South Asian Studies

A Research Journal of South Asian Studies

Vol. 28, No. 2, July – December 2013, pp. 427-444

Universal Primary Education in Pakistan: constraints

and challenges
Muhammad Zakria Zakar
University of the Punjab, Lahore
Shazia Qureshi
University of the Punjab, Lahore
Razza-Ullah
University of the Punjab, Lahore
Rubeena Zakar
University of the Punjab, Lahore
Nauman Aqil
University of the Punjab, Lahore
Riffat Manawar
University of the Punjab, Lahore

Abstracts
This paper addresses the issue of universal primary education (one of the MDGs)
in Pakistan. It is unlikely for Pakistan to achieve Universal Primary Education
(UPE) by 2015. The main assumption in this study is that existence and proper
functioning of a school in a locality need its integration with the community and
other local institutions by making them the stakeholders. It also intends to identify
the problems in the way of universal primary education in Pakistan. An all-
encompassing approach (that addresses all the constraints) to this issue may be
useful to achieve the goal of Universal Primary Education in Pakistan. The study
draws on secondary data such as review of government reports, scientific
published material and other relevant literature. We found that the issue has
multiple dimensions, such as insufficient educational services, especially in rural
areas, incompetent and untrained teachers (mostly recruited on the basis of
political recommendation) and poor quality of education. We also identified other
constraints concerned with the UPE, such as poor physical and educational
environment, poverty, lack of community participation, illiterate parents and lack
of political commitment and good governance. This situation, with regard to
primary education, creates doubts about the utility of schooling among the
resource constrained parents. Additionally, inadequate and insufficient technical
and vocational training institutions for those students who successfully complete
the primary education are also an inhibiting factor. It is important that the school is
made a part of the larger social structure and ought to be sensitive and responsive
to the needs of students, parents and the community at large.
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Keywords: Universal Primary Education; Pakistan; National Education

Policy; constraints; challenges; community participation

Background

Globally, Universal Primary Education (UPE) as part of Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) has demonstrated progress. Worldwide integrated efforts have
resulted into an improved access and increase in global net enrolment ratio from
82% in 1999 to 90% in 2010. Nevertheless, there were still 29 countries with net
primary enrolment ratio below 85%. Most of these countries belong to Sub
Saharan Africa, South and West Asia.
Data exhibits that almost one half of the out of school children belonged to
only 12 of the countries in which Pakistan stood second in order from top, with 5.1
million out of school children in 2010. The progress of Pakistan towards the
achievement of MDG 2 reflects a global trend where the improvement in net
primary enrolment ratio has procrastinated since or around 2005-2006. Net
primary enrolment ratio in Pakistan was 42% in 2001 which rose consistently to
56% in 2006-2007 only to halt at this point during 2011-2012 (PIHS, 2001-2002;
PSLM, 2011-2012). This means that the initiatives undertaken globally and in
Pakistan to address UPE gradually lost their momentum, and as a result the most
vulnerable segments of population appear to have suffered.
Pakistan committed itself to UPE in the Jomtien Conference (1990) which
was reiterated with the stipulation of its achievement by year 2015 in Dakar
Framework of Action for Education For All (EFA) (2000). In this context, two
major policy prescriptions were made by the National Education Policy (NEP,
2009). While making these policies, an elaborate consultative process was initiated
by the Government of Pakistan in the form of NEP (1998-2010) and included
broad range of stakeholders, and covered a spectrum of agendas in the light of the
global drive for EFA goals. Despite all these policy prescriptions, Pakistan
educational landscape has to go a long way to attain the desired goals.
The National Education Policy (1998-2010) focused on community
mobilization, quality improvement and higher budgetary allocation to improve the
enrolment in public schools. Following the policy, Education Sector Reforms
(2001-2005) were developed in rigorous consultation with all the key stakeholders
of EFA. In this context, a National Conference on EFA was held to discuss and
develop viable frameworks for implementation of the objectives outlined in the
policy under reference. Consequent upon the conference recommendations and
series of dialogues among the principal stakeholders, the National Plan of Action
(NPA, 2001-2015) was developed. The NPA was discussed and presented at
various forums, including International Development Partners EFA Forum, South
Asia EFA Ministerial Meeting in Kathmandu-Nepal, meetings of bi-lateral and
multilateral agencies. Consequently, it was amended in the light of suggestions
from stakeholders. The implementation plan was supported by the analysts and

