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    School Education in Pakistan: A Sector Assessment
    School Education in Pakistan: A Sector Assessment
    School Education in Pakistan: A Sector Assessment
    Ebook215 pages10 hours

    School Education in Pakistan: A Sector Assessment

    By Asian Development Bank

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    This publication describes the key issues facing the school education system in Pakistan, highlights the challenges, and suggests some possible directions for reform---with a focus on two provinces: Sindh and Punjab. While average years of schooling in Pakistan have increased along with life expectancy and per capita income, inequality remains high and, by other education measures, the record remains dismal. Illiteracy is widespread and almost 23 million children aged 5–16 are not in school---a worrying statistic for a country whose current workforce is young, mostly unskilled, and poorly prepared for productive employment.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAsian Development Bank
    Release dateJun 1, 2019
    ISBN9789292615291
    School Education in Pakistan: A Sector Assessment

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      School Education in Pakistan - Asian Development Bank

      I. Introduction

      Reasonable economic growth, combined with structural reforms, has reduced poverty in Pakistan over the past 15 years. Development outcomes, however, remain mixed, especially in education. While average years of schooling have increased along with life expectancy and per capita income, inequality remains high and, by other education measures, the record remains dismal. Illiteracy is widespread, and almost 23 million children aged 5–16 years are not in school—a worrying statistic for a country whose current workforce is young, mostly unskilled, and poorly prepared for productive employment.¹

      Despite these challenges, public spending on health, nutrition, and education is only at about 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), which is much lower than for comparable countries. Pakistan spends just 2% of gross national product on education, again a much lower percentage than in comparable countries. Education became primarily a provincial responsibility in 2010, and that increased responsibility was accompanied by more funding. But capacity at the provincial and district levels needs to be improved to ensure value for money in public expenditure.

      This assessment describes the key issues facing the school education system in Pakistan, highlights the challenges, and suggests some possible directions for reform, with a focus on two provinces: Sindh and Punjab.

      Past reform efforts have focused, for the most part, on improving access at the primary education level. Investing in and reforming the secondary education sector and improving the quality of education and governance at all levels in Pakistan are essential to improving education outcomes. These are priorities for the country to ensure inclusive growth so that current geographic, socioeconomic, and gender disparities are not perpetuated. Some of those gaps are very wide now.

      Despite higher growth rates and falling poverty, inequality in Pakistan has remained high with the Gini coefficient actually rising from 0.35 in 1987–1988 to 0.41 in 2013–2014.² The population growth rate, which declined slightly but remained high at an estimated 2.4% in 2017, poses a major challenge to many sectors, including education, where the public sector struggles to increase facilities and services to keep up with the population growth rate.³ Pakistan’s fertility rate is among the highest in the world. In addition, the country continues to have very poor human development outcome indicators, especially in education and health, compared with other lower middle-income countries and its neighbors in South Asia. The cycle of a high population growth rate and poor health and education outcomes contributes to persistent socioeconomic, gender, and geographic inequalities.

      Although its human development index rankings have improved in the last couple of decades, Pakistan’s educational indicators are still dismally low. About 43% of the population (age 15+) is illiterate with wide discrepancies across provinces, location (urban vs. rural), and gender (Table 1). At the national level, 55% of women aged over 15 are illiterate. In Sindh, as many as 80% of rural women are illiterate. With an average age of 21 years, Pakistan’s population is largely comprised of unskilled working-age youth who are unprepared for high-quality productive jobs.

      Table 1: Literacy Rates across Pakistan, 2014–2015

      Source: Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey 2014–2015.

      The comments above are not meant to diminish the progress that has been made. Pakistan’s economy is currently growing at an estimated 5.3%, up from 4.0% in 2013–2014.⁴ The country is implementing a structural reform program that has contributed to higher growth and lower fiscal deficits. The growing economy has helped reduce poverty in Pakistan over the past 15 years. According to the new poverty line and revised methodology adopted by the government in 2016, the poverty head count fell from as high as 64% in fiscal year (FY) 2001–2002 to 30% in FY2013–2014.⁵ Pakistan’s per capita income increased by about 58% between 1990 and 2015.⁶ Pakistan’s per capita income of $1,629 in 2016 resulted in the classification of Pakistan as a low middle-income country (footnote 4). The country has made some improvement on the Human Development Index, which increased from 0.40 to 0.55 between 1990 and 2015—positioning Pakistan at 147 out of 188 countries and territories (footnote 6). Pakistan’s life expectancy at birth increased by 6.3 years, the mean years of schooling increased by 2.8 years, and expected years of schooling increased by 3.5 years during this period (footnote 6).

      Despite these improvements, the impact of economic growth on development outcomes remains mixed and investment levels are still low at 15% of GDP (public and private).⁷ Public spending on health, nutrition, and education is much lower than that of comparable countries. This is partly driven by the particularly low tax–GDP ratio in Pakistan which stands at 12.4%—one of the lowest in the world. Further reforms to increase tax collections and prioritize public spending for education and health will be necessary as the structural adjustment program goes forward. In addition, budget execution rates, particularly in the education sector, are very low for non-salary expenditures. This is an indication of fund flow and procurement bottlenecks that need to be addressed since they constrain spending in the sector.

      The 2010 18th Constitutional Amendment devolved responsibility for 17 sectors, including education, from the federal government to the provincial governments in Pakistan. This was accompanied by increased funding to provincial governments from the National Finance Commission (NFC), commensurate with their increased responsibilities. However, further capacity building is required at the provincial and district levels to ensure quality service delivery along with enhanced public spending.

