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Education System of Pakistan:

Issues, Problems and Solutions
REGI ONS 02/03/2015

Introduction

It is mandated in the Constitution of Pakistan to provide free

and compulsory education to all children between the ages of
5-16 years and enhance adult literacy. With the 18th
constitutional amendment the concurrent list which comprised
of 47 subjects was abolished and these subjects, including
education, were transferred to federating units as a move
towards provincial autonomy.

The year 2015 is important in the context that it marks the

deadline for the participants of Dakar declaration (Education
For All [EFA] commitment) including Pakistan. Education
related statistics coupled with Pakistan’s progress regarding
education targets set in Vision 2030 and Pakistan’s lagging
behind in achieving EFA targets and its Millennium
Development Goals(MDGs) for education call for an analysis of
the education system of Pakistan and to look into the issues and
problems it is facing so that workable solutions could be
recommended.

What is Education System?

The system of education includes all institutions that are
involved in delivering formal education (public and private,
for-profit and nonprofit, onsite or virtual instruction) and their
faculties, students, physical infrastructure, resources and rules.
In a broader definition the system also includes the institutions
that are directly involved in financing, managing, operating or
regulating such institutions (like government ministries and
regulatory bodies, central testing organizations, textbook
boards and accreditation boards). The rules and regulations
that guide the individual and institutional interactions within
the set up are also part of the education system.

Education system of Pakistan:

The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 260,903

institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384 students with the
help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system includes 180,846 public
institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31%
educational institutes are run by private sector while 69% are
public institutes.

Analysis of education system in Pakistan

Pakistan has expressed its commitment to promote education

and literacy in the country by education policies at domestic
level and getting involved into international commitments on
education. In this regard national education policies are the
visions which suggest strategies to increase literacy rate,
capacity building, and enhance facilities in the schools and
educational institutes. MDGs and EFA programmes are global
commitments of Pakistan for the promotion of literacy.

A review of the education system of Pakistan suggests that

there has been little change in Pakistan’s schools since 2010,
when the 18th Amendment enshrined education as a
fundamental human right in the constitution. Problems of
access, quality, infrastructure and inequality of opportunity,
remain endemic.

Issues

A) MDGs and Pakistan

Due to the problems in education system of Pakistan, the

country is lagging behind in achieving its MDGs of education.
The MDGs have laid down two goals for education sector:

Goal 2: The goal 2 of MDGs is to achieve Universal Primary

Education (UPE) and by 2015, children everywhere, boys and
girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary
schooling. By the year 2014 the enrolment statistics show an
increase in the enrolment of students of the age of 3-16 year
while dropout rate decreased. But the need for increasing
enrolment of students remains high to achieve MDGs target.
Punjab is leading province wise in net primary enrolment rate
with 62% enrolment. The enrolment rate in Sindh province is
52%, in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) 54% and primary
enrolment rate in Balochistan is 45%.

Goal 3: The goal 3 of MDGs is Promoting Gender Equality and

Women Empowerment. It is aimed at eliminating gender
disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and in all
levels of education not later than 2015. There is a stark disparity
between male and female literacy rates. The national literacy
rate of male was 71% while that of female was 48% in 2012-13.
Provinces reported the same gender disparity. Punjab literacy
rate in male was 71% and for females it was 54%. In Sindh
literacy rate in male was 72% and female 47%, in KPK male
70% and females 35%, while in Balochistan male 62% and
female 23%.

B) Education for All (EFA) Commitment

The EFA goals focus on early childhood care and education
including pre-schooling, universal primary education and
secondary education to youth, adult literacy with gender parity
and quality of education as crosscutting thematic and
programme priorities.

EFA Review Report October 2014 outlines that despite repeated

policy commitments, primary education in Pakistan is lagging
behind in achieving its target of universal primary education.
Currently the primary gross enrolment rate stands at 85.9%
while Pakistan requires increasing it up to 100% by 2015-16 to
fulfil EFA goals. Of the estimated total primary school going
21.4 million children of ages 5-9 years, 68.5% are enrolled in
schools, of which 8.2 million or 56% are boys and 6.5 million or
44% are girls. Economic Survey of Pakistan confirms that
during the year 2013-14 literacy remained much higher in
urban areas than in rural areas and higher among males.

