challenges of quality education in pakistan

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Pakistan Education: Challenges, Problems & Solutions

Pakistan Education: Challenges, Problems & Solutions

1. introduction.

Education serves as the cornerstone of development in any society, shaping its future by empowering individuals and fostering societal progress. In Pakistan, a nation brimming with potential, the challenges within its education system pose significant hurdles to realizing this vision. This article delves into the intricacies of Pakistan’s education landscape, shedding light on the existing issues and proposing actionable solutions.

1.1 Overview

Pakistan’s education system grapples with multifaceted challenges that hinder its ability to provide quality education to all. From barriers to access and gender disparity to infrastructure inadequacies, the journey toward educational excellence is fraught with obstacles.

1.2 Importance of Education

Education is more than just acquiring knowledge; it is a catalyst for change, driving economic growth, fostering social cohesion, and empowering individuals to reach their full potential. In Pakistan, a robust education system is vital for addressing pervasive issues such as poverty, unemployment, and social inequality.

1.3 Scope of the Article

This article aims to dissect the challenges plaguing Pakistan’s education system , analyze their root causes, and present viable solutions for a brighter future.

2. Current Challenges

2.1 access to education.

Millions of children in Pakistan are out of school, primarily due to financial constraints, geographical remoteness, and cultural norms. Limited access to schools perpetuates a cycle of illiteracy and impedes social mobility.

2.2 Quality of Education

Even for those fortunate enough to attend school, the quality of education remains a pressing concern. Outdated curriculum, inadequate teacher training, and lack of educational resources contribute to subpar learning outcomes.

2.3 Gender Disparity

Gender inequality pervades Pakistan’s education system , with girls disproportionately affected by barriers to schooling. Deep-rooted cultural beliefs, early marriages, and safety concerns discourage female enrollment and perpetuate educational disparity.

2.4 Infrastructure Issues

Many schools in Pakistan lack basic facilities such as proper classrooms, sanitation facilities, and clean drinking water. Dilapidated infrastructure not only affects the learning environment but also compromises students’ health and safety.

3. Root Causes

3.1 government policies.

Inconsistent government policies and underfunding of the education sector have hindered progress. The lack of a long-term vision and political will to prioritize education exacerbates systemic issues.

3.2 Socio-Economic Factors

Poverty and inequality perpetuate educational disparities, as marginalized communities struggle to access quality education. Economic instability and income disparities further widen the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged.

3.3 Cultural Barriers

Deep-seated cultural norms and traditions reinforce gender disparities in education. Patriarchal attitudes, early marriages, and societal expectations limit girls’ access to schooling and perpetuate cycles of poverty and ignorance.

4. Solutions

4.1 policy reforms.

Comprehensive policy reforms are imperative to address systemic issues within Pakistan’s education system. Government initiatives should focus on increasing education spending, reforming curriculum standards, and implementing inclusive policies to ensure equal access for all.

4.2 Technology Integration

Harnessing the power of technology can revolutionize education delivery in Pakistan. Initiatives such as e-learning platforms , digital libraries, and remote teaching programs can bridge the gap between urban and rural areas, providing quality education to underserved communities.

4.3 Community Involvement

Community engagement plays a crucial role in improving educational outcomes. Mobilizing local communities, empowering parents, and involving civil society organizations can foster a sense of ownership and accountability, leading to sustainable change.

4.4 Teacher Training

Investing in teacher training and professional development is essential for enhancing the quality of education. Equipping educators with modern teaching methodologies, pedagogical skills, and technological know-how empowers them to deliver effective instruction and nurture students’ potential.

5. Future Prospects

5.1 importance of change.

Addressing the challenges within Pakistan’s education system is not merely a moral imperative but also an economic necessity. Investing in education lays the foundation for future prosperity, innovation, and social progress.

5.2 Potential Impact

By implementing targeted reforms and fostering a culture of education, Pakistan can unlock its human capital potential and pave the way for sustainable development. Empowering every child with quality education is the key to building a prosperous and inclusive society.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, the road to educational reform in Pakistan is fraught with challenges, but it is not insurmountable. By addressing access barriers, improving the quality of education, and fostering an environment of inclusivity, Pakistan can unleash its full potential and pave the way for a brighter future.

Frequently Asked Questions about Problems in Education System of Pakistan (FAQs)

How can technology help improve education in pakistan.

Technology can facilitate remote learning, provide access to educational resources, and enhance teaching effectiveness through interactive tools and multimedia content.

What role do parents and communities play in education reform?

Parents and communities can advocate for better schools, support children’s education at home, and participate in decision-making processes to ensure the needs of students are met.

Why is gender disparity a significant issue in Pakistan’s education system?

Gender disparity perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality, limiting opportunities for girls and impeding social progress. Addressing this issue is crucial for achieving educational equity and empowerment.

What are some challenges faced by teachers in Pakistan?

Teachers in Pakistan often struggle with limited resources, large class sizes, and inadequate training. Investing in teacher support and professional development is essential for improving educational outcomes.

How can individuals contribute to education reform efforts in Pakistan?

Individuals can volunteer at local schools, mentor students, support educational initiatives, and advocate for policy changes to promote access to quality education for all.

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Education in Pakistan: problems, challenges and perspectives

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said and I quote:

“Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without requisite advance in education, not only shall we lag behind others but maybe wiped out altogether.”

The education section of the executive summary of the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2021-22 notes: “Pakistan is committed to transform its education system into a high-quality global-market demand-driven system in accordance with Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) .” However, the reality is vastly different.

The literacy rate in Pakistan in 2021 was only 62.8%. Any gains in literacy rates over the last many years have been small, slow and marginal.

In 2021-22, we spent only 1.77% of GDP on education-related expenditure at both the federal and provincial levels. Most UN agencies recommend that the minimum expenditure on education should be 4% of GDP. In recent years, the highest percentage of GDP we have spent on education was in 2017-18, when education expenditures were raised to 2.12%. The usual argument given for lack of spending on education has always been and still is that we do not have the resources.

In Pakistan, the current literacy rate is 62.3%. In Budget 1.7% of GDP has been allocated as Education Budget which is lowest in the region. The expenditure of Rs 74,609 billion has been allocated for Tertiary Education Affairs & Services in budget 2022-23; Rs 3,786 billion for pre-primary & primary education; Rs 8,863 billion for Secondary Education Affairs and Rs 2 billion for administration. Rs 44,174 billion has been earmarked for Higher Education Commission ( HEC ) under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the year 2022-23. (Business Recorder June 11, 2022).

According to data from the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18, the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) shows Pakistan’s slow performance being ranked 129th of the 137 countries, on the Health and Primary Education related elements of competitiveness, when compared with other countries in the region like India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The structure of school education system in the public sector is depicted in Fig. below.

Figure Above: The structure of school education system in Pakistan (Pre-Primary to Higher Secondary)

Education system creates sense of responsibility among people and they come to know the methods to achieve their national, societal and personal rights and it also enhances their general consciousness needed to deliver their duties as citizens towards their Nation. Once the realization originates, people start working for the development and prosperity of their motherland in the atmosphere of trust and co-operation.

The polarization and non – unified education system has resulted into outraged political turmoil, deadly terrorism, incessant sectorial violence, social disruption, economic instability and degeneration of government system. Whether it is poverty, non-availability of jobs, security uncertainty, sectarianism or terrorism, lack of tolerance, lack of general awareness, illiteracy, all are off shoots of the poor, inefficient and ineffective education system. The lowest budget allocation, a realm of large number of ineffective education policies has badly failed to take country out of economic, social, political and development quagmire.

Education has fundamental role in the economic, social, political and structural development of any nation. Many of the economic issues like poverty , overpopulation, unemployment , resource mobilization, inflation, exchange rate drastic fluctuation, housing, infrastructure, and health can be reduced and handled by improving education system in Pakistan. Education can also solve social issues like Baradari system, Wadera Culture, Chaudary regime and slave mentality. The political issues like battle for power by different politicians, lawlessness, fraud, corruption, religious riots, extremism, processions to gain popularity, use of indecent remarks, no public service, no human investment to save the lives of ignorant and deprived humans. Structural Development like transition from primitive methodologies to modern strategies; Shifts from Agriculture to Industry, hand made tools to mechanization, from physical conventional education system to Online Education and adoption of highly sophisticated and up to the mark technology can only happen with the strong Education Policy and implementation of country’s education system.

Pakistan, since its inception has failed to establish an education system which can fulfill the aspirations of the general public. Being a developing country, Pakistan is facing multifaceted problems and issues in the education sector. There are many issues prevalent and practiced in Pakistan’s Education System at all levels of Education – primary, secondary – colleges or universities.

The educational institutions within the country are divided into following categories: (1) Pre-primary School (2) Primary School (3) Middle School (4) High School (5) Higher Secondary (6) Inter-colleges (7) Degree Colleges (8) Universities (9) Non-formal Basic Education (10) Education foundations (11) Technical & Vocational Institutions (12) Teacher Training Institutions (13) Deeni Madaris

Pakistan’s schooling system consists of three main school types namely public sector schools, private sector schools and Deeni Madaris. These are further divided as public and private mainly due to curriculum and examination systems used in the schools and the language of instructions used by teachers.

The Broad Categories on education level are:

School Education (Pre-primary – Class 12) College Education (Degree Colleges Class 13-14) University Education

The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 305,763 institutions accommodating 51,186,560 9 students and 2,073,433 teachers. The system is composed of 189,748 (62%) public institutions and 116,015 (38%) private institutions, which also include 31,115 Deeni Madaris. The public sector is serving 28.49 million (56%) students to complete their education while the remaining 22.70 million (44%) are enrolled in the private sector of education. About 38 percent private educational institutions are facilitating 44 percent of students showing a slightly higher per-institution enrolment ratio in the private sector compared to the public sector.

There are a total of 186 universities & degree awarding institutions catering to the needs of higher degree students in both public and private sectors of education. Out of these universities, 111 (60%) are working under umbrella of public sector, whereas 75 (40%) are working in the private sector.

The total enrolment in the universities and degree awarding institutions is 1.576 million. Out of these 1.266 million (80%) students are enrolled in public sector whereas, 0.309 million (20%) students are studying in private universities and degree awarding institutions. In the overall national scenario only four percent students have access to university education. The total male enrolment in the universities is 0.881 million (56%), whereas, the female enrolment is 0.695 million (44%) . There are 56,885 teachers imparting higher education to the students in these universities. Universities in the public sector employ 38,011 (67%) teachers while those in the private sector have 18,874 (33%) teachers.

The significant issues of Education system are lack of Budget Allocation, lack of Policy Implementation, Faulty examination System, Poor Infra Structure of Educational Institutions, Lack of Teacher’s quality, low enrolment, Wayward and Directionless Education system, High scale drop outs, Increasing Political Interference, Out dated curriculum, corruption, Poor Management and Supervision, lack of Uniformity, lack of research, lack of faculty training and Development, Cost of Education, Terrorist Attacks, Cultural Constraints, lack of Parent input, Widening gap between Educational Institutions and Community, lack of Academia Industry Linkage program and Learning Crisis etc.

Education is the nurturing and nourishing force for the construction of strong and impressive societal set up, prominent development and significant growth of the country. Education explores new dimensions and polishes the hidden talent, potential, capabilities and strengths of individuals and redirect these forces towards the rise of Pakistan as a powerful nation on the global horizon.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned Education System of Pakistan as the driving force behind all the national goals. In the first National Education Conference held at Karachi. It was decided that Education System will work according to the National aspirations of Pakistan and it will be truly related to the needs of the people of Pakistan. The father of Nation said, “The magnificent goal of Education sector will be to develop character of Pakistan, high sense of responsibility, social integrity, selfless service to the Nation and morality on the part of the people of Pakistan.

Critical analysis of the problems and issues of education system in Pakistan.

These are the most dominant issues and problems of our Education System which needs to be addressed and to find remedial solutions for these issues and put forward recommendations for the positive change in our prevalent Education System.

1- Lack of uniformity

The Education System is not Uniform and is based on differentiated Education System like Public Institutions, Private Institutions and Deeni Madaris. There has been accelerated polarization in the Education System due to divisive Pakistani Education System. This has penetrated into cultural veins of the Nation. The recent waves of Sectarianism and Terrorism are the consequences of this divisible system. Polarized Education System has further divided society on political, economic and social grounds instead of uniting people. This division is leading towards further segregation on linguistic and religious levels and cutting knee deep the ideological foundation of the Nation.

