Study Material on Education

Governing the Ungovernable written by Ishrat Hussain (Book)

Some analysts have attributed Pakistan’s poor performance on the Garrison State’ syndrome. As Pakistan has been
obsessed with confronting a much larger arch rival India since its formation, it has to allocate a much larger amount
of its resources to defence expenditure, and preserve and expand the corporate interests of the military. Hence, the
neglect of education, health, and human development in general, and the diversion of resources to meet the demands
of defence, nuclear capability, and other security-related expenditure has led to the present economic and social
outcomes. The ratio of defence expenditure to GDP has been consistently high in the first 40 years and is now 2.9 per
cent of GDP, almost one half of what it was in the 1980s. Most of the nuclear-related expenditure was incurred in the
1970s aand 1980s. In FY 2016, the budgetary allocation for education was 2.7 per cent. Combining health and
education, the budgetary allocation is 3.7 per cent, higher than that of defence and internal security. In the education
and health sectors, it is governance and management issues that are the impediments in the delivery of these services
rather than budgetary allocation.
Education is not the solution by Anjum Altaf (Article)
At the level of individuals, education confers the ability to realise their full potential. Just as the lack of adequate diet
results in physical stunting, the lack of adequate education results in intellectual stunting — both are handicaps that
hinder the realisation of human potential. But this education provides very different kinds of tools — the ability to
think, to learn, to reason, to evaluate evidence, to argue logically, to differentiate truth from falsehood. In short, this
education provides the foundation for leading a life based on reason On the contrary, what we commonly understand
as education is much better described as training in particular skills like medicine, engineering and accounting. We
mistakenly believe that the earlier we start students on acquiring such skills the better off they would be — thus the
existence of pre-professional streams in high school. This insistence on acquisition of skills comes at the expense of
the general education that ought to be the mandate of schools. It is no surprise that we have many highly skilled
technicians who appear intellectually stunted. This second type of education, the acquisition of skills, is what people
need to earn their livelihoods. Here we are guilty of a major fallacy because the demand for skills does not exist
independently of the state of the economy and society. To take an obvious example, if an economy is not generating
any jobs, training a whole lot of professionals is not going to lead to development. We should be familiar with this
phenomenon having seen huge numbers of Pakistani professionals emigrating in search of jobs. They are moving to
developing economies requiring specific types of skills.
An Era of Darkness by Shashi Tharoor (Book)
The British left India with a literacy rate of 16 per cent, and a female literacy rate of 8 per cent—only one of every
twelve Indian women could read and write in 1947. This is not exactly a stellar record, but educating the masses was
not a British priority. As Will Durant points out, “When the British came, there was, throughout India, a system of
communal schools, managed by the village communities. The agents of the East India Company destroyed these
village communities, and took no steps to replace the schools; even today [1930] they stand at only 66 per cent of their
number a hundred years ago. There are now in India 730,000 villages, and only 162,015 primary schools. Only 7 per
cent of the boys and 1 per cent of the girls receive schooling, i.e., 4 per cent of the whole. Such schools as the
Government has established are not free, but exact a tuition fee which looms large to a family always hovering on the
edge of starvation”.
Fallen Leaves by Will Durant (Book)
Herbert Spencer, in a pugnacious little book on education, once challenged the scholastic world with the question:
“What knowledge is of most worth?” He resented the devotion of youth‘s years to dead languages, ancient cultures,
and the weary-tramping muses of eighteenth-century England. such a training, he argued, fitted a man for nothing but
an aristocratic boredom cluttered with classical quotations.
When Spencer asked what knowledge is of most worth, he betrayed his secret assumption that education is the
transmission of knowledge. Is it? What education is of most worth? That education is of most worth which opens to
the body and the soul, to the citizen and the state, the fullest possibilities of their harmonious life. Three basic goods
should determine education and define its goals: First, the control of life, through health, character, intelligence, and

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technology; second, the enjoyment of life, through friendship, nature, literature, and art; and, third, the understanding
of life, through history, science, religion, and philosophy. Two processes constitute education and unite in it; in the
one, the race transmits to the growing individual its profuse and accumulated heritage of knowledge, techniques,
morals, and art; in the other, the individual applies this inheritance to the development of his capacities and the
adornment of his life. In proportion as he absorbs this legacy he is transformed from an animal into a man, from a
savage into a citizen. Perhaps, if his digestion is good, he is transformed from a simpleton to a sage. Education is the
perfecting of life — the enrichment of the individual by the heritage of the race. Let this vital process of transmission
and absorption be interrupted for half a century, and civilization would end; our grandchildren would be more
primitive than savages.
Education and Social Order by Bertrand Russell (Book)
Almost all education has a political motive: it aims at strengthening some group, national or religious or even social,
in the competition with other groups. It is this motive, in the main, which determines the subjects taught, the
knowledge, which is offered, and the knowledge which is withheld. It is this motive also which determines the mental
habits that the pupils are expected to acquire. Hardly anything is done to foster the inward growth of mind and spirit;
in fact, those who have had most education are very often atrophied in their mental and spiritual life, devoid of impulse,
and possessing only certain mechanical aptitudes which take the place of living thought. The examination system, and
the fact that instruction is treated entirely as training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge from a
purely utilitarian point of view, as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom. In some degree, education appears
as a means of acquiring superiority over others; it is infected through and through with ruthlessness and glorification
of social inequality.
Sociology by Macionis (Book)
Higher education is part of the American dream for almost all young people in the United States. But many
face the types of challenges that delayed Lisa Addison in her journey toward a college degree. Especially
for people growing up in low-income families, often with parents who are not college graduates, the odds of getting
to college can be small. Who goes to college in the United States? What difference does higher education make in the
type of job you get or the money you make? This chapter answers these questions by focusing on education, the social
institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills,
and cultural norms and values. In high-income nations such as the United States, education is largely a matter of
schooling, formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers.
In the United States, young people expect to spend most of their first eighteen years in school. This was not
the case a century ago, when just a small elite had the privilege of attending school. Even today, most young people
in poor countries receive only a few years of formal schooling.
The extent of schooling in any society is tied to its level of economic development. In low- and middle-
income countries, which are home to most of the world’s people, families and communities teach young people
important knowledge and skills. Formal schooling, especially learning that is not directly connected to survival, is
available mainly to wealthy people who may not need to work and who can pursue personal enrichment. The word
school is from a Greek root that means “leisure.”
In ancient Greece, famous teachers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle taught aristocratic, upper-class men
who had plenty of spare time. The same was true in ancient China, where the famous philosopher K’ung Fu-tzu
(Confucius) shared his wisdom with a privileged few.
Today, the limited schooling that takes place in lower-income countries reflects the national culture. In Iran,
for example, schooling is closely tied to Islam. Similarly, schooling in Bangladesh (Asia), Zimbabwe (Africa), and
Nicaragua (Latin America) has been shaped by the distinctive cultural traditions of these nations.
All lower-income countries have one trait in common when it comes to schooling: There is not much
of it. In the world’s poorest nations (including several in Central Africa), about one-fourth of all children never
get to school (World Bank, 2011).Worldwide, more than one-third of all children never reach the secondary
grades (what we call high school).As a result, about one-sixth of the world’s people cannot read or write.
Schooling has not always been part of the Japanese way of life. Before industrialization brought mandatory
education in 1872, only a privileged few attended school. Today, Japan’s educational system is widely praised for
producing some of the world’s highest achievers. The early grades concentrate on transmitting Japanese traditions,
especially a sense of obligation to family. Starting in their early teens, students take a series of difficult and highly

