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1. Topic: The current education system in Pakistan does not lead to learning.
Outline
Introduction: Pakistan’s education system is severely curtailed by a plethora of factors, such
as lack of access, discouragement of proactive research, commercialization, parallel systems
of education etc., all of which amalgamate to create a system that is not conducive towards
learning.
Current Structure of Pakistan’s Education System:
 Lack of funds
 Corruption and vested interests of the ruling elites
 Polarized systems of education catering to variegated socio-economic classes
 Urban-rural divide
 Mushrooming of low-cost private schools
Pakistan’s Education System; Lacking in Learning?
 Parallel systems of education
 Madrassahs; a continuing imprint of colonialism
 Decaying, outdated curriculum
 Lack of access to education
 Stifling of original thought and lack of research-oriented culture
 Patriarchal, feudalistic culture
 Commercialization of the education sector
Improving the Education System – Ways Forward:
 Take all stakeholders on board
 Efficient budget utilization and allocation
 Harnessing the power of technology
 Incorporate global best practices in education sector
 Bring madrassahs under the umbrella of public sector
 Regular review and revision of curricula
 Discouragement of rote learning
Conclusion

2. A sound education can be likened to a solid foundation of a building; both permeate through
all crevices of the structure and provide the strength, resilience and support needed to withstand
both external and internal pressures. In Pakistan, the fabric of the education system stands torn
and muddied; strewn across from one end to another, the fabric gets flung carelessly wherever
the wind blows. Stakeholders from both the private and public sector; academics, NGOs, think
tanks, bureaucrats, politicians, students, businessmen – all have tried to chip in their two cents
on how to stitch back this fabric. In order to delineate upon why the current education system
in Pakistan does not lead to learning, it is imperative to expound upon the underlying reasons
behind the stagnation of the system. Different systems of education cater to different socio-
economic classes, thereby creating binaries within the populace. These fissures are deep-rooted
and exist due to a plethora of cultural, religious, social and patriarchal reasons. Resultantly, the
system as it stands today is one that is marred by outdated curriculum, difficulties in accessing
education, lack of innovation, stifling of original thought, silencing of dissent, discouragement
of proactive research, limited market opportunities, financial constraints, vested interests of the
feudal elite, primary and secondary socialization, corruption, commercialization of education
etc. Therefore, the education system in Pakistan is currently decaying from within and needs
to be overhauled through various measures undertaken in a sustainable manner, whilst taking
all stakeholders on board.
It is imperative to expound upon what the current structure of education in Pakistan looks like,
in order to ascertain why it is not conducive towards learning. The public education system
faces a significant paucity of funds and resources. Only 3% of the country’s budget is spent on
education, of which funds allocated to public schools are pilfered across each level as they
trickle down to the actual schools (Human Development Index 2019). Approximately 90% of
the budget allocated for public schools is spent on paying the salaries of teachers and school
staff; the reason behind that chronic teacher absenteeism and lackluster performance was
thought to be fixed by increasing salaries. As a result, only 10% or so of the education budget
for public schools is actually meted out for the development of the schools. The urban-rural
divide between public and private schools can be ascertained by gauging literacy rates;
Islamabad stands at 85%, whereas the Torghar District stands at 23%. The reason behind this
is that posh, private schools provide teaching, curriculum and environments that are conducive
to learning thereby having a tangible impact on the significantly high literacy rate (Ahmed et
al., 2013). Cities all over Pakistan have higher literacy rates and score higher on the Human
Development Index primarily because of good quality private schools (Human Development
Index, 2019). With one of the lowest literacy rates amongst all countries in the world, and
approximately 23 million children out of school (second largest out of school children in the
world), it is easy to correlate the link between poor quality of education and lack of learning.
Therefore, Pakistan’s current system of education stands at the precipice of disaster and is not
churning out students who engage in a meaningful learning environment.
