Education System of Pakistan

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and known as the City of Lights, has a population of 20.3 million, according to the country’s seventh and first digital census released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). This equates to an increase of 4.3 million people over the past five years. The city faces numerous challenges daily, including lack of a proper sanitation system, inadequate drainage, man-made disasters, high unemployment, water scarcity, lack of sanitation, intergroup conflict, and inflation. These issues disproportionately impact low-income groups. Despite these challenges, Karachi’s residents, especially those from low- and middle-income groups, continue to have high hopes and expectations for their children to receive an education and improve their families’ standard of living. Unfortunately, despite the great efforts of parents to provide education for their children, they often do not achieve satisfactory results.

Similarly, public schools in Pakistan enroll only 60% of the country’s students, and secondary schools admit only 7.3 million students. This is because, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23, the cumulative education expenditure of the federal and provincial governments in fiscal year 2022 is estimated at 1.7% of GDP. Low spending on education means 17 million children aged 10 to 16 are out of school. Although the private sector is partially filling this gap, it is far from an adequate alternative to meet the educational needs of Pakistan’s schoolchildren. The private school sector is highly unregulated and often produces similarly poor learning outcomes, making school fees unaffordable for the poorest 40% of Pakistan’s population.

To better understand the overall situation of Pakistan’s education system, let us consider an example. Let’s say 40% of children don’t even have a chance to go to school because Pakistan’s government is not financially stable enough to accommodate such a large population. However, the government has an opportunity to educate her 60% of the youth population and this is our future. But of this 60%, her 15% are low- and moderate-income children who may not take education seriously because their families lack basic amenities and resources.

Some people enter the job market out of necessity because they do not have time to study, while others are not interested in making a personal decision. This explains why the rest of the population, with the exception of a small number of low- and middle-income earners, have the same degrees as graduates from secure, elite private institutions, yet are unable to find their own abilities in multinational, high-paying jobs. This raises the question of whether it is difficult to prove. Easy to work with. This disparity in access to and success in well-paying jobs is indicative of the flaws in our education system. Who is to blame for these inequalities and educational deficiencies? Are students to blame, given the years they spend preparing to be competitive in the job market? Are parents responsible for sacrificing their own needs and resources to pay for their child’s school fees? The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4 on quality education, emphasize the importance of inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Similarly, Article 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan also mandates the state to provide free education to children from the age of five to her sixteen years. However, the state has not effectively fulfilled this obligation.