C) Vision 2030

Vision 2030 of Planning Commission of Pakistan looks for an

academic environment which promotes the thinking mind. The
goal under Vision 2030 is one curriculum and one national
examination system under state responsibility. The strategies
charted out to achieve the goal included:

(i) Increasing public expenditure on education and

skills generation from 2.7% of GDP to 5% by 2010 and 7% by
2015.

(ii) Re-introduce the technical and vocational stream in

the last two years of secondary schools.

(iii) Gradually increase vocational and technical

education numbers to 25-30% of all secondary enrolment by
2015 and 50 per cent by 2030.

(iv) Enhance the scale and quality of education in general

and the scale and quality of scientific/technical education in
Pakistan in particular.
Problems: The issues lead to the comprehension of the problems
which are faced in the development of education system and
promotion of literacy. The study outlines seven major problems
such as:

1) Lack of Proper Planning: Pakistan is a signatory to MDGs

and EFA goals. However it seems that it will not be able to
achieve these international commitments because of financial
management issues and constraints to achieve the MDGs and
EFA goals.

2) Social constraints: It is important to realize that the

problems which hinder the provision of education are not just
due to issues of management by government but some of them
are deeply rooted in the social and cultural orientation of the
people. Overcoming the latter is difficult and would require a
change in attitude of the people, until then universal primary
education is difficult to achieve.

3) Gender gap: Major factors that hinder enrolment rates of

girls include poverty, cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents
and parental concerns about safety and mobility of their
daughters. Society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection
and early marriages may limit family’s willingness to send
them to school. Enrolment of rural girls is 45% lower than that
of urban girls; while for boys the difference is 10% only,
showing that gender gap is an important factor.

4) Cost of education: The economic cost is higher in private

schools, but these are located in richer settlements only. The
paradox is that private schools are better but not everywhere
and government schools ensure equitable access but do not
provide quality education.
5) War on Terror: Pakistan’s engagement in war against
terrorism also affected the promotion of literacy campaign. The
militants targeted schools and students; several educational
institutions were blown up, teachers and students were killed
in Balochistan, KPK and FATA. This may have to contribute not
as much as other factors, but this remains an important factor.

6) Funds for Education: Pakistan spends 2.4% GDP on

education. At national level, 89% education expenditure
comprises of current expenses such as teachers’ salaries, while
only 11% comprises of development expenditure which is not
sufficient to raise quality of education.

7) Technical Education: Sufficient attention has not been

paid to the technical and vocational education in Pakistan. The
number of technical and vocational training institutes is not
sufficient and many are deprived of infrastructure, teachers
and tools for training. The population of a state is one of the
main elements of its national power. It can become an asset
once it is skilled. Unskilled population means more jobless
people in the country, which affects the national development
negatively. Therefore, technical education needs priority
handling by the government.

Poverty, law and order situation, natural disasters, budgetary

constraints, lack of access, poor quality, equity, and
governance have also contributed in less enrolments.

An analysis of the issues and problems suggest that:

The official data shows the allocation of funds for educational

projects but there is no mechanism which ensures the proper
expenditure of those funds on education.

The existing infrastructure is not being properly utilized in

several parts of the country.
 There are various challenges that include expertise,
institutional and capacity issues, forging national cohesion,
uniform standards for textbook development, and quality
assurance.

The faculty hiring process is historically known to be

politicized. It is because of this that the quality of teaching
suffers and even more so when low investments are made in
teachers’ training. As a result teachers are not regular and
their time at school is not as productive as it would be with a
well-trained teacher.

Inside schools there are challenges which include shortage

of teachers, teacher absenteeism, missing basic facilities
and lack of friendly environment.

Out of school challenges include shortage of schools,

distance – especially for females, insecurity, poverty,
cultural norms, parents are reluctant or parents lack
awareness.

Solutions

There is a need for implementation of national education policy

and vision 2030 education goals. An analysis of education
policy suggests that at the policy level there are several
admirable ideas, but practically there are some shortcomings
also.

It may not be possible for the government at the moment to

implement uniform education system in the country, but a
uniform curriculum can be introduced in educational institutes
of the country. This will provide equal opportunity to the
students of rural areas to compete with students of urban areas
in the job market.

