Illiteracy in Pakistan
By Tallal Bin Nasir
Pakistan is a country of 220 million people who are living in this country with a post-colonial cultural setup. Sub-continent would not have been divided for Muslims if it was not for educated Muslim elite to intervene and make this miracle happen for good. Muslims were deprived of most basic rights in the sub-continent being ruled by British colonialists. After 1857, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was first among one of those Muslims who felt this need of reviving Muslims through giving them modern education. Surely, it would have been of impact as to keep someone out of reach of this basic necessity. This approach of keeping Muslims away from education might be one of the proponent of the philosophy of “divide and rule.” Whatever the reasons might be, this effort was countered by some of the educationists who later changed the discourse for this nation and turned it into Pakistan. The current constitution of Pakistan with its specific article 25-A for “Free education for all from the age of 5-16.” The obligation is not just to provide opportunities to this young lot but also to provide them other basic necessities to carry out these activities. After the 18th Amendment education has alone become a provincial subject but as a nation a single upheaval policy is required. The young minds are becoming stagnant die to low quality education having very low standards of global comparison. In Pakistan the definition of a literate person is:
Abilitiy to read and understand simple text in any language from a newspaper or magazine, write a simple letter and perfom basic mathematical calculation (i.e. counting and addition/subtraction)
This definition was reintroduced into the law of Pakistan in 2017 before that, it was only restricted to simple letter writing. So, the recent development in this matter is also not much compelling either. Such has been the discourse from 1947 till today in providing literacy facilities to this nation. Further in this paper we will be looking towards what have been the ordeal till today and what are possible outcomes in the fate of this nation. Although state functionaries and government are trying to make both ends meet. Still there are large gaps and holes which need proper care before they are filled.
The enrollment for school education (primary) is Pakistan is at its lows. The upward movement of statistics is very much stagnant. According to the statistics of World Bank, Primary School Enrollment of Pakistan is 68%. The Millenium Development Goal no. 2 maintains that globally the primary enrollment should be at 100% before 2005. It is now 2021 and still we are at a very low number. This data is cumulative which shows the male/female statistics together. Actually, the female enrollment would be too low which is clear by looking at other statistics. Goal no. 3 of MDGs for Gender Equality and Woman Empowerment is aimed at eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 in all other levels of education not later than 2015. This aim in the case of Pakistan still seems far-fetched as we are nowhere near completing the first step. Literacy rate is suggestive of this huge divide and makes one think if this gap would be filled in near future with that ease.
The literacy rate of Pakistan is not much impressive especially from the last three to four years its growth have just been in decimals. According to Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey of 2018-19 the literacy rate of Pakistan is 60% as compared to 58% in the year 2015-16. For further elaboration of data a statistical table:
Literacy Rate (10 years and above) Pakistan and Provinces
Male Female Total
Pakistan 71 49 60
Punjab 73 57 64
Sindh 68 44 57
KPK 75 36 55
Balochistan54 24 40

Table shows the actual gender gap which is ensuing the overall woes to the education sector. The uplifting of female in education sector is as important as it is for male. By looking at the almost stagnant growth in numbers, Pakistan is nowhere near completing its obligations towards Goal 2. And 3 of MDGs. Pakistan is at 152 out of 189 countries in UNDPs Human Development Index of 2019. Student’s development is done not only by providing quality books, stationary and a teacher but a properly planned campus as well.
School education in Pakistan is one of the biggest infrastructure related setup which have multiple buildings in even a single village. But these school buildings don’t have basic necessities like benches, table, electricity, clean drinking water source etc. This proves that this is not about the lack of infrastructure but because of the poor management which worn these out. Some of these buildings are not suitable for education purposes anymore and need to be rebuilt. In developed countries delivering education and preparing educated youth as a field of education has emerged as a scientific study. Time tested techniques by teachers are getting employed. Whereas, our skilled, poorly managed teacher workforce is not able to deliver much.
According to some estimates the skilled teachers out of the current education forces is unskilled. There are no arrangements for the capacity building and growth of these teachers so that they can improve their teaching methodologies overtime and contribute to the better future of their students. Wages of these teachers are also not much attractive which keeps good resources from adopting this profession. A lot of black sheep and ghost employees are working in these departments who don’t show up on their duties. This ordeal of under payment to teachers is also seen in the private primary education institutes in urban and rural areas both. A teach is paid a very low ware and school management usually focuses on hiring those who easily opt these jobs without much protest. These teachers are not qualified themselves and could not contribute positively in educating their students. In this regard most public and private schools stand in the same lines.
If we divide private education institutes into three major categories, on the basis of the perceived social status and the audience it caters to. This is a rough decision which would make it easy to understand and further the discussion:
Social Class Infrastructure Teachers Fees
Elite | Purpose Built Campuses Highly Paid Too Costly
Middle | Not Purpose Built Under paid Moderate
Lower | No Proper Facilitation Highly under Paid Low Fee