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competitive examinations. Their scores on these written tests, which are like the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) in
the United States, decide the future of all Japanese students.
More men and women graduate from high school in Japan (95 percent) than in the United States (87 percent).
But competitive examinations allow just 48 percent of high school graduates—compared to 70 percent in the United
States—to enter college. Understandably, Japanese students (and their parents) take entrance examinations very
seriously. About half attend “cram schools” to prepare for the exams, which means very late nights completing
homework. Such hard work is one reason that Japanese students often nap in class—seen by teachers as the mark of
a serious student (Steger, 2006; OECD, 2010).
Japanese schooling produces impressive results. In a number of fields, notably mathematics and science,
Japanese students (who rank fourth in the world) outperform students in almost every other high-income nation,
including the United States (ranked in twenty-sixth place) (World Bank, 2011).
During the Middle Ages, schooling was a privilege of the British nobility, who studied classical subjects,
having little concern for the practical skills needed to earn a living. But as the Industrial Revolution created a need
for an educated labor force, and as working-class people demanded access to schools, a rising share of the population
entered the classroom. British law now requires every child to attend school until age sixteen.
Traditional class differences still affect British schooling. Most wealthy families send their children to what
the British call public schools, which we would refer to as private boarding schools. These elite schools enroll about
7 percent of British students and teach not only academic subjects but also the special patterns of speech, mannerisms,
and social graces of the British upper class. Because these academies are very expensive, most British students attend
state-supported day schools (Department for Children, Schools, and Families, 2010). The British have tried to reduce
the importance of social background in schooling by expanding their university system and linking admission to
competitive entrance examinations. For the students who score the highest, the government pays most of the college
costs. But many well-to-do children who do not score very well still manage to get into Oxford or Cambridge, the
most prestigious British universities, on a par with our own Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. Many “Oxbridge” graduates
go on to positions at the top of the British power elite: Most of the highest-ranking members of the British
government—including Prime Minister David Cameron— have “Oxbridge” degrees.
The United States was among the first countries to set a goal of mass education. By 1850, about half the
young people between the ages of five and nineteen were enrolled in school. By 1918, all states had passed a
mandatory education law requiring children to attend school until the age of sixteen or completion of the eighth grade.
A milestone was reached in the mid-1960s when for the first time a majority of U.S. adults had earned high school
diplomas. Today, 86.7 percent have completed high school, and 29.5 percent have a four-year college degree (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2010).
In the United States, the educational system stresses the value of practical learning, knowledge that prepares
people for future jobs. This emphasis is in line with what the educational philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952) called
progressive education, having the schools make learning relevant to people’s lives. Similarly, students seek out
subjects of study that they feel will give them an advantage when they are ready to compete in the job market. For
example, as concerns about international terrorism have risen in recent years, so have the numbers of students choosing
to study geography, international conflict, and Middle Eastern history and culture (M. Lord, 2001).
The Making of Pakistan by K.K AZIZ (Book)
Religion and education are the two most important parts of that spiritual superstructure which is the essence
of nationalism. An integrated system of education influences social ideas and develops national character. It is trite
but true to say that those who control the schools command the destinies of the people. In this respect, education is
the mother of politics and precedes, or should precede, it. It is a proof of Sayyid Ahmad Khan's wisdom that he saw
the truth of this principle and insisted on a sound educational foundation before entering the whirlpool of politics.
As in other fields so in education, Muslim ideals differed from those of the Hindus. Generalizations are
notoriously fragile, but it can be affirmed that on the whole Muslims were less quick than the Hindus to pick up new
ideas and more opposed to Western methods and content of education. During the post-Mutiny period Muslim
conservatism kept them away from Government schools and colleges. Muslim parents distrusted the 'newfangled'
theories of education and were content to send their children to the traditional maktab and madrassah where the
curriculum was rigidly confined to religious teaching and, at some places, rudimentary arithmetic and history and
geography. The Muslims did not take the English language, and thus denied themselves opportunities of material as
well as intellectual progress. Material, because Government jobs were open only to English-knowing persons;
intellectual, because the entire corpus of Western knowledge and learning was shut out from them. It is usually said
that Indian nationalism was brought up on the writings of Burke, Mill and Paine. But this was not true of Muslim

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nationalism in its earlier stages, and that is partly why the latter did not appear till quite late-not till the Western-
oriented education imparted at Aligarh had permeated through the Muslim mind.
Pakistan Under Siege by Madiha Afzal (Book)
In the West, Pakistan is characterized as a villainous, failing state that created a terrorism monster and does not do
enough to fight it; it is, thus, blamed for the hazards its citizens face as well as the danger it poses to the rest of the
world. Its citizens are thought to be irrational fundamentalists.
Pakistan society is multi-dimensional, but the world is most likely to see images of anti-American mobs or crowds
who show up at rallies held by Islamist fundamentalists. On the other end of the spectrum is a liberal intelligentsia
whose members, while small in number, have a significant voice in Pakistan, although one not often heeded in policy.
And a large group of its citizens holds the middle ground.
There is no critical thinking, or plain thinking, to speak of in these classrooms. This style of learning also stems from
a hierarchical structure of society, which means information is consumed without question from those in positions of
authority-in this case, teachers.
Inequalities in Education by Shahid Siddique (Book)
Education is considered a powerful tool for personal and social development. Quality of education and
economic resources are considered to be interdependent. Economically well-equipped individuals are likely to
get quality education and quality education may led to better job placement. The significance of education as a
ticket to better job prospects can be realized in contemporary when educational qualification have become
indispensable for getting a good job.
One of the important objective of education is to reduce the economic differences in a society. This can be
realized through provision of equal educational opportunities to different strata of life. In South Asia, there are multiple
stratifications in the domain of education. Realizing the potent linkage between education and prospects in life, the
dominant groups in society have always tried to deprive the marginalized groups of education. Historically, education
as a right was denied to those groups on the pretext of race, gender, class and region. For a very long time, for instance,
African Americans in the United States were not entitled to education. This deprivation from education led to their
economic poverty and impacted negatively their image in society. It is important to note that impact of education is
not just confined to the individual’s job, but it leads to one’s recognition, respect, and ultimately influence in a certain
society. Thus less economic resources may lead to educational marginalization which leads to reduced prospects in
life. Thus a number of groups get caught up in this vicious circle.
The 9/11 Commission report (2005) recommended that Pakistan should be given more financial support in
order to improve its education. Concern was shown that madrassahs were generating potential extremists through
indoctrination and promoting tunnel vision. It is important to understand the term terrorism before we explore the
proclaimed causal relationship between education and terrorism. According to Longman Dictionary, ‘extremism’
refers to “opinions, ideas, and actions, especially political and religious ones that most people think are unreasonable
and unacceptable.”
Words have literal and connotative meaning. This connotation, as suggested by Faucault (1980), is provided
by those in power. According to him, powers, constructs, popularizes, and legitimizes certain discourse that in turn
justifies the actions of the power. So while we know the literal meaning of extremism it is important to understand
what meaning is given to this expression by the ruling power. It is interesting to note that the same set of people is
considered terrorists by one group and freedom fighters by the other group. In the end, the meaning of that group
prevails who is in possession of the source of production of knowledge. Interestingly, the definitions of extremism
and extremists keep on changing as and when interest and needs of the powerful groups change.
Extremism has various faces, i.e., religious extremism, political extremism, and ethnic extremism. It has multiple
manifestations:
a. Extremism could be at an intellectual level when a person has extreme views about a certain issue.
b. Extremism may entail action when extreme views are put into practice.
c. Extremism, at times, can use violent means.
If we really want to use education as tool for development and achieve the dreams of emancipation, we need
to bring revolutionary changes in it which require an educational system built on transformation-based pedagogy
aiming at developing peace loving, cognitive, and tolerant human beings. Now, the central question is “Can our
schools confront the challenge of eradicating social justice and economic disparity, which are major causes of turning
people to extremism?” The answer to this question is not promising. The reasons are multiple. First, the school has

