be achieved, the

population must be made literate, and therefore the development of a literate population must be

the immediate primary objective of adult education in Pakistan." It further stated that: “We are

well aware that ours is not the first set of proposals for reform of our educational system. Our

hope is that it may be the first to be translated into both prompt and long-term action.”

A target of achieving compulsory universal enrolment in 15 years, i.e., by 1975, was also

specified. It called for curriculum reform to “develop the basic skills in reading, writing and

arithmetic, a liking for working with one’s own hands, and a high sense of patriotism”, for

religious education to be made compulsory, and for teaching in national languages. It also called

for improved facilities in school buildings and furniture and for involving “the local community

in the opening, upkeep, and operation of primary schools.” To achieve mass literacy, it

recommended somewhat unique, if not fanciful, strategies for eradication of illiteracy. It

proposed:

(i) use of school children as teachers to make their parents literate,

(ii) use of undergraduate college students as adult literacy teachers,

(iii) use of one literate adult to teach another under the "each one teach one" approach. No

target for the literacy rate was specified.