2- Education without direction

A sound Education System is essential for every nation of the world. All nations develop their people or human resources on the basis of rigorous focus on Education and Training . We have poor and direction less education system with lack of cohesion and more prone towards general education without creation of Skillful man power resulting into massive unemployment. It also results into massive political, social, economic and cultural distress among people. There is no use of science and technology in the education system. Students are unable to develop critical thinking, creativity, imagination, reasoning, experimentation, innovation and invention

3- Outdated curriculum

We are still following the old fashioned and outdated Education System of rote memorization, cramming the facts and figures without realizing the holistic development of individuals. The objective of Education should be development of psychological, philosophical and sociological foundations of Education. The present curriculum is not motivating learners for practical research and development, scientific knowledge and reflective observation.

4- Lack of professional development of teachers

There are few training institutes but have lack of funds, lack of resourceful and trained trainers and administers. There are no defined standards of training and development. The courses and trainings are outdated, traditional without exposure to modern technology, motivation, quality of teachers and enhancement of skills .

5- Lack of quality teacher

According to UNESCO report, the quality of educational institutions and teacher is low. The situation is grimmer in remote parts of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan where there is non availability of teachers. Teachers are not using new methods of teaching and learning, no lesson planning, old method of cramming, no research, no use of libraries or internet, no book reading. Students are promoted to next class on the basis of cramming and memorization of facts and figures without knowledge in depth, no conceptualization, no understanding of topics in the books without relevance in schools.

6- Alarming dropouts

Lack of management and discipline in schools leads many students to drop out from school. This trend is due to punishment in schools, poor parenting, lack of motivation, unattractive school environment, child labor & poverty are also very significant reasons of huge drop out from schools, colleges and universities. It shows that almost 30% of children enrolled in primary education. This trend has added to low literacy rate in Pakistan.

7- Examination system

Students are evaluated on the basis of annual exams, semester wise assessments. Both quantitative and qualitative exams should be introduced to judge the performance of students on comprehensive level and exams should evaluate the student’s ability through various types of reliable assessments like case studies, research papers, MCQs, Comprehensive subjective questions, Analytical questions to check the conceptual understanding of students especially in higher classes (Rehman, 2011).

In Pakistan examination system is faulty and it tests only the memory of students, there is use of unfair means, bribery, cheating, issuance of duplicate marks sheets, changes of marks, change of answer sheets, impersonation. This present examination system has promoted rote memorization and cramming. It has badly failed in producing critical thinking, analytical skills, learning, intellectual power and visionary reflection in the students at all levels of education. It does not measure the strength, achievements and performance of students (Quereshi, 1975).

Modular system of examination in Medical Universities is producing incompetent students with insufficient knowledge of Anatomy which is the backbone of medicine studies. In modular system a single paper for three subjects is given to students. Students prepare easy subjects to pass the exam and leave the difficult and important subject of Anatomy for choice. Therefore, this method has tarnished the strong foundations of learning and performing badly. Doctors produced with such type of examination with lack of proper understanding of subject will not be able to serve the humanity honestly and do the justice with their profession.

In our education system educational institutions are used as breeding grounds for political parties and in colleges and universities these groups nurture. Students get benefits by being part of any political party during exams. A list of students is provided to the teacher by the student leader to pass them in the exam, admissions are given on the party basis, exams are marked and checked on party basis because mostly teachers are also working for parties while sitting in educational institutions. During Board or University exam by giving money to the invigilator, students are allowed to cheat in the exam, Students throw question paper outside the window and one of the party rep climbs up the tree near the window with Megaphone and starts dictating answers by calling up question numbers. Honest Teachers are threatened and sometimes gunned and killed in case they are not willing to listen to the unfair demands of the students of different parties.

Some of the teachers are also involved in malpractices. They leak the paper by charging handsome amounts or solve the papers for students or allow students to solve the papers by cheating from books, material or from some good student. In board exams, before submission of sheets to the board office representative student is asked to write down correct answers. Teachers are themselves involved in such political activities and award “F” grade to students who are not in their party.

In Russia there is no exam system like ours. Students study through out the year and at the end of year teacher can ask any question from the book to pass the candidate and check his understanding & knowledge of the subject.

8- Poor supervision standards

To monitor teaching and learning, poor and harsh standards of evaluation and punishment are used which in some case leads to termination of jobs . At primary school level teacher’s evaluation is not possible. Secondary Schools/Cambridge Schools are evaluated through Board exam results/CAIE results. In college, again Board or University exam results are the criteria to judge the academic performance of Student and Teacher’s teaching. Whereas, actually there is an increase in tuitions instead of relying on School or College teaching. Students and their parents are compelled to go for tuitions due pressure of good grades and admissions in good educational institutions. There are many tuition centres, coaching centres, academies where the same teachers who were unable to impart quality education give quality tuitions by charging heavy amounts and prepare students well to score good grades. The low salaries demotivate them in their institutions to impart good education. In Universities students are given power to evaluate teaching and their grading becomes part of an Annual Evaluation Report which is essential for promotion or benefit of the faculty. This system is again polluted by involvement of computer department staff, Student coordinators and by bribing students to give bad remarks about any teacher. Some insincere and corrupt teachers mark students’ attendance and give them good marks, tell them questions of exams and do immoral activities to get good evaluation from students. Teachers who are honest and hard working are ranked low by students. Even at higher education institutions there is lobbying and politics through which false evaluation against any faculty can be prepared to get rid of the unwanted faculty by the management. So, in short, supervision system is more prone to harassment and control over the teaching staff rather than providing proper guideline and training for the improvement of teaching methodologies & strategies. (Rehman, 2011).

9- Internal and external influence

In Education sector external factors are coming outside the system through politicians and they bring changes in the system to give favor to their families, relatives, friends etc. Internal factors are bureaucratic manipulations (Mazhar, 2011).

There is great favoritism and Nepotism in cases of transfers, Appointments, Promotions, Salaries, Grades & Work Stations. Due to this the basic Infrastructure of the Education System in Pakistan has been badly affected (LOUIS, 1987).

10- Lack of resources

There are not proper Libraries with physical space for Students to Study. Books are not available, No digital libraries, no computer Facility in the library especially in public sector colleges & universities. No proper lighting, no AC, no Generators in case of power break down are available to make studies more comfortable for the desirous and ambitious students. Class rooms are over-crowded, corridors are flooded with students, Inadequate and Inefficient teachers, Laboratories without required apparatus & equipment of practical learning have resulted into a situation of despair and low standard of Education (Louis, 1987).

11- Lack of policy implementation

Frequent political turmoil and change of governments have made policy implementation in its true letter and spirit impossible. Corruption, Lack of Resources, Lack of teacher’s involvement in policies and inconsistency in successive planning on the part of various political regimes in Pakistan. Teachers are ignored while designing Education policies which has led to alienation between teachers and the system of Education (Zaki, 1989).

12- Low budgetary allocation for education

Education system in Pakistan has been crippled mainly due allocation of scarce financial resources in budget. The Education Budget which is definitely not sufficient to fulfill the growing needs of population and involvement of modern technology in the education system, low salaries, high taxation are also hindering the growth of this sector. Taxes are even imposed on the hourly payment of visiting faculty at the rate of ten percent from filers and twenty percent from non-filers which is really unjustified and reduces the meagre earning.

In many countries like Bangladesh & Sri Lanka the Education share in total budget of the country is increasing but in Pakistan it is continuously declining (Sayan, 2012).

13- Corruption

Corruption is another factor responsible for deterioration of the Education System, use of unfair means, nepotism, favors in transfer, promotion and appointments and decision making, misuse of funds, use of illegal authority by the school management, Gender based exploitation and harassment are the subsidiaries of corruption .

14- Lack of faculty training and development

Educational institutions do not spend available funds on the training and development of teachers. They are neither sent to attend the workshops, courses, seminars or conferences to groom themselves and learn the modern techniques and methodologies of teaching. Here again only few favorite teachers are selected for these trainings and most of the teachers remain deprived of any opportunity to groom their teaching skills.

15- Non- availability of public transport/ parking/traffic congestion

Most of the private schools are located in residential areas usually in bungalows to avoid taxes. Here the big issue is non-availability of public transport, parking and traffic congestion on daily basis. This makes both students and teachers tired and stressed because of wastage of lots of time of travelling to and from school to home. This unnecessary delay in timings also affects the quality of education. Mostly schools do not provide their conveyance to students, teachers and staff but ask them to avail transport of the companies with which the senior management set commission.

16- Opening up of large nuber of private schools

There is opening up of various private schools with a shift from Matric system to O & A level with Up-to-date modern technologies. They have comparatively better infrastructure, spacious class rooms, low strengths of class, more trained teachers, with proper sanitary conditions, counselors, doctors, psychologist, its teachers, sports teacher, swimming pools, etc. Creativity of students is enhanced through various activities. These facilities are missing in public schools so parents prefer to send their children to nearby private schools.

17- Politics in education

Different political parties prepare their representatives amongst students. Different teachers also involve them in this exercise as party members. These teacher in exchange of this get favors and benefits from parties by helping their students in getting admissions, provision of question papers, awarding of good grades as per list provided by the party.

18- Compulsion to purchase stationery, syllabus, uniforms and other items from school shop

School management compels parents to purchase the required stationery, syllabus, uniforms and all other required study material from their own school’s shop where the rates are too high as compared to the open market. This puts burden on the finances of the family and parents have to change the school or leave the school. The school charge fess for 3 moths and invest this amount in different profit schemes to earn interest on it.

During COVID-19 pandemic when due lock down schools were closed and even online classes were not in practice, school charged full fee from the students and parents had no option except listening to the management and doing as they demand to keep admission of their child locked and secured.

19- Entry tests, coaching and paper out

All the admissions have been linked with admission test in more or less all institutions making the credibility of different schools, boards, colleges and universities doubtful just to give benefits to the students who are non-deserving and not coming on merit with their results. Every year we hear about MCAT test, usually tests are postponed or test paper is out and re-exam is arranged and many of the students with good grades are pushed out of the admission list. The private colleges have their own test criteria and select students as per their own policies and even charge fees as per their own policies. Most of the deserving, hard working students due to the demand of heavy fees are forced to move towards some other institution. Every year PMDC is dissolved. For these entry tests students join academies, tuition centres and coaching centre and pay high charges to prepare for admission in all these high ranked Engineering and Medical institutes.

These admission tests are introduced to favor their own families, relatives, friends or workers of the political parties to strengthen their vote bank in their constituency.

These tests are fake, their results are fake, the merit lists displayed are fake. In this way many deserving students do not get chance to pursue education of their own choice.

20- Theoretical knowledge inplace of practical learning

Students are given only bookish theoretical knowledge instead of practical knowledge. Most of the students even after getting degrees do not meet the requirement of jobs and are unable to be absorbed in the working population. Students should be sent at least for one semester in organizations before their graduation so that they may become acquainted with the office environment and familiar with the working of different reputable organizations. Activities, Role plays, Case Studies, Worksheets, Research Projects, Seminars, Symposiums, Lecture Series, Events should be organized for the students with their hundred percent involvement so the students not only own the activity but get an opportunity to meet influential people from big companies of reputable brands.

21- Lack of liaison between industry and educational institutions

Mostly universities have no liaison with industries and therefore their students face problems at the time of induction. Universities should invite industrialists to teach courses especially in the last two semester of their studies so that students can learn about the ins and outs of the industrial workings and may get a chance of absorption in the industry as employees.

22- Non-participatory in nation building

Education Sector is not playing any role in Nation Building. Our Education System is producing students with mindset that only foreign countries are providing good education and to get good job it is necessary to become foreign graduates. Mostly Students lack patriotism, civic sense, loyalty and love for their homeland and people living here and treat them as inferior to the foreign world. So being Status conscious and due ostentatious effect our crème has moved abroad for higher education. On the other hand, students who get them enrolled here in Pakistan after getting degrees and job search find it best to move abroad for higher studies, job and career growth. Once they get job, they prefer to stay there on permanent basis and become citizens of that country with dual nationality status. Our best youth has settled in European Countries, USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa and Gulf Region and rendering their best services and earning handsome salaries and maintaining luxury life styles in those countries without any fear of security, terrorist attacks, bomb blasts, sectarian riots, traffic congestions, pollution, Smog, energy Shortage etc. By being there they feel satisfied and happy. They do not send any remittances here instead they are calling up their families, relatives and friends to come and transfer their assets to those countries making Pakistan’s economy weaker with this outflow of resources. Our Doctors, Engineers, Architects, Retired Army Officers, Bankers, health workers paramedical staff, skilled labor, business graduates, pilots, Air men, Air Technicians, Aircraft Engineers, Educationists, Insurance Agents, Scientists and Researcher have moved to Western countries and are not willing to come back or serve the Nation.