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lost its traditional strength as two strong social institution, i.e., religion and family, which traditionally used to be its
partners, are no more there.
Second, the media has emerged as potent social institution that is capable of influencing minds in a shorter span of
time and on a larger scale. This has further dwarfed the role of school. Then there is a role of external social, economic,
and political forces that impact the school. Thus if we want to combat extremism, formal education alone is not going
to be sufficient to ensure that. It is important to explore the non-formal and informal means of education and link
school pedagogy with other social institutions including the media. The most important initiative to ensure eradication
of extremism, however, is provision of equal opportunities to all through political, economic, educational, and legal
system to access social justice.
Education is considered to have a close relationship with development. Usually the notion of development is
confined to economic development, i.e., education for better jobs or educated citizens for national economic
development. This relationship does not fully describes the potential of education as well as development. A more
holistic view of development would include the social development aspect as well .This suggests that large dams, long
railway tracks, metallic roads, sky scrapers, and shopping plazas denote just one aspect of development. A more
holistic notion of development, however, would include some other important aspects of human development, like
education, environment, health, standards of living, food, water etc. This view of development is highlighted by some
economists including Amartya Sen of India, and Mehboob ul Haq of Pakistan.
A comprehensive view of development which is sustainable in nature does not confine itself to the study of
only sciences but encompasses a much broader range of subjects including natural sciences, social sciences and
humanities. It is broad spectrum of knowledge construction that helps us understand the notion of development and
sustain it. When we talk about development we usually refer the development that is sustainable. We have seen
development in Pakistan during Musharraf’s Regime (1999-2002) which was artificial in nature as money was flowing
in as a result of the post-9/11 situation. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves were inflated and the economic statistics
looked impressive. After a few years, this situation changed drastically following a sudden reduced inflow of money.
The definition given by World Commission on Environment and Development suggests that sustainable development
seeks “to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations.” The concept of sustainable
development, thus, is incomplete without education and a literate society.
It is through education that one learns useful skills, ideas, values, and thoughts to become thinking citizen of
a society. It is an education that turns an ordinary society into a learning society that can explore innovative
solutions to contemporary challenges. A pertinent question, however, is whether it is the higher literacy rate that
enhances the chances of development. The answer to this question is in the negative as it is not just the literacy rate
but the quality of education which plays a vital part in sustainable socioeconomic development. If we examine the
quality of education, in most mainstream schools in Pakistan, we notice that the process of education resembles closely
what Freire (1972) calls the ‘banking concepts of knowledge’ where students sit back, teachers transmit information,
and students reproduce this information in the examination paper and secure good grades. This process of teaching
and learning is defective in essence and produces robots who cannot think on their own.
A holistic concept of education should tap learner’s knowledge, skills and attitude. One of the major goals of
education that paves the way for sustainable development, but which is missing in most of the mainstream schools in
Pakistan, is enabling students to think independently and creatively. Education should empower students to apply
knowledge in new situations, remaining sensitive to the requirements of the context. Education should also develop
critical thinking skills among learners so that they should not just fit into the slots of society but should also have the
courage to challenge the taboos of society.
How can such qualitative change in education be made possible? There could be number of factors that come
together to improve the quality of education that in turn enhances the chances of sustainable development. Some of
these factors include funds, infrastructure, physical facilities, curriculum, textbooks, and assessment system. All of
these factors are important and do contribute to the qualitative improvement of education.
There is, however, one factor, i.e., the teacher, who occupies a central position in terms of interaction with
the other factors. In order to make teachers more effective as a community, there is an urgent need to empower them
in terms of financial benefits, social recognition and professional development. One of the major sources of
professional development of teachers is teacher education. Unfortunately, most of the institutions for teachers’ training
in Pakistan offer a stereotyped version of teacher’s education, which is devoid of critical thinking and reflective
practices. There is an obvious disconnect between theory and practice, and the whole emphasis is placed on the method
of teaching.