Firstly, three parallel systems of education exist within the confines of Pakistan; public, private
and the madrassah system, and this lack of uniformity in impartment of education is one of the
reasons behind the abysmal state of the education system. All three systems cater to a different
set of students, depending upon two main factors; socio-economic background and cultural
values. Scores of students within rural areas particularly tend to gravitate towards the
madrassah system of education because it tends to be extremely low cost, often times free
(Ahmed et al., 2013). Even though the advent of modernity and westernization has cascaded
upon Pakistan with a vengeance, the microcosmic pockets of culture that many brew within,

3. especially in rural areas, tend to encourage enrollment in the madrassah system. The system
provides social protection, employment guarantee in the system or mosque after graduation,
adherence to traditional values and social mores, inculcation of religious education and so
forth. It is a system older than Pakistan itself, and many choose not to question its merits. The
public education system consists mainly of government-run schools that face a severe shortage
of resources and faculty, are poorly monitored and prone to corruption by those occupying the
upper echelons in the governmental ladder. The buildings are decaying, the boards are rusting,
the teachers are napping and the children are suffering; such is the state of affairs within most
public schools. Within the private sector, there tends to be a bifurcation between low-cost
private schools and more expensive schools. Recently, Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in the
mushrooming of low-cost private schools with poor quality of education being imparted.
Higher-cost private schools tend to remain outside the reach of almost 98% of the country and
impart a British curriculum of O and A Levels (Fair 2008). Therefore, these different systems
of education are continuing to cement stark differences within learning outcomes of children,
depending on who they are catering to.
Secondly, the aforementioned systems of education, particularly the madrassah system, are part
and parcel of Pakistan’s inheritance, and have blossomed in the recent years due to a multitude
of reasons. Religion continues to play a significant role in the sustenance of the madrassah
system, whereby enrolling children in public or private schools is seen as akin to blasphemy.
The madrassah system discourages questioning teachings, using creative thought, indoctrinates
students into blind obedience, often employs corporal or psychological punishment and
consists of an outdated system which renders its students unfit for employment in the job
market (Ahmed et al., 2013). These systems exist because they attract large funding from
religious outfits, scholars, religiously inclined political parties, politicians looking for
patronage etc. Militant outfits also encourage the maintenance of the madrassah system
because they provide them with a steady stream of fighters. Another reason for the existence
of these different systems is the perpetuation of the class divide in Pakistan. The elite have no
qualms paying exorbitant amounts of fees to give their children foreign degrees whilst sitting
in their posh neighborhoods. The simple logic of supply and demand ensures that these schools
continue to charge increasing amounts of fees, citing administrative costs, because they know
that there will always be a steady stream of students willing to pay. The middle-class resorts to
enrolling their children either in public schools or low-cost private schools, due to access,
means of available transport and school fees (Ahmed et al., 2013). Therefore, the different
systems of education exist in Pakistan due to a multitude of reasons that primarily amalgamate
to cater to the different socio-economic classes in the country.
Thirdly, the lack of updated, relevant and progressive curricula being used in majority of public
and low-cost private schools, as well as the madarassahs is one of the most significant reasons
behind the current system of education in Pakistan. Majority of madrassah in Pakistan continue
the practice inherited from the times of the Mughal era, whereby dogmatic, militant, jihadi and
largely patriarchal ideology is spewed to the younger generation (Fair 2008). They are taught
to view only one particular sect of Islam as the rightful one, engage in jihad against the loosely
interpreted concept of the ‘enemy’ of Islam, and view themselves as the property owners of
the female who are dependent on them. These children result in viewing the society in terms
of binaries; us versus them, and are intolerant towards the views of others, and view science,
the English language, social sciences etc. as products of the West and imprints of colonialism.
In public schools, regular review and updating of curriculums is not done on a regular basis, is
largely arbitrary and sometimes is done on paper but not implemented (Ahmed et al. 2013).
Ladybird books depicting Peter playing outside and Jane playing with her dolls inside the house

4. continue to be taught to younger children, which perpetuates gender role socialization in them.
Despite being banned in the UK, such books feed into a patriarchal mindset that views the
rightful place of women within the four walls of their homes. Such insular ideas of pedagogy
along with prejudiced perspectives ensconced within textbooks leads to children who do not
socialize effectively and maintains fissures in society. Therefore, outdated and dogmatic
curricula are one of the reasons why the current system of education in Pakistan is not leading
towards learning.
Fourthly, another reason why schools do not lead to learning is the lack of access to education
continues to plague scores of children across Pakistan, particularly those living in rural areas.
