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OVERVIEW OF THE PAKISTANI EDUCATION SYSTEM

The following is a brief description of the Pakistani education system:

Education in Pakistan is overseen by the government's Ministry of Education and the provincial governments, whereas the federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and in the financing of research. The article 25-A of Constitution of Pakistan obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to children of the age group 5 to 16 years. Besides, the Government of Pakistan developed the National Plan of Action (NPA) on Education for All 2001–2015 according to which  the objectives  are to ensure access to education for disadvantaged rural and urban population groups, particularly girls and women; to promote community participation and ownership of basic education programmes; and to improve the relevance and quality of basic education.

Stages of Formal Education

Primary education

Only 80% of Pakistani children finish primary school education.^[13] The standard national system of education is mainly inspired from the British system. Pre-school education is designed for 3–5 years old and usually consists of three stages: Play Group, Nursery and Kindergarten (also called 'KG' or 'Prep'). After pre-school education, students go through junior school from grades 1 to 5. This is proceeded by middle school from grades 6 to 8. At middle school, single-sex education is usually preferred by the community but co-education is also common in urban cities. The curriculum is usually subject to the institution. The eight commonly examined disciplines are Urdu, English, mathematics, arts, science, social studies, Islamiyat and sometimes computer studies which is subject to availability of a computer laboratory. Some institutes also give instruction in foreign languages such as Turkish, Arabic, Persian, French and Chinese. The language of instruction depends on the nature of the institution itself, whether it is an English-medium school or an Urdu-medium school.

Secondary Education

Secondary education in Pakistan begins from grade 9 and lasts for four years. After end of each of the four school years, students are required to pass a national examination administered by a regional Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (or BISE). Upon completion of grade 9, students are expected to take a standardised test in each of the first parts of their academic subjects. They again give these tests of the second parts of the same courses at the end of grade 10. Upon successful completion of these two examinations, they are awarded a Secondary School Certificate (or SSC). This locally termed as 'matriculation certificate' or 'matric' for short. The curriculum usually includes a combination of eight courses including electives (such as Biology, Chemistry, Computing and Physics) as well as compulsory subjects (such as Mathematics, English, Urdu, Islamiyat and Pakistani Studies). Students then enter an intermediate college and complete grades 11 and 12. Upon completion of each of the two grades, they again take standardised tests in their academic subjects. Upon successful completion of these examinations, students are awarded the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (or HSC). This level of education is also called the FSc/FA or 'intermediate'. There are many streams students can choose for their 11 and 12 grades, such as pre-medical, pre-engineering, humanities (or social sciences) and commerce. Each stream consists of three electives and as well as three compulsory subjects of English,  Urdu, Islamiyat (grade 11 only) and Pakistani Studies (grade 12 only).

Tertiary Education

After earning their HSC, students may study in a professional college for Bachelor's degree courses such as engineering (B.Engg/BS Engg.), medicine (MBBS), dentistry (BDS), veterinary medicine (DVM), law (LLB), architecture (B.Arch), pharmacy (Pharm-D) and nursing (B.Nurs). These courses require four or five years of study. There are some councils and boards that will handle all the educational matters in these cases and they are known as the PMDC, Pakistan pharmacy council and Pakistan nursing council. Students can also attend a university for Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) or Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree courses. These all are the courses that are done in Pakistan and are really common but these days doctor of pharmacy is also gaining much reputation. The pharmacy council of Pakistan is doing huge struggle to make the pharmacy education better. There are two types of Bachelor courses in Pakistan: Pass or Honors. Pass degree requires two years of study and students normally read three optional subjects (such as Chemistry or Economics) in addition to almost equal number of compulsory subjects (such as English and Pakistan Studies). Honours degree requires three or four years of study, and students normally specialize in a chosen field of study, such as Biochemistry (BSc Hons. Biochemistry). It can be noted that Pass Bachelors is now slowly being phased out for Honours throughout the country.

Quaternary Education

Most of Master's degree programs require 2 years education. Masters in Philosophy (M.Phil) is available in most of the subjects and can be undertaken after doing Masters. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) education is also available in selected areas and is usually pursued after earning a M.Phil degree. Students pursuing M.Phil or PhD degrees must choose a specific field and a university that is doing research work in that field. M.Phill and PhD education in Pakistan requires minimum of 2 years of study.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Pakistan)

Currently the system of education in Pakistan is facing a number of problems.