Some of these lower class schools still attract student body, the owners earn good through this but their teachers still remain underpaid. As compared to the government schools, which are suffering due to budget constraints, poor infrastructure, lack of officials in carrying out their duties. Seminaries, madressahs are also playing their part to some extent but much needs to be done.
Madressah or religious seminaries and education institutes rose in Pakistan. From an estimated 150 at Pakistan’s independence in 1947 there are now some 32000 madressahs attended by some 2.5 million students. Students from these seminaries are allegedly indulged in hate crimes, terrorism and factional fights. During Soviet-Afghan war students of these seminaries were nutured to fight against communists. Later on, these students after free from the war started asserting their authority and many of them created chaos in Afghanistan. Though there are some dissenting factor about involvement of such students in terror related activities. A famed researcher on South Asia, Michael Kugleman say:
You got plenty of people who go to non-religious schools and prestigious colleges still they are radicalized
He further says that there is need to look “at the whole education system.” That’s right, the whole education system can be termed as a culprit in uneven duty performance. There are some of those students who get to go to some institutes what about those who don’t even have this privilege?
According to a Human Development Index Report 2020, the average schooling years of a student in Pakistan from age 5-16 is 8.3 years. Pakistan is ranked 154 out of 189 countries in this HDR Index. Pakistan has 22.7% of total out of school children at primary level. We are the 2nd largest country according to out of school population. 1st is Nigeria. These vast numerical disparity has some reasons attached to it:
• Distance to School
• Helping at home
• Corporal Punishment
• Lack of funding
• Lack of understanding of the benefits of education
• Lack of Facilities such as toilets
• In some cases early marriage
These dismal number of dropout and expected years in school need special attention to the problem of poor governance policies towards education.
On governmental level, some bold steps need to be taken to revive education sector. There are some disparities found on governmental side which needs to be catered soon. Following are some of the Achilles heels of poor education system:
a) System of Examination
Good evaluation system must be employed for qualitative assessment of student’s aptitude. Currently, the examination system is promoting rot learning
b) Poor Supervisory Standards
Proper supervision is necessary in all the private, public and religious educational institutes. Supervision is the monitoring of teaching and learning in school. Reporting actual data from school management is not carried out. The collected data is not being put into process for effective supervision system in currently concerned harassing the management rather providing help or guidance.
c) Internal and External Influence
Education system in Pakistan is not free from external and internal influences. Externally the system has been hostage to political interference and internally it is plagued by bureaucratic manipulations.
d) Lack of Resources
There are no facilities of books, libraries and reading materials in all educational institutes of the country
e) Policy Implementation
Since the inception of Pakistan a number of education policies were created. There has been lack of political will on the part of successive governments to implement the policies vigorously.
f) Low budgetary Allocation
Around 2.3% of GDP has been utilized in education sector for the year 2019-20. This is very low as compared to the neighboring country, India. Low budgetary with amalgamation of poor management of funds.
g) Corruption
There is a weak system of checks and balances and accountability which has encouraged many criminal elements to misappropriate funds.

Solutions suggested for the improvement of current situation of health sector are:
a) Putting all the out of school children in Schools as required by Article 25-A of the constitution
b) Eliminating apartheid in Education by introducing a uniform curriculum
c) Enhancing the quality of Education
d) Emphasizing the technical and vocational education

Conclusion
The Education system of Pakistan is dwindling. The power corridors are not spending much which is increasing discrepancies in the education system. Infrastructure is at place, but due to poor management it is on the verge of decaying. Single National Curriculum is going to be applied to the whole country but other factors like untrained staff, poor management will still be there. Improving on just one front would not be beneficial one has to go for robust changes in the current situation and overhaul education system.