Since majority of Pakistani population resides in rural areas

and the access to education is a major problem for them, it
seems feasible that a balanced approach for formal and
informal education be adopted. Government as well as non-
government sector should work together to promote education
in rural areas.
The government should take measures to get school buildings
vacated which are occupied by feudal lords of Sindh,
Balochistan and Punjab. Efforts should be made to ensure that
proper education is provided in those schools.

The federal government is paying attention to the vocational

and technical training, but it is important to make the already
existing vocational and technical training centres more
efficient so that skilled youth could be produced.

Since education is a provincial subject, the provincial education

secretariats need to be strengthened. Special policy planning
units should be established in provinces’ education
departments for implementation of educational policies and
formulation of new policies whenever needed. The provincial
education departments need to work out financial resources
required for realising the compliance of Article 25-A.

Federal Government should play a supportive role vis-à-vis the

provinces for the early compliance of the constitutional
obligation laid down in Article 25-A. Special grants can be
provided to the provinces where the literacy rate is low.

Pakistan is not the only country which is facing challenges

regarding promotion of literacy and meeting EFA and MDGs
commitments. Education remains a subject which is paid least
attention in the whole South Asian region. UNDP report 2014
suggests that there has been an improvement in other elements
of human development such as life expectancy, per capita
income and human development index value (in past 3 years);
but there has been no progress in the number of schooling
years. The expected average for years of schooling in 2010 was
10.6 years but the actual average of schooling remained 4.7 for
all South Asian countries. In the year 2013 the expected average
of number of years increased to 11.2 but the actual average of
years of schooling of South Asian countries remained 4.7.
Regional cooperation mechanism can also be developed to
promote literacy in South Asian region. Sharing success stories,
making country-specific modifications and their
implementation can generate positive results.
Recommendations

Technical education should be made a part of secondary

education. Classes for carpentry, electrical, and other
technical education must be included in the curriculum.

Providing economic incentives to the students may

encourage the parents to send their children to school and
may help in reducing the dropout ratio.

Local government system is helpful in promoting education

and literacy in the country. In local government system the
funds for education would be spent on a need basis by the
locality.

Corruption in education departments is one of the factors

for the poor literacy in the country. An effective monitoring
system is needed in education departments.

For any system to work it is imperative that relevant

structures are developed. Legislation and structure should
be framed to plan for the promotion of education in the
country. After the 18th amendment the education has
become a provincial subject, therefore, the provinces should
form legislations and design educational policies which
ensure quality education.

Unemployment of educated men and women is a major

concern for Pakistan. There should be career counselling of
the pupils in schools so that they have an understanding of
job market and they can develop their skills accordingly.

Counselling of parents is required, so that they can choose a

career for their child which is market friendly.

There are two approaches to acquiring education: First,

which is being followed by many in Pakistan is to get
education to earn bread and butter. The second approach is
to get education for the sake of personal development and
learning. This approach is followed by affluent and
economically stable people who send their children to
private schools and abroad for education. The problem
arises when non-affluent families send their children to
 private schools, and universities. This aspiration for sending
children for higher education is wrong, because the country
does not need managers and officers only. There are several
other jobs where people are needed. Hence the mind-set of
sending one’s children to university only for becoming
officers and managers needs to be changed.

Conclusion:

The reforms required in the education system of Pakistan

cannot be done by the government alone, public-private
participation and a mix of formal as well as non-formal
education can pull out majority of country’s population from
illiteracy. Similarly, to make the youth of the country an asset,
attention should also be paid to vocational and technical
training.

References:

Human Development Report 2014 “Sustaining Human

Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience,”
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (New York:
UNDP, 2014).

Mehnaz Aziz et al, “Education System Reform in Pakistan:

Why, When, and How?” IZA Policy Paper No. 76, January 2014
(Institute for the Study of Labor, 2014), P 4.

Annual Report: Pakistan Education Statistics 2011-12, National

Education Management Information System Academy of
Educational Planning and Management, Ministry of Education,
Trainings & Standards in Higher Education, Government of
Pakistan, (Islamabad, AEPAM, 2013).

Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014, Ministry of Finance,

Government of Pakistan.

Pakistan: Education for All 2015 National Review, Ministry of

Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education
Academy of Educational Planning and Management Islamabad,