23- Pupil teacher, pupil school and teacher school ratio

These ratios are very important. If there are more peoples in one class then teacher cannot give individual attention to students. Weak students are neglected and gap between strong and weak students widens. If pupil school ratio increases then infrastructure does not accommodate the increased number of students and in place of two students, three or four students are asked to sit. Other facilities like availability of labs, computers, access to canteens, sports items, playgrounds, washrooms etc. become less for the large number of people. If schools have low number of teachers hirings then work load for one teacher is overburdened and individual attention, mood, behavior, marking of copies/assignments or imparting of quality education is disturbed. The ideal class size is 30 students at most for one teacher but in our universities sometimes more than 100 students are accommodated in one class.

24- Non-availability of electricity

Load shedding and energy crisis in the country has devastatingly ruined the quality of education. In summer when the weather is hot and humid, then in the class of 68-70 students when teacher has very limited space to move, then there is suffocation, lack of oxygen, smell of sweat and loss of student’s attention in studies. This is a source of big demotivation for students and teachers and they want to leave.

25- Non-availability of drinking and washing water in toilets

In most of the schools clean drinking water is not available. Mostly the washrooms are not cleaned on regular basis so health hazards are faced by the students and teachers especially female students suffer a lot because of this. Mostly, schools’ students suffer from cholera, diarrhea, typhoid etc.

26- Non-availability of boundary wall

There are many schools in villages, towns and even cities where schools are working without boundary walls, which has become a security hazard.

27- Terrorist attacks and child killing

Terrorist attacks in schools like APS, Peshawar where a large number of students were killed. Schools are force to provide security to students. Attacks on students, teachers, on school buses, entrance of school buildings have decreased enrollment in schools.

28- Female students and female teachers’ harassment

Female students and female teachers are sexually harassed by male teachers. Many students are threatened not to speak against the culprit. In universities many male teachers award good grades to female students after their sexual assault. In jobs, females involved in such type of illicit activities and involved with the management get all kind of benefits of increments; increase in salaries, courses abroad, promotions and in some cases female faculty was awarded PhD degrees even when their research work was not up to the mark and rejected by external supervisors.

29- Parent’s input for improvement of education system at all levels

Parents should be involved at all education levels to maintain the high standards of education and learning.

30- Cost of education

The economic cost is higher in private schools and they are located in rich localities only though they provide better quality of education. Public schools ensure equitable access but low-quality education.

31- Cultural constraints and traditional taboos

Due to cultural constraints and traditional taboos parents prefer early marriages of their girls instead of sending them to schools. Similarly, mothers feel comfortable when girls stay home and help mothers in baby sitting and finishing household chores. In some of the areas only boys are sent to schools considering them as head of the future families and girls are asked to learn some family skills like embroidery, weaving, pottery or for cattle care.

32- Illiteracy of parents and parental concerns

Due to non – availability of Education and lack of awareness poor parents have number of children in the hope that they will become their earning hands and instead of sending them to school their mothers working in different houses as domestic help take them along for the baby sitting of the children of theses houses and demand money for that. They think that investing girls will be of benefit to the in laws or her husband since they will not get any return from it so its better as long as girls are staying in their homes they should earn and bring money for the family.

33- Learning crisis:

The education system is not producing students who are learning from education as per the requirement of the standard in which they are studying. Maybe a student studying in class five does have the knowledge of class two or three only. This Learning Crisis has become the biggest issue of our current education system. It means there is wide gap between school input and school output.

34- Distance:

There are many schools which are far from some of villages and there are no means of transportation and children have to walk on foot to reach schools miles away from their homes which is not possible for girl students to do as parents do not want to send their girls unattended and do not accompany them since they have to work to meet both ends.

Recommendations:

• Budget allocation should be increased as per international standards of education.
• Schools should be shifted on solar system to handle the issue of load shedding.
• Pupil teacher, pupil school and teacher school ratios should be balanced and class strength, teacher’s number and number of classrooms should be in accordance to the international education standards.
• Boundary walls should be made. Security staff should be hired, CCTV cameras should be installed, student teacher and staff should be issued identity cards.
• For teacher training and development quality professional institutes with sufficient funds should be set up.
• Political and bureaucratic influence should be minimized at all educational levels.
• The system of accountability should be strengthened and all associated in education system are trained to own responsibilities both at individual and collective basis.
• Curriculum should be revised on annual basis and new strategies and methods should be incorporated to align our education system with other countries.
• Examination system should be made free of unfair means, Mafia culture and illegal gratification. Supervision and monitoring should be strong to subside this element.
• Policies should be implemented with delay and in continuity to get their outcomes.
• The culture of research should be promoted in the educational institutions.
• There should be Academia industrial linkage programs to make our education practical and our students capable of absorption in the job market.
• Introduction of technical and vocational trainings at secondary schools.
• Increasing public expenditure on education and skill generation from 2.7% of GDP to 5% of GDP and then to 7% of GDP.
• Reduce polarization and try to introduce uniform standards at all types of schools.
• Enhance the scale and quality of education in general and the scale and quality of scientific/technical education in Pakistan in particular.

Conclusion:

Sense education is developing not only mind but it also cleans and grooms our body and soul. We not only get education for economic reason but to handle social, political, psychological, ethical, legal and spiritual issues of our life. Education turns a raw human into a polished human being which becomes human capital of any nation and key to the development of that country. With education many countries are ruling the world and have become leaders in the comity of nations. The current system has made our younger generation direction directionless and uncertain about their future so they are leaving Pakistan and settling down in developed countries. The lawlessness, fear of loss of life, terrorist attacks, unemployment, inflation, exchange rate fluctuation, overpopulation, poverty, taxes and IMF loans are producing forces of degree holders without any vision, mission, critical thinking, reflection, analysis, research and creativity. Our outdated curriculum is pushing our youth towards stone age instead of directing them towards the fast-changing technology driven world. Traditional teaching is giving theoretical knowledge to students but practical learning is missing.

Finally, education reforms are the only solution to change the existing education system so following recommendations are suggested for the policy makers, thinkers, researchers, educationists and common people. Hope it will add value in the research and development of both student and teachers.

References:

• http://library.aepam.edu.pk/Books/Pakistan%20Education%20Statistics%202017-18.pdf
• https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570671.pdf
• https://contentgenerate.com/problems-of-education-sector-solutions-pakistan-content-generate/
• https://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_22/PES10-EDUCATION.pdf
• https://ipripak.org/education-system-of-pakistan-issues-problems-and-solutions/
• https://www.morenews.pk/real-issues-education-system-pakistan/
• Zaki W. M., “Evaluation of Education Plans and Projects”, Islamabad, National Book Foundation, 1989.
• Save the Children & UNICEF “Disciplining The Child Practices and Impacts”, NWFP: School & Lietarcy Department, 2005.
• Rehman H. and Khan N., “The flaws in Pakistan’s Education System”, Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences, vol/issue: 4(1), 2011.
• Louis D. H., “The crises of Education in Pakistan”, Lahore, Vanguard Book Ltd., 1987.
• Iqbal M., “Education in Pakistan”, Lahore, Aziz publishers, 1981.
• Qurashi I. H., “Education in Pakistan”, Karachi, Ma,aref LTD, 1975.
• Sayan, Fida, and Hussain, “Pakistan existing education system”, 2008. Retrieved from Retrieved from www.eric.articles/pak/edu on dated 2012, July 18.
• Naseem J. Q., “Problem of Education in Pakistan”, Karachi, Royal Book Company, 1990.
• Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education. “National Assessment Findings”, Islamabad, National Education System, 2006.
• Ahmed, Iqbal.,” Critical Analysis of the Problems of Education in Pakistan: Possible Solutions”, . International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) Vol.3, No.2, June 2014, pp. 79~84 ISSN: 2252-8822.

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Giving every child the right to education.

Pakistan is facing a serious challenge to ensure all children, particularly the most disadvantaged, attend, stay and learn in school. While enrollment and retention rates are improving, progress has been slow to improve education indicators in Pakistan. 

An estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 are out-of-school.

Currently, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC) with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 44 per cent of the total population in this age group. In the 5-9 age group, 5 million children are not enrolled in schools and after primary-school age, the number of OOSC doubles, with 11.4 million adolescents between the ages of 10-14 not receiving formal education. Disparities based on gender, socio-economic status, and geography are significant; in Sindh, 52 percent of the poorest children (58 percent girls) are out of school, and in Balochistan, 78 percent of girls are out of school.

Nearly 10.7 million boys and 8.6 million girls are enrolled at the primary level and this drops to 3.6 million boys and 2.8 million girls at the lower secondary level.

Gender-wise, boys outnumber girls at every stage of education.

Gaps in service provision at all education levels is a major constraint to education access.  Socio-cultural demand-side barriers combined with economic factors and supply-related issues (such as availability of school facility), together hamper access and retention of certain marginalized groups, in particular adolescent girls. Putting in place a credible data system and monitoring measures to track retention and prevent drop-out of out-of-school children is still a challenge.

At systems level, inadequate financing, limited enforcement of policy commitments and challenges in equitable implementation impede reaching the most disadvantaged. An encouraging increase in education budgets has been observed though at 2.8 percent of the total GDP, it is still well short of the 4 percent target.

In order to accelerate progress and ensure the equitable expansion of quality education, UNICEF supports the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to significantly reduce the number of OOSC at pre-primary, primary and lower secondary levels. Our education programme is focusing on Early Childhood Education (ECE) to improve school readiness; expansion of equitable and quality alternative learning pathways (ALP) at basic education levels; and nurturing of school-community linkages to increase on-time enrolment, reduce drop-outs, and ensure completion and transition for all students. At systems levels, we are contributing to more equity-focused provincial sector planning and budgeting; strengthening data and assessment systems; and evidence-based policy advocacy.

Early Childhood Education (ECE)

Investment in quality early learning/pre-primary education so that young children are ‘ready for school’ has high positive impacts on primary school enrolment, survival and learning, and is cost-effective.

The benefits of ECE are highest for children from poor and vulnerable households.

Given the limited reach and inequities in the provision of pre-primary education, Pakistan is increasingly recognizing early learning as a policy priority, and several provinces have already developed ECCE policies, plans, and standards.

Alternative Learning Pathways (ALP)

While several models exist for ALPs, these are still scattered and limited in scale. UNICEF is addressing the issue of OOSC through studies, supporting provincial sector plan development, development or review of non-formal education policy and direct programme implementation. This wealth of experience now provides the evidence, know-how, and momentum for UNICEF to support federal and provincial governments in broadening ALPs within education systems to bring OOSC into primary education, with a specific focus on adolescent girls.

School-Community Linkages

Socio-cultural demand-side barriers combined with economic factors together drive education deprivation for certain groups of children in Pakistan, particularly girls. These barriers are further exacerbated by a lack of parental awareness of early learning, importance of on-time enrolment, and lack of social protection schemes. UNICEF is therefore focusing more closely on the obstacles to on-time enrolment, retention, completion and transition.

Equity in Education

Equity-based investments by government continue to be the key way to ensure education systems include the most disadvantaged girls and boys. Considering insufficient and ineffective allocation of budgets, UNICEF strategically engages in sector planning, to capitalise on opportunities to influence decision-making on equity issues.

UNICEF’s growing technical capacity and focus on assessment of learning, and international expertise also provides an opportunity to add value to Pakistan’s efforts to improve assessment systems. System reforms help in improving accountability and evidence-based decision making. UNICEF supports healthy dialogue on education budgeting and public financing, to highlight areas of improvement for better planning and improvement in the education sector.

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Reports and Data

Pakistan Education Statistics 2016-17

Out of School Children in Azad Jammu & Kashmir Report , UNICEF, December 2016

  Out of School Children in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Fact Sheet , UNICEF, December 2016

Out of School Children in Gilgit-Baltistan Report , UNICEF, December 2016

Out of School Children in Gilgit-Baltistan, Fact Sheet , UNICEF, December 2016

Review of Alternative Learning Programmes in Pakistan 2014-15

Simulations for Equity in Education (SEE) Balochistan Model Factsheet , UNICEF, December 2016

Social Cohesion and Resilience booklet

Access to Education and Social Cohesion in Pakistan-Summary of findings from End line survey , UNICEF, December 2017

Pakistan OOSC Study. UNICEF, 2013

South Asia Regional Study on OOSC. UNICEF, 2014

The Investment Case for Education and Equity. UNICEF, 2015

Facing the Challenges of Girls’ Education in Pakistan

Juan d. barón.

Girls’ education is smart economics , and Pakistan has committed to guaranteeing the right of both girls and boys to access quality education ( SDG 4 ).