Gender Equality in Access to Education

Statistics indicate that while there are smaller gender disparities in urban areas than in rural areas, and some provinces show higher levels of gender parity than others, overall there is significant disparity in access to education between girls and boys in Pakistan. Pakistan has higher numbers of schools for boys than for girls and higher numbers of male teachers than female teachers. Furthermore, school attendance is much higher for boys than for girls. The primary net enrolment rate for girls is only 52, indicating that around half  of Pakistani women will never attend school.  This figure masks the considerable variation in school attendance rates between provinces, however. In rural Balochistan province, for example, only 31 percent girls of age 5-9 attend primary school. 

Literacy

Literacy is a core component of basic education, but despite the Government’s commitments to providing basic education to all, Pakistan has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world. At present, the overall literacy rate of those aged 15 and above is 56 percent. Furthermore, significant gender disparity is evident in Pakistan, with a 69 percent literacy ate for males, compared to a 44 percent literacy rate for females.

Poverty

Up to March 2004, primary education in Pakistan was not free. Parents had to pay school fees and bear expenditure on the purchase of textbooks etc. These expenditures or direct costs kept many girls and boys from the poor families away from the school. School fees were abolished and government started distributing free textbooks to all students in public sector schools. This has increased enrolment in primary schools, yet there are about 5 million school aged children who are not enrolled in primary schools. One main reason is that primary education is still not completely free. Parents have to pay some amount as School Fund and bear expenditure on purchase of note books and other stationary items for their children. Secondly, government has though legislated for compulsory primary education but these laws were never enforced. If educating women and girls costs the family money (fees, cost of uniforms, transport costs, etc.) and if a girl’s or woman’s labour is required at home (i.e. if there is a high opportunity cost for educating girls and women) there is little incentive to educate them. Poverty is linked closely with low education levels. When girls do not become educated due to lack of funds for education in their household, a vicious circle is perpetuated. Because of  lack of education, women cannot earn an income and their household does not maximize its income-earning potential, so the household income remains low and therefore the household continues to be unable to afford to educate girls.

Cultural Norms Restricting Freedom of Movement of Girls and Women

Cultural norms in many parts of Pakistan require that girls and women either stay within the house or must ask permission to leave the house. If permitted to leave, women must  always be accompanied by a male household member or other women and children. Such measures are designed to prevent any harm to a girl, as being harmed, or even perceived as being harmed, would cause her to lose her "honour” and that of her family, and make it difficult, or impossible, for the family find a suitable husband for her and would therefore devalue her both socially and economically. While such values can be rationalized, they stand between girls and their prospects for education as these values limit the movement of girls and women and often prevent them from attending school. Given such values, if a girl does not have a male family member who can accompany her to school, she may not be permitted to go to school, especially when there is a long distance to travel (whereas a boy’s access to education is not dependent on being escorted to school and is not so dependent on the length of travel required).

These cultural restrictions are now changing with education of male members of the society, increased contact with outside world, and impact of media. However, still there exist some pockets where girl’s education is not encouraged. Distant location of secondary schools from home prevent many parents to allow continuation of their studies. Girls’ enrolment drops off sharply with each 500-metre increase in distance from the closest school admitting girls and this ‘distance penalty’ accounts for 60% of the gender gap in enrolments.

Gender Division of Labour

In Pakistan, as in many other countries in the world, there is a clear division of gender roles in terms of labour, with women being responsible for housework and men responsible for supporting the family productively, through agricultural work or wage employment outside of the home. Given that women are expected to be responsible for housework, and are often not permitted to work outside of the home, there is little incentive to educate girls and women as the education they would receive is not perceived as being useful in the home.

Cultural preference for male children

In Pakistan, bearing sons increases the status of a family, but daughters are considered a liability because daughters are less economically valuable (they are generally not permitted to join the workforce and earn an income, as this might put them in situations that would risk the family’s honour) and they are expected to one day marry and leave the family. Hence, while educating boys is seen as a good investment, educating girls is seen as a monetary loss. Parents are therefore much more likely to educate their sons than their daughters.

Shortage of schools

In Pakistan, parents generally prefer schools to be sex-segregated but there is a shortage of girls’ schools, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, not only must girls often have their own school, it is important for girls’ schools to be easily accessible, as girls are not permitted to travel long distances to school. Hence, when there are few girls’ schools or schools are not easily accessible; many girls are not able to access education.

Shortage of female teachers

Another important factor is the shortage of female teachers, especially in rural areas. According to cultural norms, girls should be taught by female teachers, so when there are insufficient female teachers, many parents do not enrol their girls in school.

(from http://unesco.org.pk/education/documents/publications/

Why%20Gender%20Equality%20in%20Basic%20Education

%20in%20Pakistan.pdf)

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