NUST SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER

SCIENCE

EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM OF
PAKISTAN
TECHNICAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1

118-MEHRAN MUSTAFA
119-MUSZZAM ALI JAMIL
145-SAAD HASSAN
162-WAQAS SIDDIQUE

5/4/2009
 “Those who know cannot be like the
ones who do not know.
Of course, knowledge and ignorance
are like light
and darkness which can never be
alike.”
Holy
Quran
INTRODUCTION

Education has the nurturing capability which any community would require to
succeed in the modern world. It promotes a productive and informed citizenry
and creates opportunities for the socially and economically underprivileged
sections of society. Globalization has made economic life more competitive
and demanding, making human expertise development more significant. Only
as educated workforce equipped with modern skills can compete and benefit
from exploiting the opportunities created by globalization. Numerous
empirical studies conducted by social scientists have established a strong
correlation between education and national development.

The Jomtien Conference1 1990, the report of the Jacques Delors Commission
on Education for the Twenty-first Century, and the United Nation's Millennium
Development Goals 2(MDGs) all attach utmost importance to education as an
effective tool in reducing poverty by building a viable workforce, capable of
competing in an increasingly competitive and global economy. It is imperative
that people in the developing countries have access to basic education,
health and other relevant facilities. It is an acknowledged fact that universal
literacy played a significant role in the phenomenal advancement of the

1
UNESCO education for all world conference delegates from 150 countries 7 150
organizations agreed at World Conference on: Education for all was held in Thailand.
2
MDG’s goal of UN to end Poverty and Hunger, Universal Education, environmental
sustainability, gender equality, Combat HIV /Aids.

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United States and other western countries in almost every field of life.
Similarly, countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand had
achieved near universal literacy before joining the coveted club of developed
nations.

Education is a continuous and creative process. Its aim is to develop the

capacities latent in human nature and to coordinate their expression for the
enrichment and progress of society, by equipping children with spiritual,
moral and material knowledge. Within this creative process, it is possible to
achieve an essential harmony between faith and reason through an approach
to education that encourages the free investigation of all reality and trains
the mind to recognize truth, irrespective of its origin. True education releases
capacities, develops analytical abilities, confidence in him, will power and
goal setting competencies, and instills the vision that will enable him to
become self-motivating agent of social change, serving the best interests of
the community. A well-educated community member is a determined yet
humble participant, who helps overcome conflict and division thereby
contributing to a spirit of unity and collaboration.

Although economic considerations are recognized as necessary in educational

planning, resistance is growing against the conventional view that education
is chiefly a means for only improving the individual's own economic situation.

Universal education must be relevant to the true needs of a community and

contribute to the unification of mankind. It must enable people both to move
in the direction of their own choosing and help them appreciate those
universal qualities that distinguish the entire human race. Women must be
educated with the same stress as men not only for the service they render to
humanity as the first educators of children. But ultimately, for the special
contribution women must make to the creation of a just world order, an order
characterized by such compassion, vigor and scope which has never been
seen in human history. The dual responsibility of developing the child’s
character and stimulating his intellect belongs also to the community as a
whole, including the father, grandparents, and neighbors. Indeed the
extended family and a close community may provide the best environment
for nurturing children.

Increasingly, it is becoming evident that education should be examined in the

light of its contribution to individual growth and to bring about fundamental
structural changes in society, changes which are necessary for the creation of
a just, peaceful, and harmonious environment. Education should lead to an
adequate understanding of some of the concerns of programmers of social
progress, such as health and sanitation, agriculture, crafts and industry, at

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least in the local context. Human beings are inherently noble, and the
purpose of education is to cultivate such attributes, skills, virtues and
qualities as will enable them to contribute their share to the building of an
ever advancing civilization.

STRUCTURE OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Education has been organized into five levels: primary (grades one through
five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten,
culminating in matriculation); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve,
leading to an F.A. diploma in arts or F.S. science; and university programs
leading to undergraduate and advanced degrees. Preparatory classes (kachi,
or nursery) were formally incorporated into the system in 1988 with the
Seventh Five-Year Plan.