In fact, Pakistan has dramatically expanded enrollment for girls and boys in the last 14 years. Net enrollment for both has increased by roughly 10 percentage points (Figure 1). With a school-aged population of around 50 million children, there have been substantial gains in the number of children enrolled in school. However, the country faces a number of challenges in ensuring a quality education for all children: 75 percent of 10-year-olds in Pakistan cannot read a simple text, and that rate may have increased to 79 percent due to COVID-19 and the 2022 floods .

Despite progress, girls in Pakistan face more challenges in accessing quality education and their education outcomes lag boys. Bringing more girls and boys to school will require using data to target interventions to specific challenges. At the current pace (which already incorporates strong assumptions on progress), it will take Pakistan at least 50 years to enroll all girls and 31 years to enroll all boys. Below, we present potential solutions to challenges facing girls access to education.

Figure 1. Net enrollment rates by sex (%)

Challenge 1: 12 million girls out of school

About 2 million more girls than boys are out of school in Pakistan–or about 12 million girls in total—and account for most of the out-of-school population in Pakistan. Estimates of the number of out-of-school children in Pakistan range from 20.3 to 22.1 million children.

Solutions. One solution includes using available data and targeting specific programs to specific types of out-of-school children. For example, bringing back young kids who may have dropped out of primary school is a targeted intervention for young kids who were in school, but not for teenage children who may have left the system years ago. A literacy, numeracy, and life skill programs would be a more targeted approach for this group.

Another solution is increasing school supply: Punjab has done it successfully in primary education with public-private partnerships (PPPs). Expanding PPPs to other levels of education and enhancing regulations can deliver big returns. Expanding and better managing public schools in rural areas is another solution, like the SELECT project in the Sindh Province.

Challenge 2: Girls are more likely to have never been to school

In 2018, 26 percent of girls and 19 percent of boys had never been to school, a 7-percentage point difference (Figure 2). Pakistan has made progress compared to 2004, when the difference was 13 percentage points. The effort, however, has left girls in the same position as before relative to boys. Figure 2 shows that in 2018, the number of girls who have never attended school was the same as the number of boys who never attended school in 2004 (14 years earlier).

Solutions . Expanding conditional cash transfers to incentivize parents to send children to school, with a premium on girls, could be effective to enhance early enrollment and reduce gender gaps. Enrollment drives focused on first grades and pre-K enrollment can also be effective.

Figure 2. Children who have never attended school by sex (%)

Challenge 3: Girls in poor families are less likely to attend school

Poverty is a major challenge for girls’ education. Girls in poor families are 22 percentage points less likely to attend school than boys (Figure 3). This gender gap gets narrower with better-off families, ending with no gap for families in the wealthiest quintile, where enrollment is around 87 percent, for both sexes.

Figure 3. School enrollment by sex and household wealth (%)

Moreover, girls in poor families are 52 percentage points less likely to attend school than girls in well-off households (Figure 3). This highlights what families express as the biggest constraint to sending girls to primary school: the cost of education. Girls in rural areas, who are more likely to be in poor households, are also less likely to be enrolled than any other group, including girls in urban areas and boys in both rural and urban areas (Figure 4). Girls in rural areas are the most disadvantaged group.

Solutions. Pakistan has recently expanded the conditional cash transfer program to all districts in the country and has had girls’ stipend programs with positive outcomes. Expanding and consolidating this financial support to families—differentiating by gender and rural areas—could help in closing these gaps. These financial conditionalities will only work if there are enough schools available, which is not the case in many rural areas of Pakistan. For example, there are nearly 130,000 primary schools in rural Pakistan, but only 33,000 middle schools, leaving many middle school-aged students in rural areas without education options after primary school.

Figure 4. In all provinces, girls of all ages in rural areas are less likely to be in school than boys

Challenge 4: Security of girls and women at school

Girls face harassment in school and on the way to school. They face challenges to their security in public spaces, transportation, and near schools. Girls express anguish at all types of harassment in these spaces, the Center for Gender and Policy Studies reports. Given this, parents in Pakistan either delay girls’ education or prevent them from attending school altogether. The second most important reason parents give for not sending girls to school is the distance to schools, which is a factor that exacerbates parents’ security concerns: the more distant the school, the more risk for girls.

Solutions . Improving transport services for girls and female teachers, as has been done in KP Province , and making school safe for students (for example, building boundary walls in schools).

What’s next?

Pakistan has shown that increased enrollment for girls is possible even in a context of high population growth. To accelerate progress, programs could be based on cost-effectiveness, potential for scale, and new research. For example, countries can advance girls’ education through un-targeted programs as effectively as targeted programs, as outlined in research by Evans & Yuan . This is true in some domains, but targeted interventions would work best for specific constraints faced by girls. The above potential solutions reflect both.

Solutions, however, require adequate and well-executed funding. Pakistan spends 2.5 percent of its GDP on education, far from the 4 percent international average. Reducing gaps and ensuring that all children, in particular girls, have access to quality education would require at least 4.5 percent of GDP, the World Bank estimates.

Senior Economist, Education Global Practice, World Bank Group

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Working for quality education in Pakistan, an LMTF Learning Champion

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, baela jamil and bj baela jamil director of programs, idara-e-taleem-o-aagahi saba saeed ss saba saeed coordinator, learning metrics task force (lmtf).

March 27, 2015

The global community has failed dismally in meeting the challenge of providing all children with a quality education. This education failure is tragically apparent in Pakistan, the world’s sixth most populous country. This failure of learning is evident both in the results of public sector examinations and private sector citizen-led household-based assessments like ASER Pakistan . More than ever Pakistan needs to break out of the country’s complacency with poor education and move toward a system of principled equity and quality matched by regular assessments. Crucial to success are answers to fundamental questions: What are the critical benchmarks of learning across the different levels of education? How do citizens understand the proposed frameworks and nature of learning of their children? Who should measure learning? How does the assessment of learning influence education policy, planning, teaching and learning norms, and budgets?

A vital step towards addressing this situation in Pakistan was the adoption of Article 25 A in 2010 as part of the 18th amendment to the country’s constitution. This made education a fundamental right for all children ages 5-16, spurring legislation across the provinces to provide universal access to education up to secondary school. With governance in the social sectors devolved completely to the provinces in 2010, education policy, planning, budgeting, implementation, and technical areas such as curriculum, medium of instruction, textbooks, and assessments are now entirely managed by provincial government entities.

Pakistan’s Article 25 A sets out a goal of access to education for all, but also ensuring that education is high – quality. To meet that goal, a group of public and private partners from all provinces have joined together in order to make Pakistan a Learning Champion , an initiative of the Learning Metrics Task Force, to construct a strategy on defining education quality in Pakistan and measuring that quality. Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) , the organization for which we work, leads the ASER Pakistan movement on learning, coordinates our in-country LMTF Learning Champion consortium in collaboration with government representatives from each province. This consortium includes the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen, the National Education Assessment System in Islamabad; the Provincial Education Assessment Centres from Sindh; the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit in Balochistan; the Provincial Institute for Teacher Education; the Kashmir Education Assessment Center; the Punjab Examination Commission in Punjab; and the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development. There are also technical representatives from the technical planning units of each province. The 15-member group is currently involved in mapping existing assessments in the country in order to identify effective ways of reforming the system. The consortium is committed to ensuring that testing does not remain limited to numeracy and literacy, but shifts the focus to the measurement of students’ success in both cognitive and non-cognitive domains.

So far, the group has reviewed current assessment practices at both the national and provincial levels and prioritized the learning domains and areas of measurement from the LMTF recommendations . The next step is to convert the learning domains from LMTF guidance into practical strategies and assessment tools from early childhood to upper secondary age. Each of the provincial agencies is now involved in developing assessment tools that will be piloted by the end of this May to gauge students’ performance when tested. At the same time, the group is exploring options for launching a National Learning and Assessment Forum, which will convene twice a year to review assessment practices, research and recommend improvements.

The LMTF recently brought together the Learning Champion consortium from Pakistan with 14 other Learning Champions and other interested parties at a forum in Kigali, Rwanda , where everyone endeavored to add a layer of knowledge, expertise, coherence, excitement, and rigor to the many similar efforts ongoing across the world. For Pakistan, these next steps that have grown out of LMTF research may be an opportunity to mobilize a broad range of actors to prepare for the post-2015 period, during which both access to education and to high-quality learning—across all levels of education from early childhood education to secondary and post-secondary—is being proposed as a major goal under the United Nations’ proposed Sustainable Development Goals .

A journey has begun in Pakistan through this forum that will be informed by national and global experts to make sense of the learning-education quandary.  It is an expedition that Pakistan cannot afford to squander.

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9:00 am - 10:00 am EST

Nariman Moustafa

October 20, 2023

Global Education Monitoring Report

Launch of the 2023 GEM Report in Pakistan

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About the launch

The launch of the 2023 GEM Report in Pakistan was organized by the Global Education Monitoring Report, the EdTech Hub, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and the Ministry of Education of Pakistan. The launch took place on 15 January 2024 as a hybrid event. Itiincluded a high-level segment in the morning followed by policy focus session animated by EdTech Hub.

The launch in Pakistan brought together government representatives, academics, and industry experts working on technology in education to discuss the report’s recommendations for the global landscape of education, and specifically, for Pakistan. 

The launch aimed to: 

• Present the findings of the 2023 UNESCO GEM Report.
• Highlight examples of good practices around the world on the use of technology in education.
• Showcase the experience of Pakistan and discuss how the global recommendations from the report resonate with the national realities.

How to take part? 

• In-person participation: the event took place at PNCA in Islamabad. Please contact us if you are interested in attending the event in person.
• Online participation: The event was streamed live via the social media accounts of the Ministry of Education of Pakistan, ITA, EdTech Hub and the GEM Report. 

Preliminary agenda - High-level segment

9:30-10:00  | Registration

10:00-10:10 | Recitation from the Holy Quran

10:10-10:20 | Welcome remarks

• Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry, Secretary, MoFE&PT, Government of Pakistan

10:20-10:25 | Film showing 

10:25- 10:30 | Welcome from the Minister of Education 

• Madad Ali Sindhi, Minister of Education from Pakistan

10:30- 11:00 | Presentation of key findings and recommendations of the 2023 GEM Report 

• Manos Antoninis, Director  Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO

11:00-12:00 | High-level panel discussion and Q&A 

• Yousseff Filali Mekanssi, Country Head, UNESCO Pakistan
• Verna Lalbeharie, Executive Director, EdTech Hub
• Baela Jamil, Chief Executive Officer, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi

Moderated by: Manos Antoninis, Director, Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO

12:00-13:00 | Putting evidence into practice: interactive session

• Mohyuddin Wani, Special Secretary, MoFE&PT Govt. of Pakistan
• Haani Mazari, Asia Lead, EdTech Hub 
• Amal Hayat, EdTech Specialist, EdTech Hub 
• Nawaz Aslam, EdTech Specialist, EdTech Hub

13:00-13:30 | Closing remarks by High-level Delegates

13:30-14:30 | Lunch

• 2023 GEM Report on technology in education- A tool on whose terms? 
• Registration form for in-person participation

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• Country page: Pakistan
• Topics: Quality
• Topics: 2023 report events
• SDG: SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
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QUALITY SCHOOL EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN: CHALLENGES, SUCCESSES AND STRATEGIES

School education provides a pathway to higher education. Students join college and university level education with the learning concepts which they gain at school level. The concepts, students learn at school level help in understanding advance form of these concepts at higher education level. If students got sophisticated concepts at this level, ultimately, will work smartly in higher education. This is possible only through quality education. Presently, Quality education is need of the time. In Pakistan, school education is suffering due to many reasons. Teachers' education, curriculum and basic facilities are the pillars of quality education, and in Pakistan all these are criticized on many forums. On the other hand, government of Pakistan is trying to overcome these problems to ensure quality for its mass. For this purpose, government of Pakistan is taking initiatives and utilizing local and international resources. The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges to quality education in Pakistan, strategies for ensure quality education and steps taken by the government for quality education. Documents were analyzed for knowing challenges and strategies to meet these challenges.

Related Papers

Mazhar Ali Kazmi

The rise and fall of the nations depends on the quality of human resources, which can be properly developed and deployed in the right direction only with right education. The overall position of a nation in the world community at large is generally idealized by determining the standards of its educational system. Education does not mean acquiring knowledge only but in real sense, is a mean for the advancement of personality and character. In fact, education is such a powerful weapon, if properly deployed, can bring every possible positive change in a society. It’s role in the development of society is very crucial as it provides right leadership to the society. This is the core responsibility of the educational institutions to develop the people spiritually, socially, psychologically, mentally and physically, which results in promotion of economic, social, political and cultural life of a nation. But this goal can be achieved only with the help of quality education. The vital and unavoidable means to inculcate civilization and development in society is undoubtedly quality education. The quality of education is deteriorating day by day in Pakistan especially the quality of secondary education has an alarming situation needing special attention of the high ups. The general purpose of the study was to identify the major causes of deterioration of the of educational standard in secondary education and to propose measures for its improvement because the secondary education is a real foundation as it is deciding moment of the career of a student in our country. It holds a key position and is the terminal stage for majority of students. The student has to decide about which line to adopt in future and if quality education is not provided at this stage, the whole career of the student may be misguided.