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Universal Primary Education
affirmed by the first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP 2003-2006).
However, the plan could not be implemented primarily due to lack of funds.
National Education Policy (2009) was formulated firstly for the reason that
the previous policy (1998-2010) was not addressing the lags in education sector,
and the performance regarding the improvement in key indicators had halted.
Secondly, it was realized that international commitments and challenges like
Jomtien Conference, Millennium Development Goals, Dakar Framework of
Action Education for All could only be addressed by reinventing policy in wake of
globalization and devolution pressures. The policy focused on the need for
enhanced public-private partnership, promoting equity in education, and
rebuilding trust in public sector education. The policy document reiterated the
government’s commitment to achieve UPE by 2015, improving service delivery,
and envisioned a greater role for provincial and area governments in addressing
these issues. NEP (2009) included a comprehensive framework for
implementation and stressed the Federal-Provincial collaboration.

Challenges

Universalization of primary education is the bedrock of development and progress

of any society. According to Article 25-A, of the Constitution of Pakistan, it is the
responsibility of the state to provide free and compulsory education to all the
population between 5 to 16 years of age (UNESCO, 2011). Universal primary
education cannot be achieved without the concerted efforts of all the social
institutions and stakeholders. Pakistan is highly likely to default on EFA by 2015
(Khan, 2011). It is also important to understand the barriers and bottlenecks to
achieve the goal of universal education especially for girls.
In order to achieve the goal of UPE, it is pertinent to note that much debated
issues of availability of teachers, teacher-student ratio, availability of schools in
rural areas and existence of the ghost schools seem to be overemphasized in view
of statistical evidence. According to Punjab Millennium Development Goals
Report (PMDGR, 2011), teacher-student ratio in public primary schools was 1 to
42, and availability of public primary education facility within 2 kilometers radius
in Punjab was 93% and 91% for boys and girls respectively. Moreover, 50% of the
villages in Punjab had at least one private school in its locale. The number of non-
functional public primary schools was high in districts where the key indicators
were relatively better (PMDGR, 2011). These statistics indicate that mere
existence and functioning of school does not guarantee students’ enrollment and
retention. The real functioning of a school depends on its ability to earn
community ownership and get integrated with local institutional structures.
Universal Primary Education as part of Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) has demonstrated truncated progress in Pakistan. As part of the
globalization process, Pakistan and its provinces are committed to the achievement

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of UPE. As part of symbols of achievement, national education policies have been

formulated, national action plans designed, and other strategies stipulated.
However, the progress in the achievement of UPE has been limited. With the
changing scenario under the 18th amendment in the constitution, the provinces
have to work out the strategies according to their suitability. Government of
Punjab has shown keen interest in the UPE goals, hence its School Reforms
Roadmap envisions the target of providing equitable access to quality education
across the province. Notwithstanding such commitments, there is always scope for
looking into varying subtle ground realities and envisioning some policy
recommendation. The present efforts are in that direction.
At the provincial level, Net Primary Enrolment Rate (NPER) for Balochistan
is lowest at 39% while Sindh and KPK have NER of 50% and 53% respectively.
Province of Punjab leads other provinces by far with NER of 64%, well beyond
the national average of 57%. In view of achieving the goal of UPE in Pakistan,
Punjab’s contribution is significant since it embodies 60% of the total population
of the country, and indicators of Punjab affect the national indicators. After 18th
constitutional amendment, federating units passed a Joint Declaration on
Education in September, 2011. Besides other goals, this declaration committed the
provincial governments to develop an action plan to set the priorities and raise
budgetary allocation in view of time limit challenges like MDGs and EFA.
According to PSLM (2011-2012), there were notable variations in the literacy
and enrolment rates in Punjab across different factors. For example, by gender,
males were still more likely to enter school and NER for males was 65%
compared with 62% for females. Disparity between rural and urban areas was
more visible. Urban Punjab had NER of 72% where rural areas lagged behind with
NER of 61%. Primary Completion Rates (PCR) also varied across the districts
ranging from 20% PCR for Mandi Bahauddin and 40.9% PCR for Rajanpur.
However, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data showed that transition
rates from primary to middle level in public schools was over 90% in most of the
districts. Therefore, it can be ascertained that enrolment and retention in primary
schools was a priority concern than transition.
According to the 18th Constitutional Amendment which became an act of
parliament on April 19, 2010. The 18th Amendment devolved the education to the
provinces which resulted in the abolition of Federal Ministry of Education.
Consequently, policy issues, implementation of programs and coordination
became the sole responsibility of the provincial governments.
Government of Punjab (GoPb) has shown keen interest in the EFA goals;
hence, its School Reforms Roadmap envisions the target of providing equitable
access to quality education across the province. Daanish Schools, Punjab
Education Endowment Fund (PEEF), Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and
Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme (PESRP) have been the leading
initiatives taken by the government. PESRP deals with the donor funded projects
through Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit (PMIU), and aims at
improving governance, access and quality in education. PEF primarily keeps