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 There is an urgent need to revamp teacher education in Pakistan, making it relevant and effective, by
incorporating the components of reflection and critical thinking and by establishing a vibrant linkage between theory
and practice. There is also a need to benefit from insights from other disciplines of learning by employing an
interdisciplinary approach. The teachers should be made to realize that there is a need to extend pedagogy by using
ways and means of non-formal and informal education as well. It is only through effective teacher education that we
can empower teachers professionally and it is through this empowerment that such education can be imparted that
ensures holistic and sustainable development.
Education as a Strategic Imperative by Shanza Khan and Moeed Yousuf (Essay)
Education lies at the heart of Pakistan’s multiple challenges. If Pakistan is to emerge as a stable, moderate
polity able to reap dividends from its bourgeoning population it must be able to provide the young and future
generations both personal safety and a decent livelihood. This requires relative peace, an environment conducive for
economic growth, and a workforce that can power progress. Vital to such turnaround is a well -educated population.
Only through massive quantitative and qualitative gains in education can Pakistan produce the skill set required to
derive the economy efficiently and produce a critical mass of well informed and visionary leadership it so badly needs.
Equally important, it is only through high quality, value neutral education that Pakistan can challenge the salience of
the Islamic discourse that threatens to radicalise society and drive youth energies towards destructive---often violent
channels.
This means that education should not only be a development priority but also a strategic one. Pakistan’s
education performance is a tale of unfulfilled expectations which has caused disaffection and alienation among vast
segments of society. The immediate future needs to be seen as a corrective phase that requires holistic interventions
in the education sector. The chapter begins by outlining the conceptual underpinnings of the empirical analysis to
follow. This is followed by the consideration of the Pakistani education sector’s performance and implications for
society. In the final sections concrete steps are identified that can help bring about the required transformation.
Modern societies grasped the importance of a well-educated polity very early on. In the recent decades
however, investment in the human capacity has become a top priority for international, multinational, and national
efforts. Conventional wisdom suggested the education was critical for a society to produce a skilled labour force that
could operate as productive members of the economy. Overtime, education has increasingly been seen as a force
multiplier capable of having a much broader impact –both positive and negative on societies than merely producing a
skilled work force. High quality education can provide the means of social mobility and act as a source of contentment
to people. It can contribute to peace, derive societal narratives and thus mould the very outlook of communities
positively, as well as inculcate a civic sense among citizens. On the other hand, poor
educational standards or agenda -driven education can contribute to a sense of alienation and deprivation, led to
internal discord and violence, and channelise societal energies in unproductive directions.
The discussion here draws on the ‘expectations’ literature. Education is seen as an ‘expectations’ builder; it
raises anticipations at three distinct stages. To begin with, demand for education creates expectations among parents
and children that the state would be able to provide opportunities for acquiring education. Once access to education is
provided, consumers began to expect qualitative improvements. The third stages of expectations stems from the fact
that the schooling process itself has attached to its hopes of finding commensurate employment.
Pakistan has made progress with regard to most education indicators over time. The Total net primary
enrolment rate has increased from 33 per cent in 1991 to 66 per cent in 2008.The ratio of female to male primary
enrolment has increased from 52 percent to 83 percent. Meanwhile, the total primary completion rate as a percentage
of the relevant age group has risen from 50 per cent to 60 per cent in the corresponding period. The total adult literacy
rate has also increased from 26 per cent in 1981 to 54 per cent in 2008. Recent developments have yielded somewhat
greater progress exemplified by the fact that youth literacy at 68.9 per cent is 15 per cent higher than adult literacy.
But progress remains poor both in absolute terms as and relative to the rest of the South Asian region and
other lower middle-income developing countries. With the exception of Afghanistan, Pakistan, has the lowest
education outcomes in the region. Half of Pakistan’s population is illiterate, the country has the second highest number
of out –of- school children in the world (9.5 million in 2005), it suffers from high drop –out rates even at the primary
level, and there is substantial gender disparity at every education level. In fact, despite overall quantitative gains the
gender gap has widened between 1981 and 2008 from 20.6 to 26.8 per cent. Rural-urban and interprovincial disparity
also continues to persist. Interprovincial disparity in youth literacy is just as high as in adult literacy.
It is evident then that the Pakistani education system has failed to reach a large proportion of its eligible
population. The problem is principally a supply side one. For one, the difficulty of accessing educational facilities
keeps children away. A number of surveys register complaints about having to travel long distances to reach schools,

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especially for girls in rural areas. Lack of basic facilities in schools such as electricity, drinking water and toilets are
additional deterrents to school attendance. Out of 163914 public schools (including 10651 mosques schools) ,10.5 per
cent operate without a building ; 6.1 per cent are Kacha schools; 61 per cent lack electricity; 36.5 per cent lack drinking
water; 42.4 lack latrines; 44.3 per cent lack boundary walls; 3.8 per cent are declared dangerous while another 16.5
are in need of major repair. Almost 10000 schools are officially designated as non-functional. Vacant teacher posts
and absenteeism are also high across all provinces .Un affordable costs, lack of interest in education, and for females,
cultural sensitives are other commonly cited reasons for children being out of school.
Pakistan’s education sector is anomalous in that it has three parallel and largely unconnected systems of
education operating simultaneously. These are the public and non-elite private schools, the elite private Schools’ and
the religion seminaries –the madrasahs. Approximately 67 per cent of the school going children are enrolled in public
schools, close to 29 per cent are in private schools—the majority of these are in non-elite variant—and 4 per cent
attend madrasahs. The three systems follow their own curricula, teaching methods, and examination processes.
Consequently, quality of education and the type of student body in each vary greatly. Only the public education system
is fully regulated by the government.
Three education systems are broadly stratified along three dimensions: Socio-economic, qualitative, and
ideological. The madrasahs systems largely caters to children from the poorest segment of society. The majority of
the public schools and non-elite private schools students belong to lower middles class to middle socio-economic
groups. Elite private schools apply stringent socio-economic screening and are reserved exclusively for the rich. So
isolated are these systems that students go through their school life (even adult life) without having the opportunity to
engage intellectually across systems. The education sector therefore ends up producing three distinct cohorts from
within the Pakistani youth, each requires cut off from the other.
Educational attainment is a double—edged sword. While lack of education disqualifies youth from attaining
economic mobility and is thus undesirable, high level of education without the requisite outlet to apply skills raises
expectation which, if unfulfilled for long, can create an ‘exception-reality disconnect’. Again, the latter makes the
excluded disgruntled with the system. Which not only keeps potentially productive human capacity from engaging in
constructive endeavours but also act as a violence inducing factor.
Surveys suggest that overwhelming majority of young men and women in the Pakistan want to work provided
suitable opportunities—commensurate with their educational attainment—are made available. Unfortunately access
to desirable employment in Pakistan is as equal as provision for high quality education. While Pakistan’s labour market
has expanded, and the unemployment rates has declined to an impressive 5.32 per cent, improvement is unable to keep
up with large pool of employable youth.in fact, youth employment has only
dropped marginally since 1990 and even many who were employed at one time fell back into unemployed
category. To be sure, majority of non-elite young citizen can only find relatively menial jobs and are thus
underemployed. The public sector is inherently corrupt and jobs openings are rarely awarded on merit. Children of
the poor, with generally little access to corridors of power and already disadvantaged by the poor skills set developed
in public schools, are invariably the first to be denied these prized positions.
Inability to reverse these failures will not only limit Pakistan’s economic growth but carries the potential of
rupturing the very fabric of society though polarisation and unrest. While there is very little hard evidence for
education having contributed directly to terrorism in Pakistan, anecdotal evidence combined with profiles of most
actors involved in terrorist attacks does suggest a linkage. Indeed, it would be naive to believe an absence of any
correlation. The mechanisms through which this connection would be playing out are aptly described by Winthrop
and Graff (2010) as:
(i) Poor education causing grievances for those left out.
(ii) Education creating narrow world views.
(iii) Education failing to instil civic citizenship.
(iv) The context providing opportunities for militant recruitment.
Further challenges in terms of reversing the identified failures in education are likely to be even more
daunting than in the past. A major reason is the severe demographic pressure. Pakistan possesses one of the largest
youth bulges in the world. Over sixty-five million are between ages zero and fourteen and are thus either currently at
school or will enter school life in the coming decade. Furthermore Pakistan is only half way through its demographic
transition and the current rate of 3.8 births per female is set to carry Pakistan’s youth bulge well beyond 2025. This
implies an extremely large cohort whose educational needs will have to be met if Pakistan is to extract positive
demographic dividends. According to Mahmood (2029), barring accelerated improvement Pakistan confronts a
situation where 28.2 million of its citizens will be out of school in the year 2030.

