Education in Pakistan is overseen by the Ministry
of Education of the Government of Pakistan
as well as the provincial governments, whereas
the federal government mostly assists in curriculum
development, accreditation and in the financing
of research and development. Article 25-A
of Constitution of Pakistan obligates the
state to provide free and compulsory quality
education to children of the age group 5 to
16 years. “The State shall provide free
and compulsory education to all children of
the age of five to sixteen years in such a
manner as may be determined by law”.
The education system in Pakistan is generally
divided into five levels: primary; middle;
high; intermediate Certificate or HSC); and
university programs leading to undergraduate
and graduate degrees.
The literacy rate ranges from 96% in Islamabad
to 28% in the Kohlu District. Between 2000
and 2004, Pakistanis in the age group 55–64
had a literacy rate of almost 38%, those ages
45–54 had a literacy rate of nearly 46%,
those 25–34 had a literacy rate of 57%,
and those ages 15–24 had a literacy rate
of 72%. Literacy rates vary regionally, particularly
by sex. In tribal areas female literacy is
9.5%. Moreover, English is fast spreading
in Pakistan, with 18 million Pakistanis having
a command over the English language, which
makes it the third largest English-speaking
nation in the world and the second largest
in Asia. On top of that, Pakistan produces
about 445,000 university graduates and 10,000
computer science graduates per year. Despite
these statistics, Pakistan still has one of
the highest illiteracy rates in the world
and the second largest out of school population
after Nigeria.
Stages of formal education
Primary education
Only 87% of Pakistani children finish primary
school education. The standard national system
of education is mainly inspired from the British
system. Pre-school education is designed for
3–5 years old and usually consists of three
stages: Play Group, Nursery and Kindergarten.
After pre-school education, students go through
junior school from grades 1 to 5. This is
proceeded by middle school from grades 6 to
8. At middle school, single-sex education
is usually preferred by the community, but
co-education is also common in urban cities.
The curriculum is usually subject to the institution.
The eight commonly examined disciplines are
Urdu, English, mathematics, arts, science,
social studies, Islamic studies and sometimes
computer studies. Provincial and regional
languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto
and others may be taught in their respective
provinces, particularly in language-medium
schools. Some institutes give instruction
in foreign languages such as Turkish, Arabic,
Persian, French and Chinese. The language
of instruction depends on the nature of the
institution itself, whether it is an English-medium
school or an Urdu-medium school.
As of 2009, Pakistan faces a net primary school
attendance rate for both sexes of 66 percent:
a figure below estimated world average of
90 percent.
Pakistan’s poor performance in the education
sector is mainly caused by the low level of
public investment. Public expenditure on education
has been 2.2 percent of GNP in recent years,
a marginal increase from 2 percent before
1984-85. In addition, the allocation of government
funds is skewed towards higher education,
allowing the upper income class to reap majority
of the benefits of public subsidy on education.
Lower education institutes such as primary
schools suffer under such conditions as the
lower income classes are unable to enjoy subsidies
and quality education. As a result, Pakistan
has one of the lowest rates of literacy in
the world and the lowest among countries of
comparative resources and socio-economic situations.
Secondary education
Secondary education in Pakistan begins from
grade 9 and lasts for four years. After end
of each of the school years, students are
required to pass a national examination administered
by a regional Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education.
Upon completion of grade 9, students are expected
to take a standardised test in each of the
first parts of their academic subjects. They
again give these tests of the second parts
of the same courses at the end of grade 10.
Upon successful completion of these examinations,
they are awarded a Secondary School Certificate.
This locally termed as 'matriculation certificate'
or 'matric' for short. The curriculum usually
includes a combination of eight courses including
electives as well as compulsory subjects.
Students then enter an intermediate college
and complete grades 11 and 12. Upon completion
of each of the two grades, they again take
standardised tests in their academic subjects.
Upon successful completion of these examinations,
students are awarded the Higher Secondary
Certificate. This level of education is also
called the FScICS or 'intermediate'. There
are many streams students can choose for their
11 and 12 grades, such as pre-medical, pre-engineering,
humanities, computer science and commerce.
Each stream consists of three electives and
as well as three compulsory subjects of English,
Urdu, Islamiat and Pakistani Studies.
Alternative qualifications in Pakistan are
available but are maintained by other examination
boards instead BISE. Most common alternative
is the General Certificate of Education, where
SSC and HSC are replaced by Ordinary Level
and Advanced Level respectively. Other qualifications
include IGCSE which replaces SSC. GCE O Level,
IGCSE and GCE AS/A Level are managed by British
examination boards of CIE of the Cambridge
Assessment and/or Edexcel of the Pearson PLC.