The Ministry of Education is formally responsible for providing institutions for

academic and technical education. These institutions have standard
requirements necessary for delivering an appropriate level of education.
Syllabi and examinations are coordinated by a designated university in each
province. Students are given certificates for the recognition of their degree,
to be presented for the enrollment in university programs and advanced
degrees.

Teacher-training workshops are overseen by the respective provincial

education ministries in order to improve teaching skills. However, incentives
are severely lacking, and, perhaps because of the shortage of financial
support to education, few teachers participate. . Rates of absenteeism among
teachers are high in general, inducing support for community-coordinated
efforts promoted in the Eighth Five-Year Plan3 (1993-98).

ISSUES CONCERNING THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

“There is no doubt that the future of our State will

and must greatly depend on the type of education
we give to our children and the way in which we
bring them up as future citizens of Pakistan”
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad All Jinnah
All Pakistan Education Conference

3
8th Year Plan: The Process of reforms with its focus on Liberalization, Deregulation
and Privatization had been carried out.

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 November 30 December 02, 1947
Karachi
The education system, after 62 years of independence is still lacking the
necessary infrastructure. It lacks cohesion and even proper distribution. The
education indicators in Pakistan have been persistently poor. At
independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or
universities. The illiteracy rate has been high since then.

Despite the amount of aid and grants Pakistan had received during its
hatching days, only a minute percentage of that was spent in the education
sector. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been plagued by the leadership of several
army rulers in the past. Much concentration of its resources has been guided
towards the defense sector. Most of the leaders have been interested in the
luxury of the defense sector than paying some attention to the education
sector. Overall including foreign military aid and budget spending, Pakistan
Military has a total of over $10 Billion in expenditures. In 2006, Pakistan's
military expenditures were one quarter of national budget (Expenditures
Budget Rs.296 billion.), compared to a poor share of only Rs 24.6 billion for
the education sector4. The past and present governments do not seem to
have realized that such negligence towards the education sector resulted in
numerous catastrophic effects on the economy and well being of the state.
The Higher Education Commission was not given an emblematic increase, as
only Rs 15 billion has been allocated for this sector; in this situation public
universities may suffer shortage of funds even in term of providing salaries to
their staff.

Due to lack of resources, various other deficiencies originate in this “holy”

sector. The instructors teaching in most of the institutions do not find
satisfaction through their job. Most government institutes offer such an
unworthy salary to their staff that they tend to lose interest in putting their
100% in teaching. They fail to do justice to this blessed profession as they’re
not promised any satisfactory incentives. Most of the well educated teachers
do not apply for a job in the government schools as they do not find it worthy
enough. Thus, the government hires untrained, less educated and cheap
class of teachers for their schools which result in poor quality of education.
The students also lose interest and abandon their studies to pursue other
careers at an early age.

The quality of education in Pakistan has always been on a stumpy side. There
have been many attempts to improve the quality by revising the syllabus but
most of them have been in vain. Most of the institutions in the rural areas still
follow the technique of memorizing entire chapters of the book without
understanding. The teachers, also, inculcate the habit of memorizing the
lessons instead of conceptualizing.
4
The nation- Syed Jafar Askari | Published: June 14, 2008

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The quality also lessens due to the weak infrastructure of the management
and improper incentives to the students. The life of a student should be free
from the difficulties inflicted by the incapable and unqualified management.
But a student in Pakistan cannot even dream of such ideal conditions. The
concept of bribery is common in Pakistan. Management is bribed by rich and
powerful people to enroll their child without even considering his/her merit.
This inhumane act completely demolishes the sacredness of the education
sector. Students from a weaker background are left to keep striving for
admission and eventually lose interest. Management in the private sector is
somewhat better than the government schools but apparently they’ve been
made affordable only for the business class. Qualified students from the rural
areas can only dream to study in these prestigious institutions which are also
only a handful in Pakistan.

Most of the government institutions in rural and urban areas are in pathetic
physical condition and it seems that they’ve been forgotten. Most students
get discouraged to attend such schools/collages/universities and tend to
remain absent on most of the academic days. The condition of the
government hostels is also unimaginably feeble. Students live in unhygienic
conditions and the hostel rooms are also stuffy and uncomfortable. These
inadequacies of incentives and moral support lead to low quality of education
and high rate of student dropout from government institutes. The private
sector on the other hand has state of the art quality of its hostels and
institutes. They thrive mostly on attracting the students through flashy rooms
and better services and a promise of quality education. But again, they’re
also not enough to handle the entire student population.