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Universal Primary Education
liaison with and supports private sector education institutions; whereas, PEEF
concerns with providing financial support to the underprivileged especially from
the southern side of province. It is noted that the objectives of these programs are
not sharply defined, and there is frail coordination. Mechanisms for systemic
institutional arrangements between line departments are not efficacious. There is
an immediate need for decentralization of these programs to ensure the
participation of community, civil society, donors and education activists for
effective implementation and culturally adaptive strategies.
Keeping in view the existing circumstances, Pakistan can not achieve the UPE
by 2015. There are serious problems of governance, access, equity and quality.
According to the World Bank literature, demand of education for both boys and
girls is high even among the poor families in Pakistan (Gazdar, n.d).
One-third of the total school going age (5-9) are not going to school. Even if
all the out of school children try to get enrolled, the existing public schools can not
accommodate them (UNESCO, 2011). Although, a variety of private schools
emerged with the motives of earning money yet a large number of parents can not
afford to send their children even to the low fee private schools. Additionally,
many remote rural areas lack the public and the private schools, let alone the
quality of education and other socio-cultural impediments.
For effective formulation of policies, a multipronged approach encompassing
three fundamental aspects of Universalization of Primary Education (UPE) i.e.
enrolment, retention and quality need be considered. The derived policies must be
linked to effective feedback mechanisms to ensure adaptability. In order to achieve
this, better coordination between the state institutions, public-private partnerships,
democratic approach towards decisions making and need assessment through
quality data collection are required to provide service delivery to the communities.
Research has demonstrated that just constructing schools and recruiting teachers is
not enough to ensure enrolment, retention and quality education for children in
schools. World Bank studies show an association between the quality of schooling
and community support, evidenced in Baloacistan in the form of community’s
support to education (Gazdar, n.d). Children’s enrolment and retention in school is
not just a technical or isolated issue; rather it needs a concerted support of the
whole social, political and normative systems of the society.
Local government institutions such as education officials, basic health units,
social welfare department, child protection institutions, etc. need to play a main
role to develop a pattern of coordination with the existing local social structures in
the community to make a collaborative effort to enhance the enrolment and
retention of school-going age children. This collaboration and coordination can
also be useful to enhance the quality of the education. These government agencies
can use local media to bring about awareness in the community with regard to the
usefulness and importance of primary education.
Government agencies can mobilize the communities and work in coordination
with the religious leaders, local political leaders, businessmen and other volunteer
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organizations to enhance enrolment, retention and quality of the education. Strong

political will and well coordinated efforts to mobilize the community by spreading
awareness about the importance of the education can be effective with regard to
school enrolment, retention and quality. Once community realizes the importance
of the education for their children then it will take care of the teacher-attendance,
physical environment of the school and many other things that influence quality of
the education and retention. However, some parents, in spite of being aware of the
importance of education can not afford to send their children to school due to
financial constraints. Government needs to provide some financial support to
enable the parents to send their children to school for education. The community
may be made the main stake holder by helping it realize the importance of
education and its long-term benefits (see Figure 1). All this requires high level of
political commitment to involve the local community in improving enrolment,
retention and quality of education.

  Figure 1: Centrality of school within the institutional and social system  

Local  Business  Community 

media   community  based 
Various 
organizations
government 
agencies  Concerted efforts to 
(e.g. health,  enhance the capacity of 
social  school to enroll, retain 
welfare, 
Primary School 
and reintegrate 
child 
protection,  children  
Conetstr
c)   aints and suggested solution
th
Legislation: AfterLo18
cal  constitLoutio
cal  nal amenVdment,
oluntary  education is now a provincial
subject. As a conrelig ious nce, Fpederal
seque olitical  Ministorry of Education has been abolished.
ganizations  
Though the Punjableaders  
province halesadership  
full-fledged department of education, still there is
no clear law which makes it mandatory for the Government of Punjab to make
primary education universal in the spirit of article 25-A of the constitution.
Subsequent legislation with regard to Article 25-A has yet not been made by the
provincial government (Malik, 2011).
Lack of political will may be one of the causes of legislative vacuum. For
getting legal legitimacy, persistent and effective advocacy efforts are required to
persuade the legislators and policy makers to fill the existing legislative vacuum.