      Pakistan’s school education outcome indicators are inadequate and are lower than those of its neighbors. Pakistan has an estimated 22.9 million children aged 5–16 years who are out of school.⁸ School participation and completion rates remain persistently low, particularly at the secondary level. This is true relative to other countries in the region and relative to other low middle-income countries. Wide gender and socioeconomic disparities persist. Learning levels are low, especially in science and mathematics.

      There is much to do, and much that can be done, to improve the situation. By broadening and deepening reforms, Pakistan could reach the millions of children who currently get no schooling, thereby improving participation rates in school education at all levels. Targeted investments and programs could improve completion rates and learning levels. Properly focused, reforms could reduce inequalities in education outcomes across gender, socioeconomic strata, geography, and districts. Public–private partnerships (PPPs) can play a key role, as can strengthened mainstream government systems.

      II Structure and Policies: The School Education Sector in Pakistan

      A. Education System Structure

      The structure of the school education system in Pakistan is set out in Figure 1.

      Figure 1: Structure of School Education System in Pakistan

      Source: Compiled by authors.

      Preprimary (Katchi) level. The preprimary or Katchi grade is the entry level in the education system. According to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, the entry age for Katchi is 3–4 years with a 1-year curriculum, a separate teacher, and a separate room. However, due to inadequate resources, there are no separate teachers for Katchi grades in most public schools and, thus, no formal Katchi class is taught in most public schools. Provincial governments have recently begun introducing Katchi classes in some public schools, but it is far from universal. Nevertheless, some public schools do incorporate children aged 3–5 years in grade 1 classrooms in multigrade settings.

      Primary level (grades 1–5). The primary level consists of 5 years of schooling from grade 1 to grade 5. The age group for primary schooling, according to the NEP 2009, is 5–9 years. Sindh and Punjab have initiated grade 5 public examinations (this will be discussed in more detail in the assessment and curriculum chapter).

      Middle level (grades 6–8). The middle level spans 3 years and includes grades 6–8 and is meant for the age group 10–12 years. Most middle schools are the result of primary schools being upgraded rather than teaching solely grades 6–8. Schools that include the primary and middle levels are classified as elementary schools. In some cases, they are part of a high school where all the three levels (primary, middle, and high) exist. Some provinces such as Punjab and Sindh have province-wide public examinations at the end of grade 8 (more on this in the assessment chapter).

      Lower secondary or high school level (grades 9–10). This level includes grades 9 and 10 and spans over 2 years, aimed at children aged 13–14 years. Students take a Secondary Schools Certificate public board examination both in grades 9 and 10, conducted by different boards of examinations in the various provinces which are known as matriculation or matric.

      Higher secondary or intermediate college level (grades 11–12). This level comprises grades 11 and 12. In the public system, it is offered either in higher secondary schools or in intermediate colleges. In some provinces, such as Sindh, these grades are no longer under the School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) as they have been moved to the College Education Department. However, a few schools under SELD still include these grades. Students take a Higher Secondary School Certificate board examination in both grades 11 and 12. There are multiple boards, with different examinations and differing standards in each province, for both the lower secondary and higher secondary examinations.

      Higher education. Universities and colleges offer a 4-year bachelor’s degree. After completing this, students are eligible to pursue a 2-year master’s degree program at the university level. Universities also offer master of philosophy (MPhil) and doctor of philosophy (PhD) degrees after completion of the master’s degree program.

      B. Sector Governance

      In the last decade, key policy reforms have been undertaken by the Government of Pakistan in the school education sector. These include the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010 and a redefinition of the NFC award, which has led to the transfer of substantially increased financial resources from the federal government to the provincial governments.⁹ There are two key implications of the 18th Constitutional Amendment for the education sector. First, the introduction of Article 25-A obligates the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children from ages 5 to 16 years. Second, policy, planning, curriculum, and standards, which were the responsibility of the federal government before the 18th Constitutional Amendment, were fully devolved to provincial governments.

      Prior to the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the NEP 2009 was developed by the then Ministry of Education (MOE) at the federal level, which was ratified by the provinces. After devolution, the provinces adopted the NEP 2009 with slight amendments required in view of the devolution.¹⁰ Education service delivery up to grade 12 is primarily the responsibility of provincial and area governments.¹¹ They are responsible for policy formulation, sector financing, and implementation through the respective provincial education departments. In provinces such as Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, school and college education are managed by different ministries while departments are headed by different ministers and secretaries. Implementing school education policies and day-to-day operations is largely the responsibility of the district education departments and includes teacher recruitment, placement, transfers, school infrastructure maintenance, and other related tasks.¹² After devolution in 2010, the federal MOE was dissolved. However, after discussions between the federal and provincial governments, the MOE was reestablished and renamed the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training with the responsibility of ensuring coordination among the provincial and area education offices. The National Curriculum Council (NCC) has also been revived to take on the difficult task of coordinating curriculum and standards development across provinces and areas. A forum called the Inter Provincial Education Ministers’ Conference (IPEMC) was proposed in the NEP 2009 and has been serving as coordinating body among the provinces.

      Higher education sector governance and management is shared (somewhat ambiguously) between the departments of education in the provinces, some higher education commissions in some of the provinces such as Sindh and Punjab, and the higher education institutes under the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The HEC, although placed under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, has an autonomous structure and plays the role of coordination, standards setting, and quality assurance among universities across Pakistan. There has been a long debate over the devolution of the HEC after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, but the matter remains unresolved.

      Prior to the 18th Constitutional Amendment, student assessments across Pakistan were carried out by the National Education Assessment System (NEAS), a national-level body with its provincial arms, the Provincial Education Assessment System (PEAS). The NEAS conducted diagnostic assessments in subjects such as science, mathematics, and languages in grades 4 and 8 across the public education system in the country on a regular basis. However, after devolution, these activities waned

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