Generally, 8-10 courses are selected by students
at GCE O Levels and 3-5 at GCE A Levels.
Advanced Placement is an alternative option
but much less common than GCE or IGCSE. This
replaces the secondary school education as
'High School Education' instead. AP exams
are monitored by a North American examination
board, College Board, and can only be given
under supervision of centers which are registered
with the College Board, unlike GCE OA Level
and IGCSE which can be given privately.
There is another type of education in Pakistan
which is called "Technical Education", gathering
technical and vocational Education. The vocational
curriculum starts at grade 5 and ends on grade
10. Three boards, Punjab Board of Technical
Education, NWFP Board of Technical Education,
and Sindh Board of Technical Education, provide
facilities of technical education. PBTE offering
Matric tac. and D.A.E. in technologies like
Civil, Chemical, Architecture, Mechanical,
Electrical, Electronics, Computer Sciences
and many more technologies. This is three
years program and combines Physics, Chemistry,
Islamic study, Pakistan Study and other more
than 25 books related to their Technology.
After matric and then three years diploma
is equal to 12th grade, and diploma holder
iscalled Associate Engineer. Either they can
join their respective field or can take admission
in B.Tech. or BE in their related technology
after D.A.E.
Tertiary education
According to the UNESCO's 2009 Global Education
Digest, 6% of Pakistanis were university graduates
as of 2007. Pakistan plans to increase this
figure to 10% by 2015 and subsequently to
15% by 2020. There is also a great deal of
variety between age cohorts. Less than 6%
of those in the age cohort 55-64 have a degree,
compared to 8% in the 45-54 age cohort, 11%
in the 35-44 age cohort and 16% in the age
cohort 25-34.
After earning their HSC, students may study
in a professional college for Bachelor's degree
courses such as engineering, B.Tech Hons/BS
Engg.Tech medicine, dentistry, veterinary
medicine, law, architecture, pharmacy and
nursing. These courses require four or five
years of study. There are some councils and
boards that will handle all the education
matters in these cases; they are the PMDC,
Pakistan pharmacy council and Pakistan nursing
council. Students can also attend a university
for Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science,
Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Business
Administration degree courses. These all are
the courses that are done in Pakistan and
are really common. These days doctor of pharmacy
is also gaining much reputation. The pharmacy
council of Pakistan is doing huge struggle
to make the pharmacy education better. Polytechnics
and colleges of technology offers technical
education.
There are two types of Bachelor courses in
Pakistan: Pass or Honors. Pass degree requires
two years of study and students normally read
three optional subjects in addition to almost
equal number of compulsory subjects. Honours
degree requires three or four years of study,
and students normally specialize in a chosen
field of study, such as Biochemistry. It can
be noted that Pass Bachelors is now slowly
being phased out for Honours throughout the
country.
Quaternary education
Most of Master's degree programs require two
years education. Master of Philosophy is available
in most of the subjects and can be undertaken
after doing Masters. Doctor of Philosophy
education is available in selected areas and
is usually pursued after earning a M.Phil
degree. Students pursuing M.Phil or PhD degrees
must choose a specific field and a university
that is doing research work in that field.
M.Phill and PhD education in Pakistan requires
a minimum of two years of study.
Non formal and informal education
Out of the formal system, the public sectors
runs numerous schools and training centres,
most being vocational-oriented. Among those
institutions can be found vocational schools,
technical training centres and agriculture
and vocational training centres. An apprenticechip
system is also framed by the Pakistanese State.
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.
Gender disparity
In Pakistan, gender discrimination in education
occurs amongst the poorest households but
is non-existent amongst rich households. Only
18% of Pakistani women have received 10 years
or more of schooling. Among other criticisms
the Pakistani education system faces is the
gender disparity in enrollment levels. However,
in recent years some progress has been made
in trying to fix this problem. In 1990-91,
the female to male ratio of enrollment was
0.47 for primary level of education. It reached
to 0.74 in 1999-2000, showing the F/M ratio
has improved by 57.44% within the decade.
For the middle level of education it was 0.42
in the start of decade and increased to 0.68
by the end of decade, so it has improved almost
62%. In both cases the gender disparity is
decreased but relatively more rapidly at middle
level.
The gender disparity in enrollment at secondary
level of education was 0.4 in 1990-91 and
0.67 in 1999-2000, showing that the disparity
decreased by 67.5% in the decade. At the college
level it was 0.50 in 1990-91 and reached 0.81
in 1999-2000, showing that the disparity decreased
by 64%. The gender disparity has decreased
comparatively rapidly at secondary school.
