By Sir Usman (PAS 49th CTP)

EDUCATION
Importance, Current Status, Issues, Way Forward
(with case studies)
 Although , the success of a nation is generally
considered to be decided by power politics or military
strength, it is, in fact, the educational system that
determines the social, political and economic future of
a country by creating a productive workforce,
imparting civic sense,and improving capacity and
quality of institutions of governance.Education not only
plays role in personal development, it has a very
significant role in a country’s development. No nation
can rise to its glory without the jewel of education.
Importance of Education

 “ The object of education is to

“Education is a better
safeguard of liberty
than a standing army.”
• Edward Everett -
prepare the young to educate
themselves throughout their
lives. We should give our youth
the way to educate
themselves.”
• Robert Maynard Hutchins-
 Impact of Education on a Society

 Education turns an impressionable mind into a productive

member of the society
 A person deprived of education cannot contribute effectively
towards the society.
 A person who is misguided or indoctrinated during his formative
learning years will be damaging to the whole society.
 It boosts literacy rate in society.
 Education sector is critical while making development plans for
the society.
 Impact of Education on Economy

 Good education creates a productive workforce workers,

doctors, engineers etc.
 It creates entrepreneurs, innovators and creators of new
industries.
 Education also strengthens a country by playing role in
poverty alleviation
 It enhances financial stability.
 It creates employment opportunities thereby help in making
economy sector strong.
 Social Outcomes of Educated Society

 Education impacts how women, children and minorities are

treated.
 Right education impacts civic sense
 Education defines and impacts both material and non-
material culture i.e., values, norms, beliefs.
 It impacts high culture: poetry, drama, arts, theatre,
literature.
 Political Outcomes of Educated Society

 High voting turnout

 Less caste-based voting
 Less manipulation by politicians
 Better breed of politicians
 Good quality of institutions, civil service, judiciary, legal
fraternity etc.
 Creates and make rule of law strong.
Education’s Role in
Uplifting of Nations
(Case Studies)
Social, economic, and political rise of Europe
neatly coincided with the spread of education(
invention of printing press) in Europe after
renaissance.
U.S Right to Vote Franchise was expanded in U.S
as the education spread and each group
started demanding their rights. Non-property
holders, African-american ,and women thus,
political future of United States was tied to its
quality of civil society which itself became
strengthened as education became
widespread.
According to Martin Luther King “ equal rights for
African-American on the basis of constitution.”
Education’s Role in
Uplifting of Nations
(Case Studies)
Education reforms under Mao and
Deng in China became the principal
driver of Chinese economy. Highly
skilled human capital turned China
an industrial powerhouse
Under the leadership of Lee Kaun
Yew, Singapore transformed from a
third world country to a first world
country due to widespread
education and skill development
which led to huge economic boom.
 ARTICLE 25-A says that all five- to 16-year-old
should have access to free education. This
essentially means every child should get 10 years
of education irrespective of whether they want
it or not, and whether they can afford it or not.

Education in Pakistan
Global Agenda to Ensure Education
(SDG-4)

 In the wider scenario, after Millennium Development Goals,

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) also lays huge importance
on education.
 SDG-4 is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This SDG reaffirms the
importance of education in a country’s development.
 As all countries, Pakistan has also given importance to education in
its constitution. Article 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan:
“The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all
children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be
determined by law.”
Levels of Educational System

 Pre-school (for the age from 3 to 5 years)

 Primary (years one to five)
 Middle (years six to eight)
 High (years nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School
Certificate or SSC)
 Intermediate (years eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher
Secondary School Certificate or HSSC)
 University programs leading to undergraduate and graduate
degrees.
 Non-formal and Informal Education

 These institutions are vocational schools, technical training centres

and agriculture and vocational training centres.
 Informal education is also important in Pakistan and regroups
mostly school-leavers and low-skilled individuals, who are trained
under the supervision of a senior craftsman.
 Few institutes are run by corporates to train university students
eligible for jobs and provide experience during education fulfilling
a gap between university and industry for example: Appxone
Private Limited is training Engineers with professional development
on major subjects of Electronics and Computer science and other
fields.
 Madrassa Education System

 Madrassas are Islamic semineries. Most Madrasas teach mostly Islamic

subjects such as
1. Tafseer (Interpretation of the Quran), 2. Hadith (sayings of Muhammad),
3. Fiqh (Islamic Law) 4. Arabic language and include
5. Some non-Islamic subjects, such as logic, philosophy, mathematics, to
enable students to understand the religious ones.
The madrassas are popular among Pakistan's poorest families in part
because they feed and house their students. Estimates of the number of
madrasas vary between 12,000 and 40,000. In some areas of Pakistan, they
outnumber the public schools.
Current Status of Education in Pakistan