Journal of Social Sciences Advancement

khalida parveen

The concepts, students gained at school level assist in considering advance form of these conceptions at higher education level. Pakistan being a developing country suffering from low quality at school levels. There are many factors responsible for this condition. Teachers’ proficiency, basic facilities and curriculum are the basic elements of quality education. In Pakistan all these elements are criticized on different forums. Though Pakistan Government is struggling to get rid of these problems to ensure quality in educational system. To meet this objective, and to exploit internal and external resources?different initiatives are taken by government of Pakistan. Currently, Quality education is dire demand of the day. Advancement is contingent to educational quality. Only means of the existence in globalization is quality education. Yet quality cannot be shown to someone as concrete object. It can only be achieved by providing proper facilities, well trained teachers and comprehens...

Indian Journal of Economics and Business

Dr. Shahid Saleem Arain

The present research was a case study that compared a public sector university and its affiliated postgraduate colleges in sense of quality education. The population of the study comprised of BS students of the university who had completed four semesters, their teachers and other concerned authorities. The sample of the study was taken by purposive sampling technique and comprised of 19 participants including BS students, their teachers, department heads, director admission, principal and controller of examinations. The primary data was collected through unstructured interviews conducted face to face using android mobile for recording and secondary from official records. The data was transcribed and analyzed using NIVIVO-II program, the data was coded and grouped as per themes, conclusions were drawn and recommendations made. Finding of the study were: un-conducive learning environment, infrastructure, missing orientation programs, unsatisfied students, less developed faculty, use of traditional pedagogy, lack of training, equipped laboratories, libraries, funds and resources at the college. The study found unsatisfied students, lack of monitoring of academic activities and funds, and nepotism as the issues at the university. Recommendations: the study recommends proper monitoring of colleges, development and extension of general and academic facilities, training of teachers, use of modern pedagogy and provision of proper funds and extended role of QECs for colleges. The study also recommends counseling, monitoring of students, extended latest academic facilities, enhancement of grants and strong complaint cells.

Pakistan Journal of Social Research

Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro

The quality of education in the public schools of Pakistan is very low. The focus of the policymakers has always been on the quantity of education and not the quality. The students studying in public schools cannot think critically. They do not have reasoning skills. Many factors lead to low quality education in these schools. Education is being provided free in public schools but of very low quality. I have analyzed the different elements that lead to low-quality education. The issues faced by the teachers and students in these public schools are also examined in this study. A quality education focuses on the whole child—the social, emotional, mental, physical, and cognitive development of each student. It prepares the students for life and not just for testing. A student who gained quality education can imagine things, make judgments and think on his own. The students of the public schools of Islamabad are just good at learning by rote. They cannot think and write on their own. Th...

Ayesha Kanwal

faridi family

Pakistan lagged in national development and progress because of a weak education system. Pakistan stands at the lowest ebb in the world in terms of education ranking. Low literacy rates and poor quality are the major drawbacks of the education system. This study analyzes current educational standards in public schools in Pakistan. For this purpose, the vast existing literature critically reviewed and analyzed educational policies. This study also points out the problems that may arise during the acquisition of education in public schools and gives some suggestions for their best solution. The government should need to look at these suggestions and take serious steps to improve the quality of education. Introduction:

Bilal Yousaf

This study was meant to explore and report the problems being confronted by the education in Pakistan and suggest for the resolution of these problems. Education plays the role of leadership in the society. The functions of the educational institutions are to develop the people physically, mentally, psychologically, socially and spiritually. It improves and promotes the economic, social, political and cultural life of the nation. There is no doubt in accepting the fact that education brings about a change in the social, political and cultural scenario of the country; though the change remains slow but it does have an impact on the society at large. Until now the role of secondary and college education in Pakistan has been simply preparation for tertiary education, which in the minds of most people means strictly a university education. All over the world universities are guiding and co-operating with the industrial and agricultural development organizations and they are developing their economics rapidly and meaningfully. There is a close link between education and development. In Pakistan, after more than five decades, the developmental indicators are not showing positive results. The participation rate at higher education is low comparatively to other countries of the region. There are problems of quality of staff, students, library and laboratory. Considering the gigantic problems of education in Pakistan, I select this topic for research.

JISR management and social sciences & economics

Talib Hussain

Education has different meanings as per different approaches. The quality in education is a complex and multicultural process. This study was conducted to check the Quality in higher Education. Four higher institutions were taken as sample. Out of which two were from public sector. The theoretical frame work consisted of the dependent variable which was, “Quality in Higher Education”, and the independent variables which were Management, Faculty, Infrastructure, Research Facilities and Evaluation Criteria. Overall results showed that majority (73%) respondents were in view that there is quality in education in higher education institutions. The most important factor which helps to maintain quality in higher education is the evaluation criteria in examinations (responded 23%). The lack of proper infrastructure is the main problem of education institutions (responded 35%). The above results show that quality in higher education is an essential tool to boost up the education sector of a...

Journal of Management and Social …

Usman Amjad

Global Journal of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities

Prof.Dr.Abdul Ghafoor Awan , Rana Rubab

The main objective of this research paper was to conduct a comparative study of the quality of education in public and private secondary schools in districts Khanewal and Vehari-Pakistan. Convenient sampling method was adopted to collect primary data from 300 teachers from 10 private and 10 public schools. 20 head teachers/ principals were also included into sample. Five points Likert scale was used to record the views of respondents. Our results show that public schools have qualified staff, spacious buildings and basic facilities, experienced permanent faculty as compared to private schools.

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Educational inequality in Pakistan: Causes and Solutions

• Economic factors: Poverty is one of the biggest barriers to education in Pakistan. Children from low-income families often lack access to basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare, which makes it difficult for them to attend school regularly. Families may also need their children to work to support the household, which further limits their ability to attend school.
• Gender inequality: In Pakistan, girls face significant barriers to education. They are often discouraged from attending school due to cultural norms that prioritize marriage and household responsibilities over education. Girls also face safety concerns while travelling to and from school, as well as while at school.
• Inadequate infrastructure: Many schools in Pakistan lack basic infrastructure like safe and clean classrooms, toilets, and drinking water facilities. The lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for students to attend school regularly and affects their ability to learn.
• Poor quality of education: The quality of education in Pakistan is generally poor, particularly in rural areas. Schools may lack qualified teachers, appropriate teaching materials, and a suitable learning environment. This can affect student learning outcomes and contribute to the high dropout rate.
• Regional disparities: Education inequality is more pronounced in certain regions of Pakistan, particularly in rural and remote areas. These regions often lack basic infrastructure, qualified teachers, and adequate funding for schools, which makes it difficult for students to attend school regularly and achieve good learning outcomes.
• Lack of government funding: Pakistan’s education sector is underfunded, with limited investment in improving educational infrastructure, providing teacher training, and promoting access to education for all. The lack of funding limits the government’s ability to improve the education system and reduce educational inequality.

Solutions to Educational inequality in Pakistan

Increase funding for education:, improve quality of education:, provide scholarships and financial assistance:, address gender inequality:, develop vocational education:, improve access to technology:, provide safe learning environments:.

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By Hassan Shah

Higher education plays a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of a country. In Pakistan, higher education has seen significant growth and transformation over the years. With a population of over 220 million people, Pakistan faces both challenges and opportunities in its quest to provide quality higher education.

This article explores the state of higher education in Pakistan, its challenges, and the opportunities that lie ahead. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nizamuddin has had a distinguished career in higher education, international economic development, and public policy. Here is a summary of his background and key roles:

United Nations System: Dr. Nizamuddin has over 45 years of experience working in the United Nations System. During this time, he was involved in planning, designing, and implementing projects aimed at creating global awareness and consensus on the importance of population in socioeconomic development. He served as an advisor to governmental and nongovernmental agencies on population and development studies. His assignments took him to various countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UN Headquarters in New York.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Gujrat : Dr. Nizamuddin played a crucial role in the growth of the University of Gujrat, transforming it into one of the leading higher education institutes in the country. As Vice Chancellor, he likely focused on academic excellence and the development of the university’s programs.

Pro Vice-Chancellor at Private Universities: In addition to his role at the University of Gujrat, Dr. Nizamuddin served as a Pro Vice-Chancellor at a couple of private universities. This experience indicates his involvement in the administration and leadership of higher education institutions.

Chairperson of Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC): Dr. Nizamuddin assumed the position of Chairperson of the Punjab Higher Education Commission, where he worked to introduce significant changes in the higher education sector in the Punjab region. His focus was on promoting excellence in teaching and research, likely aiming to enhance the quality of education and research activities in the province.

Action Against Unlawful Sub-Campuses: During his tenure as the Chairperson of PHEC, Dr. Nizamuddin led efforts to address issues related to unlawful sub-campuses, affiliations, and franchises of private sector degree-awarding institutions in Punjab. The commission, under his leadership, took strict actions against such unauthorized operations, emphasizing the need for proper approvals and compliance with educational regulations. Challenges in Pakistani Higher Education

Access and Enrolment: Access to higher education remains a significant challenge in Pakistan. While the number of universities and colleges has increased in recent years, a large portion of the population still faces barriers to enrollment. Limited access is particularly pronounced in rural areas and among marginalized communities.

Quality Assurance: Maintaining high-quality education is essential for producing skilled graduates who can contribute to the country’s growth. Pakistan’s higher education system faces issues related to the quality of education, outdated curricula, and the lack of standardization in evaluation and accreditation.

Underinvestment: The underinvestment in higher education is a persistent issue. Universities often struggle to attract and retain qualified faculty, leading to issues with teaching and research. The lack of resources also hampers infrastructure development and research opportunities.

Political Interference: Higher education institutions in Pakistan have frequently experienced political interference in their administration and decision-making processes. This has led to instability and a lack of academic freedom, which are detrimental to the growth of universities and the quality of education.

Gender Disparities: While there have been notable improvements in gender parity in education, disparities still exist. Women often face social and cultural barriers that limit their access to higher education. Ensuring equal opportunities for all remains a challenge.

Curricular Relevance: The curricula in many institutions are criticized for being outdated and not aligned with the needs of a rapidly changing job market. Reforms in curriculum and teaching methods are essential to equip graduates with skills that are relevant in today’s world.

Overall, Dr. Nizamuddin’s career demonstrates his commitment to education and development, both at the national and international levels, and his willingness to take decisive actions to ensure the quality and legality of educational institutions and programs in the Punjab region. He looked for the opportunities for Improvement i.e.

Increased Funding: One of the key opportunities is increasing investment in higher education. A higher allocation of government funds and the encouragement of public-private partnerships can significantly improve the infrastructure, faculty quality, and research capabilities of universities.

Quality Assurance: Strengthening quality assurance mechanisms is crucial. Implementing rigorous accreditation and evaluation processes can ensure that institutions meet international standards, attracting students from around the world and enhancing the value of Pakistani degrees.

Research and Innovation: Fostering a culture of research and innovation is essential for the progress of higher education. Encouraging collaboration between universities and industries can help produce graduates who are better prepared for the workforce. Academic Autonomy: Ensuring academic autonomy for institutions can mitigate political interference and enable universities to make decisions in the best interest of education and research.

Curriculum Modernization: Regularly updating curricula to meet the demands of the modern job market is crucial. This can be achieved through collaboration with industry experts and international institutions.

Pakistan’s higher education system faces a series of challenges that need to be addressed for the country to harness its full potential. While these challenges are significant, there are also opportunities for improvement, ranging from increased investment to academic autonomy and gender equality. Realizing these opportunities will not only enhance the quality of education but also contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation.

An experienced administrator like Dr. Nizamuddin in education can bring substantial positive changes in the system that will provide a solid base for the future of nation building. With the right strategies and commitment, Pakistan can create a thriving higher education system that empowers its citizens and prepares them for a rapidly evolving world.

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Overcoming the challenges to improving education in pakistan.

Aug 10, 2016 | Updates | 1 comment

Consultation Findings: Pakistan Coalition for Education

In April, the Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) hosted a consultation to discuss the challenges of education financing. This specific issue was selected as the topic of discussion for the consultation given government funding to education is extremely low in Pakistan at around 2 percent of the country’s GDP.  With the release of the country’s national budget just around the corner, education financing was a pertinent issue to discuss with representatives from civil society, legislators, government officials and representatives from the Ministry of Education.