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 The economic signs are not encouraging for the short to medium term either. Pakistan will have an additional
four million employrd youth by 2030 taking the total number to twenty-one million. The stock of unemployment youth
will have reached six million in 2030 unless unemployment is kept below 4 per cent, which is virtually impossible on
the term according to official estimates. The increased pace of urbanisation adds to the conundrum as expectant youth
will move to the cities to find livelihoods, only to be frustrated by the modest absorptive capacity of Pakistani towns.
The literature on the subject suggests that such a development encourages urban youth radicalisation.
Simply put, Pakistan faces a monumental task in halting and then reversing the decline in the education
sector. Failure is not an option given that the state of education will determine Pakistan’s economic progress, its overall
societal outlook, magnitude of internal tensions, and most importantly, the state’s ability to provide citizens with
personal safety and an environment favorable to sustainable progress.
The ultimate goal for policymakers is to provide a level playing field for students irrespective of their caste,
creed, and location, family’s economic capacity and religion. Not only must access to education improve, but it must
be spread evenly across the entire citizenry. This will be challenging as Pakistan’s present youth development statistics
suggest high disparity across socio-economic strata, schooling systems, and physical location. All future policies must
remain cognizant of the explosive ramifications of neglecting underprivileged citizens in peripheral areas.
Financial outlays for education must increase significantly in the coming years. Successive governments have
committed themselves to increasing spending on education but progress has been slower than planned. No matter how
politically challenging, education’s share as a proportion of GDP must be enhanced to at least the developing country
average in the immediate term. In addition, conscious effort must be undertaken to ensure a better balance on spending
between administrative and development expenditures within the sector.
Better governance and transparency are buzzwords repeated ad nauseam in discussions of institutional
reform. The challenge is great and lacks an immediate solution. But there is no alternative to generating the political
will and capacity for better management of the education sector and ensuring that educational allocations are made
efficiently. Institutional duplication and organisational inefficiencies need to be addressed across the board. As a start,
the ambiguities about the different roles of the Federal and Provincial governments in education need to be mapped
and clarified. Policy continuity is also essential.
As a complementary policy strand, there is need for greater empowerment of those with a direct stake in
education. The idea of establishing functional School Management Committees (SMCs) is correct provided they are
given the needed authority and independence to ensure that schools function, teachers are present, and students attend
regularly. The SMCs now in place are largely ineffectual.
Given that dropout and completion rates are significantly correlated to poverty, reduction in tuition fees in
public schools and increased allotment of need-based scholarships and free textbooks and uniforms should be
encouraged. The Punjab government undertook such a program with mixed results. While the program was
subsequently rolled back, its experience can be studied and improved upon as a similar initiative is launched across
Pakistan.
Conditional cash transfer programs have increasingly become popular and shown to raise school enrolment
and retention in a number of countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Brazil. Pakistan has introduced a
few demand size incentives such as involving communities in social service delivery but the explicit use of cash
transfers to ensure higher school attendance is largely missing. Moreover, the programs that do involve communities
are small relative to the size of the problem, focus on particular provinces, are not integrated, and their targeting and
administration is weak. International best practices could be used to improve Pakistan’s efforts in this realm.
A positive development in recent years has been the mushrooming of non-elite private schools, especially in
Punjab and Sindh. These schools are playing an increasingly significant role in extending educational services
particularly in rural areas where the largest growth in private schools is occurring. Further encouragement of private
schools along with innovative public-private partnerships where the public sector is found wanting is a desirable policy
intervention.
Qualitative improvements in education are bound to lag behind quantitative gains but efforts must strive to
keep this gap as narrow as possible. The key lies in transforming the public school system and ensuring its uplift so
that it can match its elite counterpart. Areas that need attention include the development of new teaching methods that
promote creative thinking, qualitative benchmarks for student learning, and standards for teacher recruitment, among
others. The concrete steps required are well understood and rehearsed. The political will to implement them is often
lacking and needs to be evolved.

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 Largely at the behest of donors, Pakistan has paid substantial attention to teacher professional development.
The effort should be reinforced from within. A step in the right direction has been made with the establishment of the
National Professional Standards for Teachers in Pakistan. Efforts must be made to ensure the quality of teacher
education and implementation of the standards.
In the short run, a stop-gap measure could entail setting up a program to bring in a significant number of
foreign teachers or those from Pakistan’s substantial diaspora in the West, especially ones trained to teach English
language and basic mathematics and sciences. These teachers could be placed across the various levels of public
schooling throughout the country.
To complement these efforts, stronger public-private partnerships have to be forged to help overcome some
of the capacity constraints in the public sector. The government has initiated programs like ‘adopt a school’ whereby
non-government organisations are encouraged to take over management of public schools. There is significant interest
but the scope of such efforts is very limited at present. A well-crafted incentive structure needs to be put in place and
bureaucratic hurdles removed to encourage more non-government entities to consider adopting schools.
The madrasah education system needs urgent reform to allow it to prepare students for modern economies
while retaining their faith-based focus. The agenda to transform the existing ones is oft expressed but political
constraints and fear of resistance have prevented the government from doing anything significant. A more realistic
alternative may be to set up parallel madrasahs run either by the public or private sector that utilises teachers able to
offer balanced theological study in combination with teaching modern subjects.
With regard to public sector education syllabi, the emphasis should be on revising textbooks with the aim of
reverting to the content used prior to Islamisation during the 1980s. The aim is not secularisation of the curricula-as
that would meet resistance from a deeply conservative society. Rather, the aim should be to remove distortions of
history and material that engenders extremist mindsets. Moreover, the curricular would benefit from greater emphasis
on ‘peace education’ and teaching that instills a strong civic sense.
Finally, the government is encouraging private schools to offer 10 per cent of admissions to needy students
from underprivileged backgrounds. This is a step in the right direction and can go a long way in removing the isolation
of students among the three systems. The private sector must be urged to rigorously enforce this regulation, which is
not the case at present.
Pakistan’s principal weakness in economic planning has been an overriding focus on high macroeconomic
growth and not the quality or distributional effects of that growth. The model has not been inclusive and it is only
recently that pro-poor growth has become part of mainstream policy discourse. Strong and sustained macroeconomic
growth is imperative to increase the size of national pie.to complement this however, initiatives geared to equitable
income distribution need to be taken. This also means providing job opportunities to the educated employment, many
of whom come from disadvantaged social backgrounds.
The government’s social safety net initiatives will remain central to its possibility to providing the
disenfranchised the requisite livelihood opportunities.it is encouraging to see an emphasis on employment schemes
and small scale business promotion by the present authorities. The allocation for such initiatives should be further
increased and the institutional shortcomings that continues to undermine these programs should be corrected. Special
efforts should be made to make these schemes transparent, perhaps by giving civil society a formal role in monitoring
and accountability.
Vocational training stands out an obvious venue to explore in order to improve opportunities for the educated
or poorly educated .while there has been significant donor and government attention, there are still just a limited
number of vocational training centres in urban areas while rural Pakistan lacks these facilities .Even where they exist,
they do not seem to have been instituted under any coherent policy framework. Moreover, the quality of training is
inadequate. Presently, there is lack of congruity between local industries and training available at the institutes. Very
little attempt has been initiated to involve the end users in the operation ,management, and program delivery as well
as to align to course contents to the needs of the industry. The lack of interaction industries and technical and
vocational educational training (TVET) has therefore resulted in the marginalisation of TVET institutions with
employers demonstrating little interest in extend cooperation to the institutions. There is an area where the donor
community has relatively greater experience given its success in other countries. It could treat this as a priority by
coordinating its effects to correct stated shortcomings.
Perhaps the most executable option to ease Pakistan’s labour force burden in the next decade or two is to find
adequate opportunities for labour migration abroad. Pakistan has used this safety valve to good effect in the past by
sending a large number of its skilled and unskilled labour force across the world. While economic constraints in the
recipients countries and ‘extremist’ tag attached to Pakistan in global perception has dented the traditional outflow of

