Education System in Pakistan

Education System …………………… in Pakistan 

“Build a nation, change a nation and stand a nation for progress and prosperity.”

                      At independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or universities. Although the education system has expanded greatly since then, debate continues about the curriculum, and, except in a few elite institutions, quality remained a crucial concern of educators in the early 1990s. 

                Adult literacy is low, but improving. In 1992 more than 36 percent of adults over fifteen were literate, compared with 21 percent in 1970. The rate of improvement is highlighted by the 50 percent literacy achieved among those aged fifteen to nineteen in 1990. School enrollment also increased, from 19 percent of those aged six to twenty-three in 1980 to 24 percent in 1990. However, by 1992 the population over twenty-five had a mean of only 1.9 years of schooling. This fact explains the minimal criteria for being considered literate: having the ability to both read and write (with understanding) a short, simple statement on everyday life. 
                                                             

         

    Relatively limited resources have been allocated to education, although there has been improvement in recent decades. In 1960 public expenditure on education was only 1.1 percent of the gross national product (GNP); by 1990 the figure had risen to 3.4 percent. This amount compared poorly with the 33.9 percent being spent on defense in 1993. In 1990 Pakistan was tied for fourth place in the world in its ratio of military expenditures to health and education expenditures. Although the government enlisted the assistance of various international donors in the education efforts outlined in its Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93), the results did not measure up to expectations. 
                      Pakistan inherited the system of education from British but after that no significant changes has been brought in education system of Pakistan. Consequently, the literacy rate have become less than the regional countries which got independence abreast of Pakistan. According to the Education Report 2009, it shows overall figures on education, literacy rate rose to 67 pr cent in 2009-10 than it was 57 per cent at the period of 1998-99. Out of literacy rate, male literacy stood 68 per cent and female 58 per cent in 2009-10. Female literacy rate was 57 per cent in 2008-09. Therefore, a slight one per cent increase was recorded during the period of 2009-10.

                           The education system in Pakistan is generally divided into five levels: Primary,  (grades one through five);  Middle  (grades six through eight); High:  (grades nine and ten, leading to the  Secondary School Certificate or SSC) , Intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate or HSC); and  University  programs leading to  under graduate  and graduate degrees.

                     . There are thousands of schools and colleges with millions of teachers and other employees. Education is carried out in three stages years. After Secondary School Certificate students joins Higher Secondary School or College. After passing intermediate examination brilliant students with excellent grades go to join professional colleges such as Medical, Engineering and Computer and Commerce Colleges. Others may continue their education to Graduation and Post graduation level. Almost all universities offer courses of Master's M. Phil and Ph. D. degrees.
                           There are many semi autonomous boards of intermediate and Secondary Education meant for prescribing syllabuses for secondary and intermediate classes and conducting their examinations. Universities have their own boards of studies and examination departments. There is Allma Iqbal Open University, Islamabad in distance teaching through correspondence. 

                          

  Broadly speaking there are THREE secondary education systems that exist in Pakistan: the SSC, HSC education system locally termed as the Metric/Intermediate system administered by the Board of Secondary and Intermediate Education (BISE); the GCE (General Certificate of Education) system that replaces the SSC/HSC with O and A levels, administered by external British Examination Board of Cambridge; and the ‘Maddersah’ system that is responsible for primarily providing religious education to children at secondary level. The education provided by the current SSC/HSC system has become totally outdated and given the pay scale of the average Pakistani citizen not everyone can afford to have their children study in the GCE system. There is need of a more balanced education system that provides up to date education to cater the needs of the modern world along with sufficient importance given to subjects like Urdu and religion .

                            

The situation is especially alarming in rural areas due to social and cultural obstacles. One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam, the dominant religion in Pakistan (96 per cent of the population), which like all religions urges men and women to acquire education.

                         In many rural areas, there is no single primary school nearby. The gap of literacy rate between urban and rural areas is also considerably huge. (e.g. In Punjab, near capital city has more than 80% literacy rate, while rural district has only 30 plus %). Large majorities of respondents of recent polls are critical of the poor quality of public schools and expect more, especially in terms of large students' strength per class, poor quality facilities and unmotivated teachers.

                       Under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, the Concurrent Legislative list has been abolished and consequently subjects enumerated in the Concurrent List have been transferred to the Provincial governments. In this context, the roles and responsibilities of Literacy and Non Formal Basic Education Department (LNFBED), Government of Punjab were expected to expand their mandate with additional new functions such as development of 1.curriculum, 2.syllabus, 3.planning, 4.policy, 5.centers of excellence and 6.standards of education. Taking this opportunity, LNFBED had revised its Rules of Business in order to harmonize with the current situation and needs of literacy and Non-formal Education.