There are several challenges facing Pakistan’s education sector starting with the fact that there is not enough investment in education. The answer to why education is not a funding priority in Pakistan lies in the simple reality that most people in our country are not aware of all the long-term benefits of receiving a quality education. The lack of quality education in Pakistan has left citizens deprived of knowledge and understanding. This has become a compounding problem in the country as parents that are uneducated don’t see how education leads to enormous positive psychological impacts, social growth and economic empowerment.

Education in developing countries is one of the most neglected sectors. Many developing national governments, including Pakistan’s, fail to realize that ensuring all youth and children receive a quality education is critical to a country’s socioeconomic development and economic growth. As a result, the lack of funding for education creates major problems in Pakistan, such as poor quality teaching and learning, unequal access to education, and low levels of school enrollment and attendance.

Aside from budgetary constraints, one of the biggest obstacles inhibiting Pakistan from achieving quality education for all is the lack of trained and competent teachers. In government schools across Pakistan, it is common practice that teachers are not hired through meritocratic standards, but rather are elected through political appointments or hired through nepotism.

When it comes to improving the quality of education in developing countries, political will is the most important factor–even more so than budgetary constraints. Political will lies at the heart of the issue and if motivation is needed to change the status quo, it must come from the highest levels. Historically, the Pakistani government has not had the political will to focus on assessing education indicators and outcomes. Instead, it has focused most of its attention on keeping the country safe from internal and external threats. From border skirmishes and nuclear threats, most of the political will in Pakistan is geared towards building up the country’s military and defense system, which explains the large budgetary allocations to defense in contrast to funding for education. Since the inception of Pakistan, each government has pushed their own respective agendas forward, each more aggressive than the last. However, no government has reformed education to make it more accessible. Unfortunately, the lack of political will to prioritize education at the highest levels of government in Pakistan flows to lower provincial and district levels. As a consequence, schools in Pakistan often have low levels of learning, and poor academic performance and educational outcomes. Other obstacles that schools often face are the lack of security systems and basic facilities.

In order to address these problems, there needs to be a focus on transparency, accountability and monitoring systems. There also is a need to engage the general public in the budget-making processes so that the demands of the community and civil society are listened to by policymakers. The government cannot work in silos and it is essential that linkages with the relevant departments are established to initiate greater policy change.

As a nation, we have not prioritized education as a catalyst for growth, instead it has often been sidelined by other national priorities. During the consultation, participants agreed that improving education in Pakistan will require the following strategies:

• Implementation of the right to education across Pakistan.
• Government must increase the education budget to 4 percent of GDP and education reforms must be aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• Equity in education must be ensured by making provincial and national governments accountable for providing minimum standards in public schools for disadvantaged groups.
• Education should be linked with other development sectors such as climate change, poverty reduction and economic growth to have a holistic approach to sustainable growth and development in Pakistan.

Nashwa Shaklee is a Program Coordinator at the Pakistan Coalition for Education. 

An emphasis needs to be given to gender governance issues and outcomes for girls and women in education in Pakistan.

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• Pak J Med Sci
• v.36(2); Jan-Feb 2020

Challenges towards quality assurance of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan

Abdul waheed khan.

1 Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan, MBBS, MSC, MPH, MHPE. Department of Medical Education, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Ahsan Sethi

2 Dr. Ahsan Sethi, BDS, MPH, MMEd, FHEA, MAcadMEd, PhD Medical Education, Assistant Professor, Institute of Health Professions Education and Research, Khyber Medical University, Pakistan

Gohar Wajid

3 Dr. Gohar Wajid, MBBS, MSc, MPH, PhD Medical Education. Consultant, Health Professions Education, Department of Medical Education, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Raheela Yasmeen

4 Prof. Raheela Yasmeen, BDS, DCPS-HPE, JMHPE, MHPE. Department of Medical Education, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan

There are growing concerns towards the quality of medical education in Pakistan. To help strengthen accreditation processes, this study identifies the challenges towards quality assurance of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan.

A qualitative case study was carried out from March to August 2018. Participants included inspectors from various disciplines in both public and private medical colleges, and medical educationists from Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 inspectors, while focus group discussion included 10 medical educationists. All the interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted to capture the intricacies of meaning within the data.

Data identified 14 sub-themes grouped under three major themes. Challenges towards quality assurance included mounting political influence, commercialism in medical education, weak regulatory capacity of accrediting body, violation of rules, lack of valid accreditation standards and skilled inspectors.

Conclusion:

Quality assurance of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan involves various systemic, resource and personnel related challenges. The accrediting body needs to bring major reforms in its accreditation system and strengthen its regulatory and technical educational capacity to ensure the quality of medical education in nearly 168 medical and dental colleges of the country.

INTRODUCTION

In response to the increasing health workforce needs of Pakistan, the number of medical and dental colleges have increased from 22 in 1990 to 168 in 2019. 1 With this rapid increase, there are continuing concerns about the quality of education in these colleges. 2 The shortage of trained faculty, especially in basic medical sciences, remains a major challenge. 3 Irrespective of the fact that how many doctors are produced and deployed, health professionals cannot contribute to population health and wellbeing effectively, unless they acquire essential competencies through high quality medical education. 4

Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) is the sole authority for accrediting and regulating undergraduate medical/dental education in Pakistan. It helps ensure that the quality of medical education is in line with the evolving needs of the healthcare delivery system and expectations of society. 5 Medical educators are showing increasing concerns about the nature of current PM&DC accreditation standards, the accreditation processes and the limited technical capacity of the regulatory body to ensure the quality of medical education in the country. 5

First set of PM&DC regulations were developed in 1962 and the most recent revisions were published in 2019. 6 The existing inspection proformas are mainly input based (emphasizing the presence of infrastructure in medical colleges), without taking the educational processes and quality of outcomes into much consideration. 7 Until recently, these regulations were taken implicitly as the ‘PM&DC standards’, implemented through an ad-hoc based team of inspectors, exercising their authority through performing ‘inspection’ of the medical colleges. Quality was assumed to be assured if the team declares the college as meeting minimum criteria.

In response to the national 5 and international 8 calls for strengthening accreditation system and standards, PM&DC recently developed new standards. 9 Although influenced by World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) standards, 10 , 11 the PM&DC standards are contextualized to medical education system in Pakistan. Though the ‘inspection’ function has been renamed as ‘accreditation’, the transformation of the function from ‘inspection to accreditation’ has not been fully achieved yet. The new standards are being tested for their validity, measurability, acceptability and compatibility with both the local context and changing global scenario. Gaps also exist in improving PM&DC technical capacity to perform accreditation and provide training to quality assurance units in medical colleges to prepare colleges to meet new standards. To help strengthen PM&DC accreditation processes, this study identifies the challenges towards quality assurance of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan.

This qualitative case study was carried out over six months (March-August 2018). Ethical Review Committee, (Riphah/IIMC/ERC/18/0236, Dated: February 6, 2018) Riphah International University granted approval for the study. Sampling frame included diverse range of stakeholders i.e. faculty from various disciplines in both public and private medical colleges, accreditation body staff and medical educationists involved in quality assurance of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan.

Interview Guide

An interview guide was developed, piloted and revised after through deliberation. Questions were asked about the current accreditation system for recognition of medical and dental colleges. The capacity of accrediting body to facilitate the accreditation processes, its strengths and weaknesses. Strategies adopted by the medical colleges to prepare themselves to comply with the accreditation requirements and issues and challenges inspectors face during the accreditation process.

Data Collection

Participants were selected through Purposive, Maximum Variation Sampling. Voluntary nature of participation was explained to all participants and an informed consent was taken. Individual interviews were conducted with 12 inspectors for focused two-way communication that encouraged rich descriptions of participants’ experiences. A focus group discussion was also conducted with 10 medical educationists attending International Conference on Health Professions Education and Research 2018 at Khyber Medical University, Pakistan. The sample size was not predetermined, and an iterative approach of simultaneous data collection and analysis was taken until saturation was achieved. All the interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis

Thematic analysis was conducted to capture the intricacies of meaning within the data. Each line and segment in the data was carefully read to construct in-vivo analytic codes for fitness and relevance. The selective codes and associated data were categorized, and themes were developed. 12 The themes were refined continuously through reflective thinking, memo writing and team discussions.

Individual interviewees (n=12) and focus group discussion participants (n=10) were at varying stages in their professional careers and from different provinces of Pakistan. Their professional background was predominantly medicine and included: a vice chancellor, deans, principals of colleges, faculty from various specialties and directors. Seven focus group participants were renowned medical educationists of the country ( Table-I ).

Participant Characteristics.

Through analysis of the transcripts, we identified 14 sub-themes grouped under three major themes ( Table-II ). These challenges are not mutually exclusive and do not occur in isolation.

Challenges towards Quality Assurance of Basic Medical Education.

*Anonymized the organization (accrediting body).

Inhibiting Systemic Factors

Among systemic factors, the participants believed that the biggest challenge is the use of negative political influence, both by the government and private college owners to get their colleges accredited despite having major gaps in standards compliance. Most appointments at the regulatory authority including that of its president and members were politically influenced, which then effected decisions pertaining to recognition of medical colleges. Participants also reported the lack of valid accreditation standards as a challenge. They mentioned that current accreditation system primarily focuses on infrastructure evaluation only. The colleges should also be evaluated on the quality of education they impart, the quality of their curriculum and assessment processes. The participants also reported an inherent bias in the evaluation of public-sector institutions in comparison to private-sector institutions. Other challenges included the mushroom growth of medical colleges with insufficient faculty. High faculty turnover was also mentioned as a major challenge. The increased commercialism in medical education also resulted in medical colleges being seen as a money-making business opportunity with no social or self-accountability. Weak accreditation process renders accreditation as one-time activity, repeated every five years. Medical colleges may adopt a number of unethical and even illegal ad-hoc practices to get through the process of accreditation. Once the accreditation target is achieved, they fall back to their original sub-standard educational practices.

Inhibiting Resource Factors

The participants referred to the ad hoc nature of members and lack of technical capacity within the accrediting body as major challenges. In most cases, the time for inspection is also insufficient for a rigorous and thorough inspection process.

Inhibiting Personnel Factors

At personnel level, the key challenges included the incompetence of the accrediting body members and inspectors. The members of the accrediting body did not understand the accreditation process and the role of accrediting body. They were incapable of handling the responsibilities due to their lack of knowledge and experience. Moreover, the inspectors involved in the accreditation process were not formally trained, affecting the reliability and validity of their evaluation of the institutes and programmes.

The study highlights the challenges towards quality of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan. Our findings are in line with challenges reported by World Health Organization i.e., lack of strong medical education regulatory system and quality assurance processes. 4 A robust accreditation system for medical institutions is required for the credibility of medical teaching programs, and performance of medical colleges in imparting high quality teaching and training to the medical students, 13 which in turn ensures competent doctors and patient safety. 14

The current study highlighted this politicization of the accrediting body, as a major challenge, affecting the quality of medical education in Pakistan. For many years, the members of accrediting body in Pakistan included principals of the colleges, nominees of the universities syndicate, Surgeon General (armed forces), elected representatives of general practitioners, Director General of Health and federal/provincial secretaries. With mushroom growth of private-sector colleges, the number of council members exceeded 100, making the functioning of the accrediting body difficult. In 2012, the number of members was reduced through an ordinance and included nominees of national assembly/senate, federal/provincial government and elected representatives from public/private sector. This resulted in negative political influence on most appointments and did not improve the functioning of the regulatory body. In 2015 and then in 2018, further changes were introduced in the structure of the accrediting body, however, these have not been approved by the national assembly/senate as yet.

The concept of “political spectacle” introduced by Edelman and colleagues, explains that politics garble the educational policies. Political spectacle opposes equalitarian, compensatory and communitarian values. Instead political spectacle addresses special interest of few, often political giants, that hide behind common good, as the distribution of goods is veiled backstage. 15 The ill-logical political decisions ostracize the role and contribution of professionals with negative impact on educational policy formulation and implementation. Studies confirm a negative impact of politicization on the performance of public agencies, which is partially mediated by politicization’s deleterious effect on their human resource management. 16 Therefore, we recommend that the accrediting body should comprise of members nominated/selected based on their qualification, experience and professional standing by an independent board and not on political basis.

Our study revealed some inherent weaknesses and flaws in the accreditation regulations, which hampers autonomy of the accrediting body that directly or indirectly affects the accreditation process. As per literature, many regulatory authorities are formally shielded from direct political influence and thus enjoy high level of legal autonomy. In the United States, the educational accrediting agency is a powerful instrumentality with minimal governmental interference, to set policies and standards in an area of vital concern to the public. 17 Credible accreditation agencies, spell a clear eligibility criteria for the selection of inspectors, and pay special attention for their training. 18 Whereas current study revealed that our selection and decisions-making processes are vague and non-standardized.