Another major issue of the education in Pakistan is the high illiteracy rate of
females. The females have been suppressed class in Pakistan. There have
been incidents regarding the disrespect to their right to live as free citizens of
the state. Statistics show that by 1992, among people older than fifteen years
of age, 22 percent of women were literate, compared with 49 percent of men.
The comparatively slow rate of improvement for women is reflected in the
fact that between 1980 and 1989, among women aged fifteen to twenty-four,
25 percent were literate. United Nations sources say that in 1990 for every
100 girls of primary school age there were only thirty in school; among girls
of secondary school age, only thirteen out of 100 were in school; and among
girls of the third level, grades nine and ten, only 1.5 out of 100 were in
school. Slightly higher estimates by the National Education Council for 1990
stated that 2.5 percent of students--3 percent of men and 2 percent of
women- -between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled at the
degree level. Among all people over twenty-five in 1992, women averaged a
mere 0.7 year of schooling compared with an average of 2.9 years for men.

The discrepancy between rural and urban areas is even more marked. In
1981 only 7 percent of women in rural areas were literate, compared with 35
percent in urban areas. Among men, these rates were 27 and 57 percent,
respectively. Pakistan's low female literacy rates are particularly confounding
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because these rates are analogous to those of some of the poorest countries
in the world.

Pakistan has never had a systematic, nationally coordinated effort to improve

female primary education, despite its poor standing. It was once assumed
that the reasons behind low female school enrollments were cultural, but
research conducted by the Ministry for Women's Development5 and a number
of international donor agencies in the 1980s revealed that danger to a
woman's honor was parents' most crucial concern. Indeed, reluctance to
accept schooling for women turned to enthusiasm when parents in rural
Punjab and rural Balochistan could be guaranteed their daughters' safety
and, hence, their honor.

A FEW GOOD ASPECTS

Despite all the setbacks, our Government is still determined to make

education widespread and free of cost. Some of these measures partook by
Government of Pakistan, especially Provincial Government of Sindh and
Punjab, have made primary and secondary education for boys and girls free
in Governmental schools. The government is also providing scholarship to
high achievers in the school. This is a major prerogative technique adopted
by the officials to widespread education amongst the deserving class in
Pakistan. The federal along with provincial government and HEC are also
granting myriad number of scholarships to students not only in primary and
secondary level but also to students who are in professional lines of studies.
Hence it can be stated with profound confidence that Government of Pakistan
is taking small but not menial steps to spreading education for all. Despite all
the cumbrances government seems to be determined to eradicate illiteracy
from this soil. Though progress seems slow but it is a mile stone to achieve if
intake of students in Governmental schools can increase as it would reflect
change of attitude towards learning even form the poor illiterate class of
Pakistanis. This change of mind is sure to stimulate Revolution and evolution
in learning.

5
Ministry of Women Development is a national focal ministry for the advancement of
Women in Pakistan.

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REFERENCES

1. http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compulsory-subjects/current-
affairs/current-affairs-notes/1968-education-system-pakistan.html
2. http://www.un.org.pk/unesco/education/b_lesson/The%20Education%20
system%20in%20pakistan.pdf
3. http://www.choices.web.aplus.net/guidebooks/Miseducation%20Guideb
ook.pdf
4. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:Gc3gQw5m9r4J:www.moe.gov.pk
/esrbook/Annex-
IX%2520(a).pdf+Latest+facts+and+figures+of+education+in+pakista
n&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk&client=firefox-a
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Pakistan#Budget
6. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-
online/Regional/Karachi/14-Jun-2008/Education-budget-has-exposed-
govt-analysts
7. Syeda Wadiat Kazmi , “ Role of Education in Globalization: A case
Study in Pakistan
8. Arizpe, Lourdes (1997) 'Women in Informal Sector: The Case of Mexico City,' in
Visvanathan,Nalini et al. (eds), theWomen, Gender and Development Reader, Zed Books,
London.
9. Statistical Source Referred: Federal Bureau of Statistics 2002-03

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