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labour, the international community could help Pakistan fresh avenues for labour absorption.
To enhance prospects, Pakistan’s vocational training could be tailored to the future demand of various countries
projected to have a labour shortage. Friendly could consider special arrangements to allow inflow of employable
Pakistanis.
Education remains central to Pakistan’s recovery. Given the current circumstances, hoping for return to
stability without improving education substantially is a misnomer. The challenge confronting Pakistan is a daunting
one. The state must begin to see education as a right, not a favour to its people. Even then, suggested policy measures
cannot bring change overnight. The next decade or so ought to be approached as a corrective period during which the
essential policies will be put in place. Progress will likely be frustratingly slow but if executed properly these steps
will prepare the ground for more accelerated and visible improvement in the decade that follows. Should this effort
be made, the Pakistan of 2030 has every prospect of being more and better educated, with its society empowered by
a better sense of civic responsibility – a country able to provide job opportunities to all its citizens. This, in turn, would
serve as the essential base on which economic progress and prosperity can be predicated.
What We get Wrong about Our Education by Anjum Altaf (Book)
There is a "crisis of education" in Pakistan. This accepted characterization is endlessly repeated, and its salient
attributes enumerated. The most striking of these is that almost a third of all school-age children, over 20 million, are
out of school altogether' — if that is not a crisis, what is? After that, one is reminded how negatively international and
local assessments rate the quality of the education being received by the children who are in schools.
The last time Pakistan participated in the assessment by TLMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study) was in 2019. Pakistan's showing was rated "dismal" by an Aga Khan University review of the results:
"Performance-wise, it stood second from the bottom. Only 27 percent of 4th graders in the country met the low
international benchmark in mathematics, 8 percent met the intermediate international benchmark, and just one percent
(1%) met the high international benchmark." The latest local assessment (ASER 2021) reported that nearly half (44
to 45 percent) of grade 5 students could not read a grade 2 level story in Urdu or English or work out a two-digit
division in arithmetic. More critically, this statistic left out an assessment of the extent to which students actually
understood what they were able to read.
Since 30 percent of the population is illiterate to start with and only about 6 percent has education beyond Grade 10,
it is the quality of school education that is most relevant in a discussion of the subject. Students receiving such a poor
school education cannot be expected to perform miracles even if the quality of higher education was orders of
magnitude better, which it is not.
None of these are new revelations. The levels and trends have been known for years and one should ask why we must
repeat them every time there is a discussion of education in Pakistan. Instead, the real question should be: What are
we doing with this information? Now that we are convinced there is a deep "crisis of education" in the country and
we know its parameters, what is to be done? A typical response has been for experts, consultants, advisors, critics, and
well-wishers to come up with a laundry list of recommendations about what the government of the day ought to do
about the "crisis in education."
And, every time, the government invariably does nothing meaningful and what it does, despite the best and most costly
advice, ends up worsening the situation. Think of Mr. Bhutto's nationalisation and General Zia's Islamization of
schools. Mr. Imran Khan's Single National Curriculum (SNC) is not going to be any different. The SNC has
inadvertently refocused attention on education and there have been several new analyses, but they follow the same
template of "advising" governments to do what the latter have shown no intention of doing over 75 years.
A different response has been to give up on the government as a lost cause and to offer "alternative" education. These
alternatives come in various forms — high-fee private schools, low-fee private schools, and charity schools run by
non-government organisations (NGOs). As quality in the public school system has collapsed and parents who can
afford to have sought better alternatives, the private sector has mushroomed to fill the vacuum. Now over 40 percent
of school-going children are enrolled in private schools. Of these, 90 percent could be classified as low-fee private
schools (monthly fee less than Rs. 800 per month) while the remaining 10 percent comprise the high-fee category.
However, national surveys show that the quality of education in the low-fee category is only marginally better than
that of public schools.

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Even this claim is to be questioned because the surveys do not correct for the self-selection bias — children entering
private schools are better endowed to begin with than their public-school peers; furthermore, the quality gap between
private and public providers shrinks with the number of years in school.

The NGO schools, although they can have a dramatic impact on the lives of children they do enroll, are so few that
they can, like madrassahs, be ignored in an analysis of the crisis in education — their contribution cannot scale to
affect the overall quality of education in the country. For example, The Citizens Foundation, considered the most
prominent of the NGO school systems, after being in existence for over 25 years now operates around 1,700 schools
and enrolls around 266,000 students. Place that in the context of the number of out-of-school children in the country
which is over 20 million. Given the above observations, it is the premise of this set of essays that if we continue along
the same lines — relying on governments, expecting low-fee private schools to provide better education, believing
NGOs can reach meaningful scale — we would never get to grips with the "crisis of education" in the country. But
there is a yet more serious dimension of the "crisis in education." What have been enumerated above are only its
symptoms.

Governments, expecting low-fee private schools to provide better education, believing NGOs can reach meaningful
scale — we would never get to grips with the "crisis of education" in the country. But there is a yet more serious
dimension of the "crisis in education." What have been enumerated above are only its symptoms. The real question to
consider is the following: Why is the country in this crisis in the first place? In order to investigate this puzzle, this
book takes a radically different approach and turns the dominant framework on its head. It begins by posing a leading
question: Why haven't governments done anything meaningful in education for 75 years while presiding collectively
over a virtually continuous decline in its overall quality?

These essays argue forcefully that education is not simply a "technical" problem for which experts can provide optimal
designs to eager governments desperately waiting for good ideas to implement. Rather, it assumes that governments
know precisely what they are doing and tries to figure out why, and for what reasons, they continue to reject the good
advice form a whole host of donor agencies, think tanks, and commissions which governments often set up and fund
themselves.

The essays ask what stands in the way of providing "better" education when no one can be expected to oppose the
same for the children of Pakistan. What is stopping governments from improving education in such a scenario? They
also ask a complementary and related question: Why do parents evince so little concern about the quality of education
being imparted to their children in return for the money they are spending on it?