Another challenge to our educational quality assurance is heavy emphasis on ‘structure based’ standards, primarily focusing on physical infrastructure and material resources. 5 As per literature, commonly used accreditation model for medical education is ‘the process model’. 19 It comprises of self-evaluation on the basis of recognized standards, followed by a site visit by trained inspectors and a report highlighting the outcome of the inspection. 19 The accrediting body must establish standards, or follow model standards for assessing the delivery of medical education and training. 20 WFME standards for Basic Medical Education are mostly qualitative and process oriented and increasingly being adapted and adopted by the accrediting bodies globally. 21 Australian Medical Council has also developed new set of standards for accreditation. 22

Commercialization and mushrooming of medical colleges were also highlighted as challenges. While the role of private sector in education is inevitable, the government and the regulatory body must ensure that clear policies are in place to open new medical colleges and ensure that the quality of medical education is not compromised. Educational standards must be applicable to both public and private sector colleges in a uniform manner to ensure uniformity in the quality of medical education. 23

Limitations of the study

Most study participants belonged to the medical colleges of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with fewer participants from Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. Despite the limitations, the findings offer an understanding of the challenges and identified areas for improvement.

There are numerous challenges to the quality of Basic Medical Education in Pakistan. The foremost and important challenges include the mounting political influence, commercialism in medical education, weak regulatory capacity of accrediting body, violation of rules, lack of skilled inspectors and objective assessment criteria. The regulatory body should review its accreditation system and strengthen its regulatory and technical educational capacity to ensure the quality of medical education in nearly 168 medical and dental colleges of the country.

Authors’ Contributions:

AWK, GW and AS conceived the idea and designed the study, are responsible for integrity of research.

AWK and GW were involved in data collection.

AWK, AS, GW and RY did the data analysis and data interpretation.

All the authors contributed towards writing the manuscript, approved the final version.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the participants for their time.

Grant Support & Financial Disclosures: None.

Conflict of Interest: AS, RY and GW contributed towards PMDC Standards for Accreditation in 2018.

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Advancing Inclusive Eye Care Policies in Pakistan: An Interview with Sumrana Yasmin

by- Azeb Yirga  |  May 27, 2024

Sumrana Yasmin is a leader in eye care policy in Pakistan and the Deputy Director of Eye Health for Sightsavers, an international NGO dedicated to addressing preventable blindness and advancing the rights of individuals with disabilities. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

AY: How did you first become involved in the eye care space in Pakistan, and why have you continued to dedicate your time to this work?

SY: I started my career working in the corporate sector, but in my heart, I always knew that it was not enough. I wanted to be part of an impactful, positive change that could lead to a more equitable future. An opportunity to work at Sightsavers came up, and I grabbed it with both hands. I have had myopia (near-sightedness) since I was in 4th grade, so I understand the challenges that a child, particularly a girl, faces when she cannot see clearly and must wear spectacles. The mission of Sightsavers, to prevent avoidable blindness and promote equality for people with disabilities, resonated with me, and I have been working in the eye care sector since then.

My first project was in relation to inclusive education and children with low vision. As soon as you start working with kids with vision impairment, it changes you. It changes the way you look at life. It changes the way you want to do something for your community and want to engage with people, so I think that was a turning point for me: that initial contact with kids who had low vision, who were in the special education system, and who, Sightsavers, as one of their pilot initiatives, was trying to include in the mainstream education system. 

Currently, we are in a global vision crisis. There are 1.1 billion people who have an untreated or preventable visual impairment. Women account for more than half of blindness and visual impairment across the world. My work at Sightsavers allows me to contribute towards addressing these challenges, so I think that has kept me engaged within this sector.

AY: That is wonderful. Can you tell me a little bit about some of the key mentors you have had in your life that have shaped your policy work? How have you developed these relationships?

SY: I think the first person that I would like to say would be my life partner. He was very actively involved in education policy development in Pakistan. He supported me, pushed me, and helped me in moving towards this direction significantly.

Then, in the professional space, I would say quite a few people. Obviously, one was my line manager when I joined Sightsavers, a huge name when it comes to eye care, not only in Pakistan but globally: Hasan Minto. He supported me and made sure that my understanding developed in the context of not only health policy but also ensuring that disability inclusion, gender-related concepts, and environmental-related concepts are integrated into those policy discussions. So, I would say, there has been a massive contribution from Hasan when it comes to whatever role I have managed to play in this space.

Then there is a long list of people. My colleagues, my teams. In the past few years, I have been working closely with the World Health Organization — integrating their thinking, their guidance, their tools into policy discussions at the national level. If I start naming the names, it is going to be a long list.

AY: That makes sense. How are you able to encourage Pakistani policy makers to advance health equity in eye care for individuals with disabilities? 

SY: If you look at our eye health or refractive error strategies, we are talking about inclusive eye health. We are talking about inclusive refractive error services, and we have been talking about it for a very long time.

Through different initiatives, we demonstrate how this can be done by working very closely with multiple stakeholders, including governments, organizations of people with disabilities, people with disabilities, and district and provincial level stakeholders. 

I will just share one example. One approach we use in our eye health program is that when we start, we conduct accessibility audits of eye health facilities. We do that in partnership with our OPTs working at the community level or at the provincial level. Based on those accessibility audits’ findings, we make sure resources are available to make those changes recommended through them.

It is not only people with disabilities who benefit from these interventions. The elderly population might need similar sorts of accommodation to access facilities. Also, pregnant women. In this way, we make a service facility inclusive for so many other population groups.

AY: That is exciting to hear. You have touched on this a little, but how do you promote gender equity in eye care policy in Pakistan? 

SY: If you look at where we talk about equitable access to eye health, within that, gender is one of the core areas. Unfortunately, the cultural, socioeconomic, and other dynamics in Pakistan are such that, in addition to women having higher levels of vision impairment, their access to care is also more limited.

Even today, we see instances where women will come to the facility, they will get their eye exam done, but when it comes to getting spectacles or cataract surgery, they do not have that decision-making power. So, these women will say, “We will go back. We will discuss, and we will get it.” But they hardly ever come back.

Another issue is having these facilities primarily based in secondary or tertiary care institutions. When you do not have to travel long distances or you do not have to have a male companion from the family with you to access health care, it is easier for women and girls to have access. If you look at Pakistan’s integrated people-centered eye care plans, they heavily focus on bringing services closer to the community. They are heavily focused on integrating primary eye health into primary health care reforms and mechanisms.

Another area we have been focused on is encouraging more girls to join the optometry field. If you look at Pakistan’s optometry schools’ enrollment, you will notice over 70% of the students are girls. Having a woman optometrist based in a primary or secondary eye health facility automatically helps us to break cultural barriers. Female patients might be hesitant to get their eye exam from a male optometrist. So, from different angles, we are trying to make sure that we are addressing gender inequities in Pakistan’s programs. Again, still a long way to go. But….

AY: But progress is being made. Are there any personal values you hold that guide your eye care policy work that we have not discussed?

SY: Quality. Quality of care. Ensuring a high quality of services, that the mechanisms of quality assurance are integrated in the programs, and that there is continuous quality improvement that is monitored and implemented throughout the cycle of different initiatives is really critical.

Another value I strongly believe in is ownership at the local level. Unless we manage to mobilize that local ownership, nothing we do is going to be sustainable. Community engagement plus local ownership by local stakeholders is key. It is important to ensure that local stakeholders are at the table from inception through the implementation and evaluation processes. They are not just there to tick the box. They are there to voice their concerns. They are there to recommend what makes sense in their local context. We have seen repeatedly that when you include local stakeholders throughout the process, you automatically are ensuring the success of your intervention because it is coming from within the community.

AY: If there is one thing you would want policy makers to most understand about eye care in Pakistan, what would that be?

SY: Pakistan is at a stage where we have dynamic youth with huge potential to change the trajectory of our development. If our youth, including young girls and women, do not have access to eye health and cannot see clearly, they will not be able to contribute towards that change in a meaningful way. So, our policymakers need to look at investment in eye care as an investment in the future of Pakistan. That is the message to be very honest. If a child cannot see clearly, he will not be able to study. He will not be able to tap into opportunities in the future and we will be losing this huge potential. So, it is not about cataract surgery. It is not about a pair of glasses. It is not about a certain assistive product for a child with low vision. It is about the future of Pakistan. It can only be brighter if our young generation can see clearly.

About the author

Azeb Yirga is an MD/MBA student at HMS and HBS. She is passionate about advancing eye care internationally and will join the ophthalmology residency program at Boston Medical Center after graduation.

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GPE youth leaders from Myanmar, Pakistan and Tanzania share their insights on the importance of menstrual hygiene, highlight specific challenges faced in their regions and outline the proactive steps they’re taking to drive change.

This blog reflects the independent opinions of GPE youth leaders and are not made on behalf of any organization.

Menstrual Hygiene Day is dedicated to breaking the silence around menstruation, promoting menstrual health and hygiene and addressing the profound impact of menstrual issues on girls and women globally.

This year, we’re spotlighting the inspiring voices of our youth leaders taking action for menstrual health and hygiene in their communities. Salha (Tanzania), Anzal (Pakistan) and Su (Myanmar) share their insights on the importance of menstrual hygiene, highlight specific challenges faced in their regions and outline the proactive steps they’re taking to drive change.

In Tanzania , menstrual health and hygiene challenges such as accessibility and affordability of sanitary wear, clean toilets with clean water, designated changing rooms, dustbins, incinerators and menstrual health and hygiene management education lead to a range of challenges for women and girls.

Girls miss classes between 3-7 days a month during their menstruation cycle, leading to poor academic performance and even school dropout.

There are also higher rates of teen pregnancy as girls must engage in sex to get money for sanitary pads.

Through Binti Salha Foundation and within our focus area of adolescent girls and young women’s health rights, we raise the awareness of girls, boys, teachers, parents and community members about menstrual hygiene and management.

We also do advocacy for improving school infrastructure to incorporate standard toilets that have all the necessary requirements for a girl who is menstruating, and train young women who are out of school with tailoring skills so they can make reusable sanitary pads that are also affordable.

We’ve raised 1 million TZS (about US$400) this year through our Mvalishe Akasome Campaign that aims to provide 1,000 schoolgirls with sanitary pads across two phases.

Phase 1 began May 18 th , 2024, when we joined forces with Her Movement at their Menstrual Health and Hygiene Gala, to contribute 304 pads toward their fundraising goal of 7,000 pads. Phase 2 begins on 28 th May, which is Menstrual Hygiene Day, to distribute the remaining 796 pads to girls in 3 secondary schools in Dar Es Salaam.

As a champion for the rights of adolescent girls and young women, I also participate and collaborate with the Global Menstrual Collective on the ‘Tax-Free Pads’ policy in our country so that sanitary pads are accessible and affordable to every woman and girl in Tanzania.

Su Myat Noe

In Myanmar , girls and women face significant challenges with their menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) due to ongoing conflict, economic instability and cultural stigmas.

Most of the girls in our country have grown up with limited knowledge and information about menstruation before experiencing their first period due to cultural beliefs, norms and taboos. They feel worried and awkward asking their caregivers about how to take care of themselves during their period.

Consequently, girls have insecurities and misbeliefs about their body which leads them to avoid social activity. Even if they are aware, they may not have precise knowledge about using clean sanitary products, changing them regularly and maintaining overall cleanliness.

Women and girls in my country face tremendous challenges about their MHH such as limited access to sanitary products and facilities, with economic crises making these items unaffordable and conflict disrupting supply chains.

There is also an increased number of displaced persons due to unstable political conditions. Displaced girls and young women have limited access to the internet and correct information about their MHH.

In camps for displaced persons, women and girls often opt for unhygienic alternatives during menstruation due to the scarcity and high cost of sanitary pads. The lack of clean water and private facilities in schools and at home exacerbates health risks and affects mental well-being as women prioritize drinking water over usage for their personal hygiene.

As a youth advocate, I am currently working to raise awareness on sexual health and reproductive rights among girls, caregivers and youth through the Champions of Change curriculum. I also hold intergenerational dialogues with community members to explore the existing norms and misunderstandings about menstruation, using these conversations as an opportunity to provide correct information about menstrual health and hygiene practices.

In the future, I plan to collaborate with Plan International Myanmar to provide comprehensive sexuality education, MHH awareness and to improve access to sanitary products among adolescents. I will continue to raise awareness through educational workshops, collaborating and linking with like-minded organizations to procure and provide sanitary products and facilities.

Addressing these issues is vital to promote the health, dignity, and opportunities of women and girls in Myanmar, ensuring they can manage menstruation safely even amid challenging circumstances.