Despite Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan stipulating that access to education is a
constitutional right of every child aged between five and sixteen, actually ensuring that these
children enroll and regularly attend schools is a deep-seated issue in the country. A myriad of
reasons exist as to why children have difficulty accessing education; extensive physical
distance between residential localities and the school, lack of public transport especially that
which is safe for girls to travel on, ‘ghost’ schools which only exist on paper, lack of proper
infrastructure within schools such as chairs, boards, desks, running water, bathrooms, ‘ghost’
teachers who continue to collect salaries but do not show up to teach. Other reasons include
increasing cost of school uniforms and text books, abuse of power and blatant bullying by those
who are in positions of authority or the fact that they turn a blind eye to such behavior, cost of
transport and stationery which can add up when a family has to send multiple children to
school, corporal punishment etc. With multiple children and added costs, it comes as no
surprise then that parents prefer to opt to send their male children to school., It comes as no
surprise then that Pakistan has a population comprising of the second largest amount that is out
of school (Fair 2008). Therefore, lack of access to education is one of the reasons that the
current education system of Pakistan does not lead to learning.
Fifthly, within schools, the culture that tends to exist, especially within public schools and
madrassahs, is one that does not encourage innovation, research, original thought and largely
tramples upon dissent and critique and does not assess a child’s performance adequately.
Within madrassahs especially, studies have shown that children are spoon fed dogmatic,
bigoted teachings which instill hate in them for members of different religion sects, ethnicities
or cultures and make them into intolerant adults. The education that is imparted is one that
discourages students from questioning or critiquing the teachers or what is being taught,
encourages rote learning and scoring high on exams rather than actually learning things, and
does not provide opportunity for students to undertake original research. Students are not given
the opportunity to write research papers, conduct scientific experiments, field observations etc.
in order to engage in primary research so that they have the ability to critically analyse the
world around them, and implement what they learn in books onto the real world. This is a trend
that researchers have observed in most schools in Pakistan, where scoring high in terms of
grades and numbers is prioritized over actually ascertaining whether the child has gained useful
knowledge or not. The means of assessing a child’s performance is severely lacking in most
schools within the public and low-cost private sector, where many inefficient teachers tend to
grade in an arbitrary or biased fashion, and the tools of assessment themselves do not
adequately ascertain a child’s learning. Researchers have found that 45% of fifth-grade school
children in Pakistan cannot read English sentences and 41% cannot read a story in Urdu
(Fayyaz et al. 2014). Therefore, the current system of education in Pakistan does not encourage
learning due to lack of research opportunities, innovation, stifling of dissent and inadequate
assessment mechanisms.

5. Sixthly, another reason why schools in Pakistan do not lead to learning is due to the prevalent
patriarchal, feudalistic culture that exists. The sociologist Emile Durkheim, who hailed from
the functionalist school of thought, posited that people undergo primary socialization in their
homes and secondary socialization outside of their homes, whereby the social mores, norms
and values of their prevalent culture are instilled into them. Within Pakistan, such socialization
leads parents, especially those hailing from rural areas or lacking in literacy, to prioritize the
education of their male children over female (Lyon, Edgar and Khan 2010). Within schools,
studies have shown teachers to adopt a similar attitude, whereby male students are given higher
grades and praise, whereas female students are made to feel that their rightful place is in their
homes as dutiful wives and daughters (Fayyaz et al. 2014). This discourages girls from
engaging in meaningful learning and causes the education system to institutionalize patriarchy.
The feudal elites themselves do not prioritize the development of public schools or madrassahs
in their localities, because an illiterate populace serves their vested interests and makes them
into a docile, subservient constituency (Fayyaz et al. 2014). Therefore, patriarchal attitudes and
the feudal elite are two reasons why the current education system in Pakistan does not lead to
learning.
Seventhly, the mushrooming and commercialization of the education sector in Pakistan is
corroding the very foundation upon which this system stands and is one of the biggest factors
behind declining learning outcomes amongst schoolchildren. Within nearly 70,000 low cost
private schools sprouting across the country, Pakistan has witnessed a large influx of these
schools due to franchising of schools and viewing them as nothing more than businesses
(Haider and Shaheen 2015). The aim of these schools is to increase the number of students
enrolled in order to earn maximum profits. Teachers are hired without proper vetting,
classrooms are overcrowded, children do not receive individual attention, assessment of
children’s schoolwork is not done fairly or adequately and a grades-oriented rather than
learning-oriented approach is adopted. The unique selling point of these schools is that their
fees are comparatively lower than those of other private schools, but they cash in on their profits
by admitting large scores of students (Haider and Shaheen 2015). Therefore, the rapid
commercialization of Pakistan’s education sector, with its emphasis is on quantity over quality
of students produced, is one of the reasons why the sector does not lead to learning.