 The current literacy rate of Pakistan is 62.3% which means

that an estimated population of 60 million is illiterate in the
country.
Literacy Rate Female Male
62.3% 46.47% 71.12%

Total Enrollment Primary Secondary Post Secondary

Enrollment Enrollment Enrollment
32.33% 67.57% 43.82% 14.85%
Province Wise Literacy Rate

Literacy rate
Province
1972 1981 1998 2021
Punjab 20.7% 27.4% 46.56% 66.3%
Sindh 30.2% 31.5% 45.29% 61.8%
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 15.5% 16.7% 35.41% 55.1%
Balochistan 10.1% 10.3% 26.6% 54.5%
 According to NGO Alif Ailaan, out of 52.91 million school going children, only 27.89 million attend an
educational institute (government or private ), leaving 25.02 million children or nearly 50% , out of school.
 As per the assertion of a report that Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school
children, counting 22.8 million children between the ages of 5 and 16, and representing 44 percent of
children not attending schools.
 The PIDE report discovered new data “Pakistan has never provided a chance approximately to 1 in 4
(23.45%) children of ever attending school while around 7% had enrolled and dropped out in every
year.”

Issues with Education in Pakistan

High drop out figures + out-of-school children
 Issues with Education
in Pakistan
Decentralization at Federal Level
but Centralization at Province Level

18th Amendment delegated education

from federal to province some 12 years
ago, however, provinces failed to delegate
it further to local government.
In Brazil, the main responsibility for the
delivery of education up to lower
secondary, lies with the local municipalities.
While the state and federal governments —
who look after the higher levels — put in
resources, ensure some standardisation,
organise procurement at scale and so on,
the bulk of the work of managing schools,
teachers, school leadership and even
resources, is done at the local level.
 Issueswith Education
in Pakistan
Gender Disparity is a Major Issue

According to World Economic Forum

Pakistan ranked 145 out of 156 countries
in Global Gender Disparity Report 2022.
Pakistan still seems to be following what
Syed Ahmad Khan had said in 1873: “No
satisfactory education can be provided
for Mohammedan Females until a large
number of Mohammaden Males receive
a sound education.”
What might have been relevant In the
nineteenth century ,is clearly not relevant
for the twenty-first.
 Issues with Education
in Pakistan
Quality of Vocational Training (VT)
is Inadequate

The lack of interactions between industries and

Technical and Vocational Education Training Institutes
(TVET) has therefore resulted in the marginalization of
the TVET institutions with employers demonstrating little
interest in extending cooperation to the institutions.
Lesser emphasis on technical education means the
lesser manpower for industry and hence the lesser
finance generation.
The private sector firms however solicit emplyees with
• Diverse exposures
• A broad knowledge base
• Good English language skills
• Robust analytical ability
 Issues with Education
in Pakistan
Stratified Educational System

Three parallel education system has its own

curriculum and examination processes.
• Public or government run schools
• Private schools
• Madrasas
Moreover, the schools run by the military are in a
class of their own.
The National Internal Security Policy 2014-2018
has summed up the impact of such stratification
of education as: “serious cleavages have
appeared in the society as a result of these
systems, and continued existence in parallel
spheres compounds the possibilities of violence
among divided youth.”
 Issueswith Education
in Pakistan
Inefficient Teachers

Government fails to attract the

potential candidates for teaching
with the zeal vigor and excellent
carrier.
Teaching is rated as the lowest
among the jobs for the youth,
because of lesser incentives, slow
promotions and lesser fringe benefits.
The teachers in government schools
are not well groomed and equipped
with knowledge and training.
 Issueswith Education
in Pakistan
Poverty

The escalation of poverty has restricted the

parents to send their children to tasks for
child labor or at least to public or private
schools.
In these schools, the drop out is very high
because schools are not the attractive
places, the curriculum is dry and the
teaching does not match the live situations.
Poor parents are constrained to send their
children to madrassahs where the
education is totally free.
COVID-19 and recent flood has increased
drop out students.
 Issues with Education
in Pakistan
Corruption

There is no accountability and transparency

in the system, the salaries are low, the
incentives are too less to be accounted
and even those are uneven.
An estimated Rs. 2,594 million out of a total
of Rs. 7,016 million provided for
improvement of school facilities such as
buildings, electricity, drinkable water, etc
had gone unaccounted during the fiscal
periods 2001-06 (UNESCO Bano, 2007)
Similarly, more than 70% literacy centers in
Punjab remained inoperative or exist only
on paper (ADBP, 2007).
Moral corruption is also adding fuel to injury.
 Issueswith Education
in Pakistan
Social Imbalance

The students from the elite class follow the

“O” and “A” levels curriculum instead of
Pakistan’s routine orthodox and stagnant
curriculum.
They have little or no awareness of their
religion and culture whereas those
passing out from Urdu medium schools
are usually destined to work in clerical
and lower-level positions.
Religious madrassas churn out yet
another class that is usually unaware of
the world outside their own perception.
Way Forward