The argument being offered for consideration is that the quality of education "given" to people is a political choice of
the government, not a matter of the fate of the people. It also opens the question of whether the idea of a "good"
education is unambiguous? Good for whom? A bit of history should remove any illusions about this issue. It is well
documented that at one time plantation owners in the southern states of the USA made the political choice that no
education was to be "given" to slaves; in fact, attempts to do so were declared a crime under the law. The Taliban in
Afghanistan have made the political choice that "giving" education to girls is of very low priority and to be eschewed
completely were it not for external pressures. In the 1980s, the American government decided that a "good" education
for students in Pakistani madrassahs was to be based on a jihadi curriculum. Imran Khan believes that a good
education consists largely of memorising the Quran while the French believe that it requires keeping God out of
schools.

There has always been a political struggle over who gets educated and receives what kind of education. The notion
that someone has the welfare of the entire nation at heart is a myth that needs to be dispelled. Many Pakistanis consider
the Kargil invasion a "mistake" because it was bad for the country. But it was very good for General Musharraf and
his associates who got to rule an entire country of 200 million for ten years because of it.

I hope to provide a framework in which concerned citizens can look at the crisis in education in a new perspective. In
order to develop this perspective, these essays begin with the ig picture, articulating first the nature of power and then
situating education and its role in a political and historical context. They elaborate its economic dimensions and its
relation to other aspects of society. Finally, within this context, -_hey suggest the limits of reform and what might still

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be achieved if civil society acted in its interest based on a fuller understanding of what stands between the existing
reality and aspiration for a better education.

Preface to Single National Curriculum

It is a well-established fact that educational curriculum plays a key role in nation building. Having a uniform
curriculum across the country Is a long-Standing aspiration of all segments of the society and the present government
has declared it as its priority. Development of the Single National Curriculum for Pre 1-5 is the fulfillment of the
dream of ‘One Nation, One Curriculum'.
The decades old educational apartheid amongst the different streams of education in the Country has not only kept the
different educational institutions, educational Quality, teachers and students divided, but has also perpetuated inequity
in opportunities of social and economic progress amongst the population. These systems or streams of education in
the country are creating disparities and different mindsets.
In our beloved country, different systems of education cater to the educational needs of children in the different classes
of society. These include public sector schools, low-cost private schools and the well-endowed state of the elf private
schools. Alongside, across the length and breadth of the country there are madrassahs which cater to the educational
needs of approximately three million children. These different educational institutes follow completely different
curricula, and resultantly we have graduates with completely different thinking and approach to life and livelihoods.
These are precisely the differences that become stumbling blocks for nations aspiring to become great. A single
national curriculum is therefore, an important step in the journey to building a strong nation.
Development of the Single National Curriculum for grade Pre 1-5 has been completed under a broad-based
consultative process with the engagement of experts from all provinces and areas. To achieve this goal, the experts of
provincial and area curriculum authorities, textbook boards, faculty from renowned universities, research
organizations, teacher training institutes and assessment experts and representatives of minorities participated in the
consultative process. For the first time ever, distinguished experts from the Ittehad Tanzeemat Ul Madaras Pakistan
(ITMP) participated in the development of the curriculum for grade pre l-5 under an all-inclusive consultative year-
long process amassing extensive inputs of more than four hundred experts.
The key considerations in the development of SNC include: teachings from the Quran and Sunnah; vision of Quaid-
e-Azem Muhammad Jinnah and Allama Iqbal; the Constitution of Pakistan, national policies; international
commitments, including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); latest trends in education; societal values; inclusive
education; human rights and child protection; hygiene and sanitation; environment and climate change; global
Citizenship: life skills based and civic education: respect for religious and cultural diversity: move away from rote
learning; activities and project based learning; 21st century skills; use of information and communication technology;
and the ever evolving challenges and trends of the new era.
At the onset of the development of SNC, it was crucial to analyze and build upon its Predecessor national curriculum
2006 of Pakistan. In this regard, comparative studies of the 2006 curriculum were conducted vis-à-vis the curricula of
Singapore and Cambridge education. In parallel, standards for learners of Pakistan were compared with those of
Singapore, Malaysia, and United Kingdom. Based on the findings and recommendations of these research activities,
standards for the SNC were agreed upon. In order to ensure the inclusion of international trends in the SNC, a series
of national level workshops and conferences were organized on the topics of Critical Thinking, Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and Life Skills Based Education (LSBE).
The 2006 national curriculum was revised in the light of recommendations derived from the above-mentioned
researches and conferences, under the careful supervision of experts. The draft of the SNC pre 1-5, hence prepared
was shared with the provinces and areas for their review and feedback. For the first time in the history of curriculum
development of Pakistan, experts from Gligit-Baltistan and Federal Government Educational Institutes (Cantts &
Garrisons) participated in the consultative workshops. Moreover, the draft curriculum was also shared with the
Cambridge University UK and Institute for Educational Development, Karachi for expert inputs and value addition.
The draft curriculum was then updated in the light of feedback received. As a next step a national conference was
organized in which experts from all over the country participated to conduct yet another thorough review of the
updated curriculum draft. In an historic moment, at the conclusion of the national conference, experts from different
schools of thought reached consensus and signed off on the Single National Curriculum for grade Pre 1-5

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In addition to being aligned to modern international trends, the SNC has our national and cultural values at its core.
This curriculum endeavors to build a nation that takes pride in its religious and national beliefs and values and at the
same time inculcates respect for religious and cultural diversity in the society and the world at large. It envisions the
development of exemplary attitudes and behaviors in individuals who are capable of dealing with the challenges of
the 21st century.
To enable Implementation of the SNC in its true spirit, model textbooks, teacher training modules and an assessment
framework are being developed, which will ensure delivery of education that is qualitatively superior and relevant to
the children's lives.
It is of foremost import to thank all provinces and areas, public and private institutions and experts, university faculty
and researchers, experts from ITMP and representatives of minorities for their relentless efforts and Invaluable
recommendations which enabled the development of the SNC grade Pre 1-5.
Education from Economic Survey of Pakistan (Book)
Education is one of the key factors for changing the existing state of a nation into a distinguished position
in the community of nations. The educational advancements which have taken place so far and the skills
which have been acquired in due course of time are not only benefiting Pakistan but also the surrounding
regions. For a country like Pakistan, it becomes even more indispensable for its socio-economic
development through effective transition of its huge proportion of population i.e youth. Transformation of
63 percent youth into a real wealth requires optimum capitalization through establishing a high-quality and
market demand driven basic, secondary and higher Education.
Pakistan is committed to transform its education system into a high-quality global market demand driven
system in accordance with the Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which pertains to quality
of education. The progress achieved by Pakistan so far on Goal 4 of SDGs is as under:
• Primary, Lower and Upper Secondary Education Completion Rate stood at 67 percent, 47 percent
and 23 percent, respectively, depicting higher Primary attendance than Lower and Upper Secondary
levels.
• Parity Indices at Literacy, Youth Literacy, Primary and Secondary are 0.71, 0.82, 0.88 and 0.89,
respectively.
• Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex is
19 percent showing a low level of consideration of Pre-Primary Education.
• Percentage of population in a given age group achieving at least affixed level of proficiency in
functional; (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills is 60 percent.
Various initiatives have been taken at federal and provincial levels to raise the standards of education in
terms of quality education as part of our commitment to accomplish Goal 4 of SDGs. These initiatives
include: i) enhancing access to education by establishing new schools, ii) upgrading the existing schools,
iii) improving learning environment by providing basic educational facilities, iv) digitization of educational
institutions, v) enhancing resilience of educational institutions to cater for unforeseen situations, vi)
promoting distance learning, capacity building of teacher, and vii) improving hiring of teachers, particularly
hiring of science teachers to address the issues of science education, etc.
Single National Curriculum
• Single National Curriculum (SNC) has been introduced to minimize disparity in country’s
education system where three main education systems are in place, i.e. Public schools, Private
schools and Deeni madaris. These systems are poles apart and often result is different mind-sets
thus fractured psyche of the nation. SNC is aimed at providing equal learning opportunities to all
segments of society and will provide equal opportunity of learning, help the students and parents
in case of inter provincial mobility.

