At the time of independence, Pakistan consisted of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan). The regions forming Pakistan were already underdeveloped in all fields, including education, compared to what emerged as India after the end of British colonial rule in the Asian subcontinent in August 1947. It was challenging for the newly established state to develop infrastructure and educate the masses. The overall literacy rate was just 15 percent, and in some disadvantaged areas like Baluchistan it was even lower. During the first decade, there was only a one-percent improvement in literacy. This poor performance was attributed to a lack of financial resources, low political commitment, and the absence of an effective organizational and administrative mechanism.
After a decade of independence, Pakistan formally introduced and implemented seven Five-Year Plans and seven major national education policies/drafts/frameworks to promote socioeconomic and educational development. The focus of the first two Five-Year Plans (1955–60 and 1960–65) was on increasing primary school enrollment, but low retention rates hampered enrollment goals.
The problem of school dropouts was first recognized in the Third Five-Year Plan (1965–70). One reason for the high dropout rate was the poor quality of education. It was acknowledged that “the expansion of primary education depends mainly on three related factors: the prevention of dropouts, a greatly expanded supply of better-qualified teachers, and better facilities making the school more attractive to children” (GoP, 1965). The main strategies of the Third Five-Year Plan were to ensure quality education, expand primary schooling, and facilitate technical and vocational education. The Plan targeted an increase in enrollment from 45 percent to 70 percent by 1970, requiring 5.8 million additional children to attend school. Elementary education was declared compulsory, and two million additional enrollments were anticipated during the Plan (GoP, 1965). The Plan could not be fully executed because of the wars with India in 1965 and 1971. East Pakistan separated in 1971 and became the new sovereign state of Bangladesh. There was no Fourth Five-Year Plan; instead, the National Education Policy 1970 was introduced.
In the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1977–83), the government acknowledged that half of all primary students dropped out because of poor educational quality. The dropout causes included open-air schools, a lack of female teachers in rural areas, teacher absenteeism, administrative inefficiency, poor transportation, and a weak supervisory system (GoP, 1977). The Fifth Plan focused on qualitative rather than quantitative improvements and aimed to achieve Universal Primary Education for boys by 1982–83 and for girls by 1986–87.
However, the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1983–88) stated that after 35 years of independence, the literacy rate was still less than 25 percent, and more than half of primary school-aged children were out of school (GoP, 1983). The Plan aimed to increase primary enrollment to 75 percent by 1987–88. The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1989–93) admitted that achievements still fell short of targets and that around 40 percent of children aged 5–9 remained out of school (GoP, 1989). It proposed achieving an 80 percent literacy rate by 2000 through private-sector involvement. Once again, the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993–98) confirmed that previous plans failed because of financial constraints, rapid population growth, poor infrastructure and educational quality, lack of community participation, and dropout challenges (GoP, 1993). It expected to achieve 100 percent primary enrollment by 1998.
The New Education Policy 1970 pledged universal enrollment up to Class 5 by 1980 (GoP, 1970); the Education Policy 1972 aimed for Universal Primary Enrollment (UPE) for boys by 1979 and girls by 1984 (GoP, 1972); the National Education Policy 1979 committed to achieving this for boys by 1986–87 and girls by 1984 (GoP, 1979); and the National Education Policy 1992 planned to reach the target by 2002 (GoP, 1992). The National Education Policy 1998–2010 targeted a 70 percent literacy rate by 2003 and 85 percent by 2010 (GoP, 1998).
The National Education Policy 2009 did not provide a specific timeframe for achieving literacy improvement, stating only that illiteracy would be eradicated in the shortest possible time. The policy identified two main reasons for poor performance in education: a commitment gap and an implementation gap, noting that “a lack of commitment leads to poor implementation, but weak implementation presents a problem of its own.” The policy linked commitment gaps to a lack of belief in education’s value for socioeconomic and human development and/or lack of belief in policy goals. Implementation gaps were associated with weak governance, ineffective resource allocation, and limited systems of monitoring and accountability. The policy identified seven implementation problems, including disintegration of education segments, poor coordination, unclear governance roles, a widening public-private divide, inequitable systems of education, inefficiency in planning and management, and low community participation.
Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment in April 2010, the education ministry was devolved to the provinces, but the National Education Policy 2009 remained a jointly owned document. A National Education Conference held on 16 September 2011 reaffirmed this commitment. Article 25-A of the Constitution states: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children aged five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”
In 2017, the government introduced a draft National Education Policy 2017–2025 to reflect the constitutional amendment and address emerging educational trends and national cohesion. The policy targeted 75 percent adult literacy by 2020 and 86 percent by 2025. To comply with Article 25-A, universal primary education was targeted by 2020 for boys and 2025 for girls. The policy also aimed to increase education spending to 4 percent of GDP and harmonize education systems. Implementation stalled when the prime minister was disqualified in 2017.
The current government introduced a National Education Policy Framework in November 2018. It acknowledged extremely inadequate education progress during the previous decade and identified key challenges: out-of-school children, the need for a uniform education system, and quality improvement. To ensure nationwide curriculum uniformity, the government announced the Single National Curriculum (SNC), to be implemented in three phases: Grades 1–5 in 2021–22, Grades 6–8 in 2022–23, and Grades 9–12 in 2023–24.
Despite ambitious goals, Pakistan has more out-of-school children, adolescents, and youth than any other South Asian country. The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLSM) 2019–20 survey indicates a stagnant 60 percent literacy rate for ages 10 and above since 2014–15. Literacy is highest in Punjab (64 percent), followed by Sindh (58 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa excluding merged areas (55 percent), KP including merged areas (53 percent), and Balochistan (46 percent). Pakistan spent only 1.5 percent of GDP on education in FY 2020.
Currently, 37 percent of children drop out before completing primary school. Of those enrolled in Class 1, only 39 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls reach Class 10. Pakistan currently has 5.6 million primary, 5.4 million lower-secondary, and 9.8 million upper-secondary school-aged children out of school. None of the past policies or plans succeeded in achieving universal primary education or addressing out-of-school children. Pakistan urgently needs a unified national policy to prevent dropouts, reintegrate out-of-school children, and attract never-enrolled children to education.