 National and provincial governments are required to allocate

sufficient budget for implementation of Article-25A. Budget is
the most important prerequisite in achieving SDG-4.
 Policies should be made to connect academia, industry and
government(Triple Helix Model) to develop requisite e-schools
and university via internet.
Case study of E-ESTONIA : Estonia has undertaken a holistic
project to facilitate student’s interaction with the state using
electronic solutions which includes
1. E- Schools
2. University via internet
Way Forward

 Bureaucratic hurdles should be removed to encourage

non-governmental institutes 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.
 Government should encourage private schools to offer 10
per cent of admissions to needy students from
underprivileged backgrounds.
Way Forward

 Education’s share as a proportion of GDP must be enhanced along

with conscious effort to ensure a better balance on spending
between administrative and development expenditures within the
sector
On an average, at the national level, 89 per cent of education
expenditures comprises administrative expenses like salaries of
teachers. Only 11 per cent comprises development expenditures,
which is not sufficient to raise the quality of education.
 Institutional duplication and organizational inefficiencies need to be
addressed across the board by resolving ambiguities about the
different roles of federal and provincial governments in education.
Way Forward

 Reduction in tuition fees in public schools, increased

allotment of need-based scholarships and free textbooks
and uniforms should be encouraged.
 Efforts must be made to ensure the quality of teacher’s
education and implementation of the standards.
e.g establishment of the National Professional Standards
for Teachers in Pakistan.
Way Forward

 Policymakers should provide a level playing field for students

irrespective of their caste, creed, location, family’s economic
capacity and religion.
 As a complementary policy strand ,there is need for greater
empowerment of those with a direct stake in education.
e.g School Management committees (SMCs) provided the
needed authority and independence to ensure that schools
function properly, teachers are present, and students attend
regularly.
REFERENCES

 Maleeha Lodhi (Pakistan Beyond The Crisis State)

To meet post 2015 education goals by 2030, the country
will have to increase its current per student expenditure ten
times at the pre-primary level ,by six times at the primary
level, and by four times at the lower secondary level.
Pakistan will have to increase the proportion of GDP
allocations to basic education by almost three times.
REFERENCES

 Economic Survey Of Pakistan 2020-2021

1. The cumulative education expenditure by the federal and the
provincial governments in fiscal year 2021 stood at 1.5 percent
of the GDP which is even less than fiscal year 2020 . this number
is self explanatory regarding situation of education in Pakistan .
2. The Gross Enrolment Rates (GER) at the primary level for the
age group 6-10 years at the national level during 2019-2020
declined to 84 per cent as compared to 91 percent in 2014-
2015.
REFERENCES

The Education Statistics Report , which is based on the data of

the Federal Government’s National Institute of Policy Studies
(NIPS) ,says that it has been estimated that
1. Punjab needs atleast 15,000 more schools to accommodate
its out-of-school children
2. while Sindh needs around 20,000 more schools.
3. The country needs at least 100,000 new primary teachers for
government schools.
QUOTES

 There is no doubt the future of our state can and must depend
heavily on the kind of education we provide to our children
and the manner in which we make them a future people from
Pakistan. ( Muhammad Ali Jinnah, first conference on
education in November 1947)
 One child, one teacher ,one pen and one book can change
the world. (Malala Yousafzai)
 Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one
has learned in school.(Albert Einstein)
QUOTES

 Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of the true

education.(Martin Luther King Jr.)
 We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in
our students and our schools. We must make sure that people
who have the grades, the desire and the will,but not the
money ,can still get the best education possible. (Barack
Obama)
 Education must provide the opportunities for self fulfillment, it
can at best provide a rich and challenging environment for
the individual to explore, in his own way.(Noam Chomsky)
QUOTES

 “ the greatest threat to Pakistan may be its abysmal

education system. Pakistani schools- and not just
madrasas-are churning out fiery zealots, fueled with a
passion for jihad and martyrdom” ( Pervez Hoodboy)
Pakistan Vision 2025

 “ Pakistan ranks 113th out of 120 countries in UNESCO’S Education

for All Education Development Index. Pakistan literacy rate (57 per
cent ) lags behind the country’s neighbours. This proportion also
includes those who could only write their names. Literacy rate in
rural areas of Pakistan is even lower at 50%. Pakistan has low net
enrolment ratios at all three levels- primary,secondary and tertiary –
with a much lower female enrolment rate as compared to males.
When we move from primary to secondary to tertiary levels,
enrolment ratios decrease sharply. Pakistan has the world’s second
highest out-of-school population of children. Public sector
expenditure on education is barely 2 per cent of GDP. This is
compounded by insufficient trained teachers and their
absenteeism, and weak governance resulting in poor quality of
public schooling.”