Background to 

the difficulty
The globalization process, which has gained such rapid ground within the recent
decades, are often said to possess had a huge contribution towards the appliance of neo-
liberal policies round the world. Using this context, it becomes easier to trace the designs of
Pakistan’s education policies over the years. Global control is clear altogether aspects of
Pakistan’s governance; a fate similar for other developing nations that are heavily  hooked in
to aid .These global powers successively have propagated two important components of
neo-liberal policies which consisted of heavy involvement from the private sector,
mainly within the shape of privatization and public private partnerships (PPPs).
The First Five-Year Plan (1955-60)
Secondary education greatly needs strengthening through emphasizing the history and
beliefs of the country by developing individual character and dignity; balancing literacy
studies with improved courses in Mathematics and Science; and adding courses to
organize pupils for careers in agriculture, teaching, welfare , commerce and industry
Number of middle/junior high schools increased from 1517 (156 female) in 1955 to (281
female) in 1960. This included 470 schools managed by Government, 1263 by local bodies
and 137 by private agencies /organization. Number of high schools increased from 747 (148
female) in 1955 to 1069 (205 female) during 1955- 1960. This included 381 schools
managed by government, 293 by local bodies and 395 by private organizations.
The Second Five Year Plan (1960 -65)
Iqbal (1993) stated that consistent with the second five year plan, the most objectives
of education arc: (a) integration of middle classes in higher secondary schools, (b)
diversification of courses. (c) Guidance programmers. (d) Opening of residcntia1 schoo1s,
(e) to extend enrollment aged group from 12 percent (1960) to 16 percent (1965).
The Third Five-Year Plan (1965 -70)
Iqbal (1993) states that consistent with the third five year plan, the most objectives
of education are: ((ii) expansion of educational facilities. Opening of comprehensive
schools, (iii) upgrading of middle schools to high schools and improvement of existing
schools (iv) emphasis on science and arithmetic , (v) to supply the people with requisite
skills and intellectual ability to satisfy the requirements of an expanding economy
Non-Plan Period (1970 -78)
to achieve an enrollment ratio of 40:60 between the humanities and sciences programmes
Fifth Five-Year Plan (1978-83)
The fifth plan marks a fundamental recording of national priorities in favor of primary
education and vocational and technical training. In secondary and
better education there'll be a shift of emphasis from quantitative expansion to qualitative
improvement. In achieving these twin objectives, the state will have substantially increased
the proportion national resources to education by the top of the plan.
The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1983-88)
Despite the range of educational requirements of scholars , there's a tough core of subjects
including Islamyat, Pakistan Studies, Languages, Mathematics and Science which need to be
essentially studied by all students so as to possess correct understanding of Islamic
principles and Pakistan ideology on the one hand, and a sound academic base on the
opposite . in sight of the rapid technological advances resulting from scientific inventions
and discoveries, study of strong courses in Science and arithmetic is becoming increasingly
essential for all students. Hence teaching of those subjects will receive special emphasis in
development of education (Govt. of Pakistan, 1983).
The Seventh Five-Year Plan 1988-93
The beginnings of privatization and PPP schemes are often traced back to the establishment
of the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) in 1991. The PEF was formed as an
autonomous body in 1991 through the Act of the Punjab Assembly. the aim of its creation
was to market private and public responses towards education and to enhance education
quality in rural Punjab (Maryam et al., 2018). This involve private investors in building new
schools for the general public . Since its inception, this autonomous body has used a
demanddriven approach towards solving the matter of delivering education to the general
public , and has privatized thousands of faculties .
This market based approach has drawn widespread support from international agencies,
namely the planet Bank and Department for International Development (DFID), UK. These
agencies provided funds exclusively for Punjab‟s education policy, headed by the then
Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif. With the assistance of funding from these agencies, Punjab
became one among the most important recipients of aid for its education system (Naviwala,
2016). In 2010, a number of this aid was channeled into creating the Punjab
Educational endowment (PEEF), created with an endowment of Rs.4 billion. This
foundation was created on DFID‟s model of „deliverology‟, where service delivery
units, during this case public schools, were to mirror standards of personal sector efficiency
(Carrasco & Gunter, 2019). The functions of PEEF are defined as providing scholarships to
deserving students, which might then create the human capital needed for Pakistan‟s
development.

It is clear that this strong funding and clearly defined policy objectives have propelled
education system outcomes and its service delivery in Punjab. The „deliverology model‟
was enforced enthusiastically in Punjab, notably through performance audits at the
remaining public schools within the province. These performance audits soon became to be
regularly enforced on these schools, and proved highly unpopular with the agencies and
offices working in Punjab‟s educational system. The approach led by Chief Minister
Shahbaz for this purpose was very autocratic and tyrannical, which ultimately backfired
for the tutorial system. The hyper managerial sort of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was
further fueled by the donor agencies‟ pressure for achieving these often impossible targets;
targets which were presented by foreign „development‟ experts (Azad, 2016).
These pressures successively lead towards bureaucratic failures on an already overburdened
system; the presentation of unreliable and falsified documents became a norm during these
performance audits. This blind perusal of efficiency therefore paid little attention towards
effective reforms and important ramifications towards the difficulty .
This is to not say that Punjab has not spent enough on its education system; on the contrary,
its spending is generous as compared to its resources. Punjab‟s spending on education
equaled almost 3.88 billion in 2019-2020, This development are often attributed with the
transfer of power from the middle to the provinces within the sort of the 18th Amendment,
which made education a fundamental responsibility of provincial governments. The
amendment stated that funding, setting the curriculum, defining syllabus, planning, policy
and setting standards for primary and education was to become the first responsibility of
provincial governments