Access to all levels of education remains a major obstacle in Pakistan. In 2009, the gross enrolment ratio for primary education was the highest at 85% while secondary education was only at 33% (UIS 2009). Several factors contribute to problems of children’s access to education in Pakistan, including location, gender and their families’ socio-economic standing. While access to education is high in densely populated cities and surrounding areas, the rural regions hold much lower enrolment rates. During the 1990s, the Government played a large role in reducing the gender gap by recruiting more female teachers and enforcing certain policy measures toward educating females. This resulted in gender disparities concerning enrolment almost disappeared in the urban ones (UNESCO 2007). Pakistan also suffers from low survival rate to grade 5 at 62%, which is often linked to a family’s socio-economic standing (UIS 2009).
High quality education is necessary for education to achieve its intended impact. Several assessment studies and surveys show that the quality of education is poor in Pakistan, with some of the main contributing factors being the lack of qualified teachers combined with inadequate school resources, heavy workload and insufficient teaching resources. A National Education Assessment Study found that only 2% of children were ‘learning’ almost all of the curriculum and 42% were ‘learning’ one-half of the curriculum (UNESCO 2007). Students of the Punjab region were acquiring the most literacy and life skills competencies while students of the Federally Administered Tribal and Northern Areas (FATA and FANA) regions were acquiring the lowest number of competencies.
Prior to the most recent 18th amendment of 2011, the 2001 Devolution of Power Ordinance shifted education financing toward the provincial and district levels. The Federal share of revenues is transferred to the provinces, which are then pooled and transferred to the districts as per the formula set by the Provincial Finance Commission. It is the district government that decides how much to spend on education vis-à-vis other public services (MoE 2008).
Despite the Government’s effort to enhance budgetary allocation for education, the national and provincial resource base for education has remained narrow; more or less constant around 2% of GDP for the past decade. Pakistan’s Federal Planning Commission has pointed out the contrast between vision and commitment by stating: “We cannot spend only 2.7% of our GDP on education and expect to become a vibrant knowledge economy” (Government of Pakistan 2007). Although there has been a significant improvement in the composition of public spending on education, higher allocations are needed for promoting quality education at all levels. Additionally, donor assistance in the form of budget support has been instrumental in bringing positive changes in the educational provisions in the public sector (UNESCO 2007).
In 2000, Pakistan was part of a collective commitment made by countries to attain EFA goals as laid out in the Dakar Framework for Action. This commitment is enshrined in a number of key national documents including the National Education Policy (1998-10), the 10-Year Perspective Development Plan (2001-11), the National Plan of Action on Education for All (2001-15), the Pakistan Common Country Assessment (CCA), and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Internationally, Pakistan also committed itself to the achievement of Education for All and Millennium Development Goals and targets under the Dakar Framework for Action on EFA (2000) and the UN Millennium Declaration (2000) (UNESCO 2007).
The education sector of Pakistan’s government has designed several policies and plans aimed at addressing the country’s growing problems regarding illiteracy and access to quality basic education. However, implementation of many of these policies and plans falls behind expectations. There are a number of reasons for Pakistan’s slow growth in education, including: a lack of political commitment, financial constraints and weak governance (Government of Pakistan 2009).
Though there has not been any mid-term systematic evaluation of the achievements and shortcomings of the National Education Policy, the impact of policy appears limited. Education in Pakistan suffers from 2 key deficiencies: at all levels of education, access to educational opportunities remains low and the quality of education is weak, not only in relation to Pakistan’s goals themselves but also in international comparisons with other reference countries (Government of Pakistan 2009).