The gender disparity is affected by the Taliban
enforcement of a complete ban on female education
in the Swat district, as reported in a January
21, 2009 issue of the Pakistan daily newspaper
The News. Some 400 private schools enrolling
40,000 girls have been shut down. At least
10 girls' schools that tried to open after
the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Taliban
were blown up by the militants in the town
of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district.
"More than 170 schools have been bombed or
torched, along with other government-owned
buildings."
There is great difference in the rates of
enrollment of boys, as compared to girls in
Pakistan. According to UNESCO figures, primary
school enrolment for girls stand at 60 per
cent as compared to 84 percent for boys. The
secondary school enrolment rate stands at
a lower rate of 32 percent for females and
46 per cent males. Regular school attendance
for female students is estimated at 41 per
cent while that for male students is 50 per
cent.
Qualitative dimension
In Pakistan, the quality of education has
a declining trend. Shortage of teachers and
poorly equipped laboratories has resulted
in the out-dated curriculum that has little
relevance to present day needs.
Quantitative dimension
Causative factors include defective curricula,
dual medium of instruction, poor quality of
teachers, cheating in the examinations and
overcrowded classrooms. However, efforts are
on the way of moulding the curriculum to meet
its national requirements.
Achievements
Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist
and Nobel laureate in physics for his work
on the electroweak unification of the electromagnetic
and weak forces. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and
Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel prize
for this work. Salam holds the distinction
of being the first Pakistani to receive the
Nobel Prize in any field. Salam heavily contributed
to the rise of Pakistani physics to the Physics
community in the world.
Ayub Ommaya
Ayub Ommaya was a Pakistani neurosurgeon who
heavily contributed to his field. Over 150
research papers have been attributed to him.
He also invented the Ommaya Reservoir medical
procedure. It is a system of delivery of medical
drugs for treatment of patients with brain
tumours.
Mahbub-ul-Haq
Mahbub-ul-Haq was a Pakistani economist who
along with Indian economist Amartya Sen developed
the Human Development Index, the modern international
standard for measuring and rating human development.
Atta-ur-Rehman
Atta-ur-Rehman is a Pakistani scientist known
for his work in the field of natural product
chemistry. He has over 935 research papers
attributed to him.
Education expenditure as percentage of GDP
Public expenditure on education lies on the
fringes of 2 percent of GDP. However, in 2009
the government approved the new national education
policy, which stipulates that education expenditure
will be increased to 7% of GDP, an idea that
was first suggested by the Punjab government.
The author of an article, which reviews the
history of education spending in Pakistan
since 1972, argues that this policy target
raises a fundamental question: What extraordinary
things are going to happen that would enable
Pakistan to achieve within six years what
it has been unable to lay a hand on in the
past six decades? The policy document is blank
on this question and does not discuss the
assumptions that form the basis of this target.
Calculations of the author show that during
the past 37 years, the highest public expenditure
on education was 2.80 percent of GDP in 1987-88.
Public expenditure on education as a percentage
of GDP was actually reduced in 16 years and
maintained in 5 years between 1972–73 and
2008-09. Thus, out of total 37 years since
1972, public expenditure on education as a
percentage of GDP either decreased or remained
stagnant for 21 years. The author argues if
linear trend were maintained since 1972, Pakistan
could have touched 4 percent of GDP well before
2015. However, it is unlikely to happen because
the levels of spending have had remained significantly
unpredictable and unsteady in the past. Given
this disappointing trajectory, increasing
public expenditure on education to 7 percent
of GDP would be nothing less than a miracle
but it is not going to be of godly nature.
Instead, it is going to be the one of political
nature because it has to be "invented" by
those who are at the helm of affairs. The
author suggests that little success can be
made unless Pakistan adopts an "unconventional"
approach to education. That is to say, education
sector should be treated as a special sector
by immunizing budgetary allocations for it
from fiscal stresses and political and economic
instabilities. Allocations for education should
not be affected by squeezed fiscal space or
surge in military expenditure or debts. At
the same time, there is a need to debate others
options about how Pakistan can "invent" the
miracle of raising education expenditure to
7 percent of GDP by 2015.
Universities Rankings
According to the Quality Standard World University
Ranking 2010 there are two Pakistani universities
among top 200 Technology Universities of the
World. Eight Pakistani universities including
COMSATS,Aga Khan University, Lahore University
of Management Sciences, PIEAS, University
of Lahore, Quaid-e-Azam University, National
University of Science & Technology and University
of Karachi are ranked among top Asian Universities.