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 • Development of SNC is driven by key considerations like teachings of Quran and Sunnah,
Constitutional Framework, National Policies, Aspirations and National Standards, Alignment with
the SDG-4 goals and targets, vision of Quaid and Iqbal, focus on values, Life Skills Based and
Inclusive Education, respect & appreciation for different cultures & religions in local and global
context, focus on project, inquiry and activity-based learning, development of 21st century skills
including analytical, critical and creative thinking.
• Single National Curriculum is being implemented in three phases:
o Phase I: SNC and textbooks Pre I-V (Academic Year 2021-22)
o Phase II: SNC and textbooks VI-VIII (Academic Year 2022-23)
o Phase III: SNC and textbooks IX-XII (Academic Year 2023-24)
• In first phase, quality textbooks, teachers training, modules and assessment frameworks for Grade
Pre I-V have been developed on the basis of SNC which have already been shared with all
federating units.
• SNC has been implemented in all streams of education for the students from Grades Pre I-V from
academic year 2021-22.
• Implementation has already been started in Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
GilgitBaltistan from Academic year 2021. In Balochistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir,
implementation will start form the academic year 2022.
• Sindh was an active part of the development of the SNC. However, for implementation, discussions
are going on with Sindh government.
Key Features:
• English has always been taught as a subject in public schools. Now English will be taught as a
language with focus on skills. Islamiat used to be started from Grade 3 onwards. At Grade 1 & 2
Islamiat was a part of General Knowledge. Now Islamiat be taught as a separate subject from Grade
1. In Islamiat curriculum, a complete framework of Seerat un Nabi (PBUH) is ensured focusing on
practical aspects of the blessed life of Rasulullah (PBUH).
• For students from minorities, a separate curriculum with the title Religious Education has been
developed for seven religions, i.e Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha’i, Kalasha,
Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. Social Studies is developed to encourage patriotism and global
citizenship. Human rights and peace education are important areas focused in the curriculum and
textbooks. Mathematics and Science are updated as per modern trends in teaching and learning.
• Teacher Training modules and Assessment framework, based on SNC, are developed for Grades
Pre I-V to ensure proper implementation of SNC.
Challenges:
Since the SNC is a major reform in the country, there are a few challenges in order to implement it in true
letter and spirit. These challenges include:
o Capacity building of the existing teachers
o Induction of new teachers as per the requirements
o Uplifting of the educational facilities in the far-flung areas of Pakistan
Educational Institutions and Enrolment Data:
Pre-Primary Education
Pre-Primary education is the basic component of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Prep classes are for
children between 3 to 5 years of age. At national level, a rise of 6.1 percent in pre-primary enrolment (13.5
million) in 2019-20 over 2018-19 (12.7 million) has been observed and it is further estimated to increase
by 6.4 percent to 14.4 million in 2020-21

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Primary Education (Classes I-V)
In 2019-20, there were a total of 183.9 thousand functional primary schools with 507.6 thousand
corresponding teachers recorded in the country. An increase of 4.2 percent in primary enrolment is
witnessed as the total enrolled students increased to 24.6 million in 2019-20 against 23.6 million in 2018-
19. However, it is projected to further increase to 25.7 million in 2020-21
Middle Education (Classes VI-VIII)
During 2019-20, total number of middle institutes stood at 48.3 thousand with 466.4 thousand employed
teachers in the country. An increase of 3.9 percent in middle enrolment is observed. The total enrolled
students reached to 7.9 million in 2019-20 against 7.6 million in 2018-19 and it is projected to increase by
4.0 percent (from 7.9 million to 8.3 million) in 2020-21.
Secondary/High School Education (Classes IX-X)
During the 2019-20, a total of 32.0 thousand secondary schools were functional, with a total number of
582.3 thousand teachers recorded in the country. An increase of 6.2 percent in secondary school enrolment
is observed at the national level as the total enrolment increased to 4.2 million in 2019-20 against 4.0 million
in 2018-19. However, it is estimated to further increase by 6.5 percent (i.e., from 4.2 million to 4.5 million)
during 2020-21.
Higher Secondary/Inter Colleges (Classes XI-XII)
During 2019-20, 6.0 thousand higher secondary schools/inter colleges with 136.7 thousand teachers were
functional at national level. The overall enrolment of students in higher secondary education witnessed an
increase of 8.8 percent in 2019-20. The enrolment registered during 2019-20 was 2.33 million as compared
to 2.14 million in 2018-19. For 2020-21, it is projected to reach at 2.55 million.
Technical & Vocational Education
During 2019-20, 3.8 thousand technical and vocational institutes with 18.6 thousand teachers were
functional at the national level. The enrolment increased to 0.46 million in 2019-20 from 0.43 million
compared to 2018-19. However, it is estimated to increase by 7.7 percent (i.e., from 0.46 million to 0.50
million) in 2020-21.
Degree Colleges (Classes XIII-XIV)
An enrolment of 0.76 million students is expected during 2020-21 in degree colleges as against the
enrolment of 0.74 million in 2019-20. A total of 3,320 degree colleges with 64,293 teachers were functional
during 2019-20.
Universities
There are 218 universities with 58.0 thousand teachers in both public and private sectors functional in 2019-
20. The overall enrolment of students in higher education institutions (universities) increased to 1.91 million
in 2019-20 from 1.86 million in 2018-19. The enrolment is expected to increase from 1.91 million in 2019-
20 to 1.96 million (i.e., 2.8 percent) in 2020-21.
Overall Assessment
The overall education situation based on the key indicators, such as enrolments, number of institutions and
teachers have shown a significant improvement. The total number of enrolments during 2019-20 was
recorded at 55.7 million as compared to 53.1 million during 2018-19, which shows an increase of 4.9
percent. It is estimated to increase to 58.5 million during 2020-21. The number of institutions recorded at
277.5 thousand during 2019-20 as compared to 271.8 thousand during 2018-19. However, the number of
institutions are estimated to increase to 283.7 thousand in 2020-21. Similarly, there were 1.83 million
teachers in 2019-20 as compared to 1.79 million last year. The number of teachers is estimated to increase
to 1.89 million during 2020-21.

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