Anzal Abbas

In lower-middle-income countries like Pakistan, there are many problems related to menstrual health. Girls and women often lack awareness, can't afford sanitary products and don't have proper facilities. Menstruation is also surrounded by shame and stigma.

Because of this, many girls drop out of school, with a dropout rate of over 80% . Additionally, 44% of girls don't get basic menstrual health education.

Natural disasters like floods can make things worse. Displaced women face even more challenges, such as not having safe places to change or dispose of menstrual products and feeling uncomfortable talking to male health workers about their needs.

Nongovernmental organizations like Aahung adopted the menstrual health education model to address this issue. It’s important to note that menstrual health is considered a taboo subject in Pakistan. As such, Aahung sought to partner within schools to deliver menstrual health education by training teachers who then conducted sessions for their students in the hopes of shifting social attitudes and culture around menstruation.

After significant developments in the political arena, the government of Sindh formally introduced ‘Life Skills-Based Education’ as a compulsory component of the primary school curriculum in 2018. This is a promising shift to promote menstrual health and hygiene.

In my experience, a formal life skills-based education program significantly impacts people's attitudes. As a public health and education professional, I have worked on this topic with teachers and youth in areas such as Khairpur, Sheikhupura, Jamshoro, Vehari, Mitari and Karachi—districts that are among the most underdeveloped in Pakistan.

Educational programs that have community ownership can bring about positive social change in countries like Pakistan.

Our youth leaders Salha, Anzal and Su, bring a wealth of perspectives and innovative solutions. Their contributions not only underscore the urgency of addressing menstrual health, but also demonstrate the power of youth-led initiatives in fostering a world where menstruation is no longer a barrier to equality and opportunity.

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Published on May 30, 2024

The Vital Role of High-Quality Websites in Higher Education

Kenneth Mashinchi | Interim Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Communications, San Jose State University

The website is an institution’s digital front door. It is often the first place students and their families go to learn about the institution, and they can spend months looking through the website before visiting the institution in person. Much like a front door to a home, if a website doesn’t look welcoming, chances are students won’t explore further than the homepage before leaving to look elsewhere.

This first impression can go a long way in the student’s journey, from inquiry to deciding where they want to attend. A positive experience on the website, complete with imagery and messaging that help the student envision attending the institution, can be instrumental in encouraging the student to enroll or remain at the institution to complete their degree.

Removing pain points or parts of a website that prove to be frustrating to students and other visitors—unnecessary clicks, outdated or incorrect information, etc.—has to be an area of focus every day for higher education leaders. It can’t only be a focus for prospective students. If the website was easy for students to use when they had been considering the institution, they will expect the same as a current student.

Student Expectations

First and foremost, students expect answers when they visit the website. Whether it is a form that needs to be completed, where to go to speak with an advisor or the deadline to add or drop a class, students expect to find it somewhere on the website and be able to find it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not only do they expect the answer, they want it as quick as possible. So, it is imperative that the website is easy to navigate and search. Having a consistently positive experience on your website can be part of the institution’s efforts to build up trust and a benefit of the doubt—what I like to call putting money in a piggy bank—that can come in handy if a crisis were to occur that could damage the institution’s reputation.  

Students also expect to feel welcomed, just like on any website. Regardless of if we are shopping online, reading the latest news or just browsing, we have an innate desire to feel valued by whatever institution or organization whose site we are visiting. For a higher education institution, that feeling can come from imagery and storytelling that the students can relate to and use to help imagine themselves at your institution. This type of personalized experience can be tough to provide with a diverse student population, but it is better to try for it than to have a dull, generalized website.

The Challenges to Delivering High Quality

There are a few different factors that can prove to be a challenge to producing a high-quality website.

Resources can be the biggest challenge—with higher education budgets often getting tighter and tighter, a shift from a high-quality website to a good-enough website could be due to needs that might be considered more essential—enrollment marketing, brand identity work, strategic communications, etc. All these elements are critically important and play a role in providing content to the website. In this digital landscape, where information is housed and how accessible it is to everyone is of the utmost importance. Since the website consistently serves as the first (and potentially most often used) source of information for prospective and current students, their families and other external stakeholders for the institution, overcoming the challenge of resources is critical.

While it could be tied to resources, another challenge is maintaining expertise in a rapidly changing digital space. There are always new tools to discover and consider. Struggling to keep up with the ever-evolving landscape can lead to a website that is constantly outdated and stale. Add in the importance of the site being accessible to all audiences, and now the need for expertise is amplified even more.

Finally, another challenge can be consistency in the messaging across platforms. When using social media or other avenues to communicate messaging about the institution, a call to action to visit the website is likely included. It can be a challenge to ensure what is in the social media post is consistent with what is on the website, especially if marketing/communications and web are in separate areas of the institution and don’t have a consistent workflow for sharing information.

This consistency (or lack of) can also be reflected on the website itself. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we created a health advisory website to house all the information about vaccination requirements, masking, etc. While we could keep up with information early on in the pandemic, soon it became apparent that the Student Wellness Center was updating their website more frequently than our university marketing and communications team could. Instead of having inconsistent information between the two sites, we stripped much of the manual information we would input off the page, shifted our health advisory site to act more like a central hub and routed students to the Student Wellness Center for the most up-to-date information.

What It Takes to Meet Students’ Needs

Involving students in the process of creating a website intended to meet their needs is a great practice to build into the workflow. Whether it is consulting students at the beginning of the process or utilizing a student focus group for user testing (or both), student involvement can help alleviate concerns about meeting their expectations and needs.

Three items that I would consider requirements are time, flexibility and accessibility. Building something high quality takes hours of concentrated brainstorming and execution. It cannot be rushed because, recalling the front door analogy and the need to make a good first impression every time students access the website, building a welcoming and consistently accurate website requires planning before implementation.

Creating a website also requires flexibility, mainly when it comes to design. If you want to best meet student expectations and needs, the use of heat maps, analytics or qualitative feedback can prompt the need to change page content and/or layout. Regardless of the hours spent or the conviction that the website plan is perfect, if the goal is to best serve the students, being willing to change course will lead to a stronger website.  

Last but not least, accessibility is required to ensure all visitors can interact with the website and have a positive experience. Being inclusive can help students feel like they belong at your institution, which will drive enrollment and retention.

The Impact of a High-Quality Website

Along with social media, the website can be the most visible avenue for how internal and external stakeholders interact with the institution, regardless of if it is their first time visiting or they have worked with the institution for decades. A high-quality website can enhance the brand, amplify institutional messaging and serve as a vital resource for information about majors, programs and research, among other areas. When the website is robust and high quality, it becomes a digital representation of the institution and can raise the prestige and perception for external stakeholders.

A high-quality site can make learners more comfortable, knowing the questions they have will be answered quickly by accessing the site. By anticipating a student’s reason for visiting the website, an institution can build a sense of belonging and care for the student, especially for students who may not have a support system or who are the first in their family to attend a higher education institution.

Overall, having a high-quality website can expand an institution’s reach and elevate the call to action for all other marketing and communications content. By getting people to want to walk through the digital front door, you are opening up possibilities for how someone might get involved with the institution. If you can draw them in with a high-quality website, that person could go from prospective student to lifelong supporter and proud alum.

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Government faces huge challenges in expanding childcare places, MPs say

The Government faces “huge challenges” in expanding the number of childcare places for families by September 2025, MPs have said.

The expansion of funded childcare for working parents in England could put the quality of provision for children “at risk”, the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said.

Last month, the Department for Education (DfE) estimated that about 85,000 new childcare places and 40,000 extra staff will be needed by September 2025 for the full rollout of its flagship childcare offer.

The PAC has said that the creation of childcare places is a “significant challenge” for the sector, which faces “years of underfunding, ongoing cost pressures and a recruitment and retention crisis”.

There are “significant risks” over whether the DfE’s efforts will be enough to recruit all the staff needed to meet the expected demand for places, it added.

As part of a staggered rollout of the childcare policy, working parents of two-year-olds have been able to access 15 hours of funded childcare since April.

This will be extended to working parents of all children older than nine months from September this year, before the full rollout of 30 hours a week to all eligible families a year later.

Last month, the DfE said a pilot will start this summer which will explore how unused school space could be repurposed to support childcare settings to offer more places, in a bid to increase capacity.

In correspondence with the DfE, Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the PAC, said the expansion “risks adversely impacting” places for disadvantaged children or those with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

It said: “There is also a risk that these new entitlements displace other children if providers choose to offer places to children that are easier or less costly to support. Places for children with Send are already in short supply with families experiencing considerable challenges accessing existing provision.”

In March last year, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that eligible families of children as young as nine months in England would be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week by September 2025.

The Government also said it would increase minimum staff-to-child ratios in England from one to four to one to five for two-year-olds, but the change is optional.

The correspondence from PAC said the “large-scale, rapid expansion”, with changes to early years staff-to-child ratios and staff qualification levels, could put quality of provision at risk.

The group of MPs has called on the DfE to be “prepared to act if there is evidence that quality is falling”.

In February, the Government launched a £6.5 million-backed recruitment campaign to encourage people to work in the early years sector.

The DfE also announced a trial to give new recruits and returners to the early years workforce a £1,000 cash payment shortly after they take up the post.

But the PAC said: “The Department estimates that the early years workforce needs to grow by around 40,000 between now and September 2025, a 12% increase against July 2023.

“This would be challenging enough but is even more so given providers already face existing staff shortages, difficulties with recruitment and poor retention.”

The PAC said the DfE’s “piecemeal approach” is unlikely to address long-standing concerns around the status and low pay of the early years sector.

It has called on the DfE to publish a long-term workforce strategy and delivery plan to address recruitment challenges and the causes of “poor retention”.

The PAC added that the DfE should develop a series of interim milestones to provide assurance that the expansion is on track, and set out its contingency plans if a growth in places and staffing are below what is required.

Last month, a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog said the Government’s timetable for the childcare expansion was set with “significant uncertainties” around feasibility, costs and benefits, as the DfE did not consult the early years sector ahead of the announcement in the spring Budget in 2023.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the DfE was originally planning to roll out the 30-hour entitlement a year early in some local authorities to test feasibility, but it cancelled its plans because of “affordability constraints”.

Volunteers spray water on people's faces as temperatures reached 118°F in Hyderabad, Pakistan on May 24, 2024.

Climate Emergency Again Grips Pakistan as Temps Soar to Nearly 126°F

"the customers are not coming to the restaurant because of extreme heat," said one tea shop owner in the town of mohenjo daro. "i sit idle at the restaurant with these tables and chairs and without any customers.".

Record-breaking heat in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh this week was the South Asian country's latest local climate emergency, with temperatures soaring to 125.6°F on Monday.

The extreme heat this month comes amid warnings from the World Weather Attribution that last month's heatwaves in Asian countries including Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam were "driven by emissions from oil, gas, and coal."

The think tank also said in 2022 that Pakistan's devastating floods that year were made more likely by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.

Australia-based journalist Abdul Waheed Rabbani said Pakistan's "profound climate challenges" should push the government to declare a national emergency to address extreme heatwaves and other climate impacts.

The temperatures in Sindh on Monday were the highest of the summer season so far and approached the country's record high.

Cities deployed volunteer teams to spray residents with cold water as they went about their daily tasks.

In the historic town of Mohenjo Daro, which welcomes tourists to its archeological sites and offers a downtown area where visitors can shop and dine, the 125°F heat harmed the local economy this week.

"The customers are not coming to the restaurant because of extreme heat," Wajid Ali, who owns a tea shop, told Reuters . "I sit idle at the restaurant with these tables and chairs and without any customers... Also there is no power. The heat has made us very uneasy."

The city of Turbat in the southwestern province of Balochistan recorded Pakistan's highest-ever temperature of 129.2°F in 2017, and the following year, dozens of people in Pakistan suffered from heatstroke as meteorologists reported the planet's hottest April on record in the city of Nawabshah, where temperatures rose to 122.3°F.

"Pakistan is the fifth most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change," said Rubina Khursheed Alam, the government climate coordinator, at a news conference last Friday. "We have witnessed above normal rains, floods."

Pakistan's capital, Karachi, is expected to be hit with extreme heat in the coming days.

In addition to rapidly drawing down fossil fuel emissions, especially in the world's biggest pollution-causing countries including the U.S., Pakistan-based water management expert Amjad Jamal urged officials to confront "Pakistan's climate roller coaster" through adaptation.

"To mitigate the impact of these extremes," said Jamal, "government and communities must invest in water harvesting and storage, implement climate-resilient agriculture, enhance disaster preparedness and response, promote water conservation and efficiency, [and] support climate-smart infrastructure development."

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