It is imperative to take all stakeholders on board and carve out strategies and engage in
proactive remedial measures in order to stitch back the fabric that is Pakistan’s education
sector. All hope is not lost and much can be done to improve the situation so that it leads to
meaningful learning for students. Firstly, it is critical that the government remain cognizant of
its duty under Article 25-A of the constitution and make education the top-most priority of
public policy. A higher amount of budget needs to be allocated for the education sector, and
better monitoring needs to be conducted on how the money is spent on the sector. Stronger
checks and balances need to be implemented in order to weed out ghost schools and teachers
and reduce the menace of corruption. Secondly, technology needs to be harnessed by way of
introducing biometric attendance systems for teachers. Thirdly, best practices from countries
that have managed to overhaul their education system, particularly in Africa, need to be
adopted with the help of NGOs, academics and the private sector. Fourthly, whilst Pakistan has
engaged in various commendable educational reforms in the past, many have failed due to their
contradictory nature. It is imperative to ensure harmony in the various reforms being introduced
so that they do not end up contradicting each other. Piloting reforms prior to rolling them out
on a larger scale is one mechanism that can be introduced. Fifthly, the madrassah system needs
to be brought under the umbrella of public education so that the curriculum can be modernized
and the children can be taught knowledge which is necessary for today’s world and job market.

6. Regular reviews of curricula all over the country need to be undertaken to ensure that they are
leading to meaningful learning for students. Rote learning needs to be discouraged and a culture
that encourages primary research, dissent and critique needs to be harnessed. Therefore, a
number of remedial measures need to be taken immediately by all relevant stakeholders in
order to ensure that the current system of education in Pakistan leads to higher learning
outcomes.
In conclusion, the current system of education in Pakistan is decaying from within due to a
number of reasons, all of which amalgamate to create a system that is not conducive towards
learning. An outdated curriculum, bigoted and dogmatic teachings being taught especially in
madrassahs, financial constraints, commercialization and mushrooming of schools especially
low-cost private schools, gender role socialization, vested interests of the feudal elites, lack of
access to education, infrastructural issues, ghost teachers and schools etc. are some of the
reasons why the current system exists the way that it does. Though a number of commendable
reforms have taken place within the education system, much more remains to be done in order
to ensure that the children actually engage in meaningful learning. Remedial measures need to
be undertaken whilst taking all stakeholders onboard and should not contradict each other.
Curricula should be updated, the power of technology should be harnessed, best practices from
different countries should be adopted, rote learning should be discouraged, tools of assessment
should be improved, a culture of research and dissent should be encouraged etc. A sound
education system that encourages learning holds the power to metamorphose an entire nation
into productive, proactive citizens and catapult the next generation into creating a better
Pakistan.

7. Works Cited
Ahmed, Mukhtar, Tariq Mahmood, Muhammad Shams Mhyuddin, and Muhammad Amin
Ghuman. 2013. "Evaluation Of School Effectiveness Of Secondary Education System:
Comparative View Of Public And Private Institutions Of Pakistan". Journal Of
Educational And Social Research. doi:10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p121.
Fair, C. Christine. 2008. The Madrassah Challenge. Washington, DC: United States Institute
of Peace Press.
Fayyaz, Hafsa, Zainab Rauf, Umm-e- Kalsoom, and Tanzila Samin. 2014. "Major Issues Of
Education Sector In Pakistan". International Journal Of Academic Research In
Progressive Education And Development 3 (4). doi:10.6007/ijarped/v3-i4/1366.
Haider, Syed Zubair, and Azra Shaheen. 2015. "Analyzing The Role Of Private Colleges In
Developing The Effective Education System In Pakistan". European Researcher 93 (4):
335-343. doi:10.13187/er.2015.93.335.
Human Development Index. 2019
Lyon, Stephen M, Iain R Edgar, and Ali Khan. 2010. Shaping A Nation. Karachi: Oxford
University Press.