Language
Education in Pakistan is carried out in two
languages, Urdu and English. While Urdu is
the national language, it was originally and
initially developed in Uttar Pradesh in neighboring
India. The language was chosen as the national
language by the founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah
and has no relation to the belief that it
was brought to Pakistan during the independence
of Pakistan in 1947 by migrants called Muhajir.
Urdu quickly dominated the Pakistani political
landscape and Urdu is mandatory in all schools
and educational institutions as part of a
strategy to undermine the indigenous languages
and cultures of the region. Education in Pakistan
was severely affected by the language bias.
According to a 2010 British Council report,
this forced imposition of Urdu on non-Urdu
speakers in Pakistani schools and universities
has resulted in the systematic degradation
and decline of many of Pakistan's indigenous
cultures, is partly responsible for a rise
in reactionary rebellions against this ethnocracy,
and contributes to discontent and political
instability in the country. The report also
cites rising illiteracy rates in Pakistan
among the indigenous and attributes it to
the forced imposition of Urdu in schools,
leading to non-Urdu speakers, feeling threatened
by the neglect of their languages in Pakistani
education, becoming increasingly reluctant
to enroll in these schools.
Religion and education
Education in Pakistan is heavily influenced
by religion. For instance, one study of Pakistani
science teachers showed that many rejected
evolution based on religious grounds. However,
most of the Pakistani teachers who responded
to the study either accepted or considered
the possibility of the evolution of living
organisms, although nearly all Pakistani science
teachers rejected human evolution because
they believed that ‘human beings did not
evolve from monkeys.’ This is a major misconception
and incorrect interpretation of the science
of evolution, but according to the study it
is a common one among many Pakistani teachers.
Although many of the teachers rejected the
evolution of humans, " all agreed that there
is ‘no contradiction between science and
Islam’ in general".
Literacy rate
It needs to be highlighted that from census
to census the definition of literacy has been
undergoing a change, resultantly the literacy
figure has vacillated irregularly during the
last 5 census. An update of the five censuses
is as under:
Table below shows the literacy rate of Pakistan
by province.
Table below shows the literacy rate of Federally
Administered Areas.
Literacy rate over time in selected districts
School attendance
Population age 10 and over that has ever attended
school, highest and lowest figures by region.
Islamabad has the highest rate in the country
at 85%, whilst Jhal Magsi has the lowest rate
at 20%.
Comparison with other countries
Source: UNESCO
Adult Literacy Rate
Youth Literacy Rate
See also
List of Pakistani Districts by Human Development
Index
List of special education institutions in
Pakistan
Lists of educational institutions in Pakistan
Pakistan Studies curriculum
Pakistani textbooks controversy
References
Further reading
Halai, Anjum. "Gender and Mathematics Education:
Lessons from Pakistan".
K.K. Aziz. The Murder of History : A Critique
of History Textbooks used in Pakistan. Vanguard.
ISBN 969-402-126-X
Nayyar, A. H. & Salim, Ahmad. The Subtle Subversion:
The State of Curricula and Text-books in Pakistan
- Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics.
Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
The Subtle Subversion
Pervez Hoodbhoy and A. H. Nayyar. Rewriting
the history of Pakistan, in Islam, Politics
and the state: The Pakistan Experience, Ed.
Mohammad Asghar Khan, Zed Books, London, 1985.
Mubarak Ali. In the Shadow of history, Nigarshat,
Lahore; History on Trial, Fiction House, Lahore,
1999; Tareekh Aur Nisabi Kutub, Fiction House,
Lahore, 2003.
Rubina Saigol. Knowledge and Identity - Articulation
of Gender in Educational Discourse in Pakistan,
ASR, Lahore 1995
Tariq Rahman, Denizens of Alien Worlds: A
Study of Education, Inequality and Polarization
in Pakistan Karachi, Oxford University Press,
2004. Reprint. 2006
Tariq Rahman, Language, Ideology and Power:
Language learning among the Muslims of Pakistan
and North India Karachi, Oxford UP, 2002.
Tariq Rahman, Language and Politics in Pakistan
Karachi: Oxford UP, 1996. Rept. several times.
see 2006 edition.
World Bank Case Study on Primary Education
in Pakistan
ilmkidunya - Biggest Educational Website of
Paksitan
External links
Official website
Education in Pakistan
PakTurk Educational System
Online Education in Pakistan
Education System in Pakistan
Pakistan Education
Pakistan Education News, Colleges, Universities
World Data on Education, IBE - Overview of
the Pakistanese education system
TVET in Pakistan, UNESCO-UNEVOC(2013) - Overview
of the technical and vocational education
system in Pakistan