Education as an Indicator of Political Achievements

In electoral politics, politicians prefer to spend money on short-term high visibility

targets such as construction of bridges, expensive motorways and speedy trains.
Though extremely important for social development, educating the poor children

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M. Zakria Zakar, S. Qureshi, Razza-Ullah,Rubeena Zakar, Lahore. N. Aqil, R Manawar
Universal Primary Education
may not be very glamorous and politically visible. It is therefore important that
primary education may be placed at the center stage in the development initiatives.
Lack of political will and commitment to improve the condition of the government
schools (mainly, by forming parent educational committees) is often regarded as
the main cause for the failure of the government schools (Gazdar, n. d).

Governance of Education System

The provinces have been entrusted to run the education system on their own. But
there are many financial, procedural and capability issues the provinces are facing.
In National Educational Conference (2011) held under the auspices of Federal
Government, the provinces committed to enhance budgetary allocations and to
develop an action plan accordingly. Nonetheless, no significant increase has been
made, and Punjab budgetary allocation for education witnessed a percentage
increase of approximately 7% i.e. 195 billion (2012-2013) to 210 billion (2013-
2014). Of this allocation, primary school budget constituted only 2.44 percent,
which arguably cannot cater to the needs of 3.8 million out of school children
(PESRP-PMIU, 2010-2011) with a fast growing population. It appears that no
lesson has been learnt from the failure of education policy 1998-2010 which
collapsed generally due to financial constraints.
It is reported that provincial financial procedures are very slow and
inefficient. Usually the donors expect efficient and time bound financial
transactions. When provincial financial bureaucracies fail to meet the deadlines,
the funds get lapsed and the plans flop. Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of
World Bank considered the complexity of disbursement mechanisms as a major
cause of their relative failure in both Social Action Program (SAP) Project and
post-SAP phase.

School Management Committees (SMCs)

The idea of School Management Committees (SMCs) consisting of parents,

teachers and notables of community is already under active consideration of the
policy makers. In fact it is in place in some places and has borne appreciable
results. Nonetheless, this idea has not yet been implemented in letter and spirit.
This approach of involving the local community in the management of local
schools is particularly significant in Punjabi society where intra community social
cohesion is very strong and pressures from within the community are anticipated
to draw desired results. Once SMCs are in place, they, in addition to helping in
managing the school affairs, can identify the families which do not enroll their
children in school and the reasons thereof. They can also trace the underlying
variables for frequent absenteeism of some students, and can take remedial
measures to ensure that there are no drop-outs.
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School Management Committees may be properly constituted and the nexus

of these committees may be extended from school to union council and ultimately
to district level for its ultimate coordination with provincial education department
through effective network linkages. SMCs can keep tight liaison with District
Management Committees (DMCs), and later can develop a mechanism for the
recruitment of its members based on the principles of accountability and merit.

Child Tracking System

Getting children to schools is a serious policy issue for Punjab where annual
increase in net enrolment rates has virtually stalled since the last five years
(PSLM, 2011-2012). It is noted that data regarding enrolment of primary level
students in Punjab are school-based. The nature of the data makes it difficult to
develop an efficient system of child tracking and it only tells us about the number
of children that are out of school. The questions about socio- cultural
environmental forces constraining the children to remain out of school remain
unanswered. In order to locate the out of school children as well as the
constraining forces for such happenings, village based data in rural areas and
union council based data in urban areas is imminent. To do this, Union Councils
may be engaged with schools and a coordination system may be established.
In this way, Secretary of Union Council may forward the birth registration
data of primary school children to the Public High School of the area which may
serve as a coordinating unit for other public and private schools within its
jurisdiction. Tallying the birth registration record with the enrolment record at
union council level will help to track the child without additional financial
implications. In this way local data banks will be created revealing why local
children are not enrolling, and identify the specific issues and consequent
solutions. Experiences of various stakeholders working on model villages suggest
that once identified, community mobilization and some advocacy efforts may be
sufficient to get children to schools. This function may be performed by SMCs or
any other body deemed appropriate.

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Universal Primary Education

Figure 2: Out-of-school child tracking system by using birth registration data

Union High school of the

Council’s birth area tracking the
registration out-of-school
data children as
Coordinated efforts
coordinating unit
for enrollment
retention and
reintegration with
School Management school
Committees using
community capital
to attract out-of-
school children

Emphasis on Quality of Learning

National Education Policy (2009) emphasizes on the quality of learning but an

effective implementation strategy is missing. Harnessing the cognitive skills of
students against rote learning may require broad based changes ranging from the
teaching methods to the examination system and curriculum content. Curriculum
development and textbook reforms are politically sensitive issues and would
require a lengthy collaborative process to initiate. However, an effective and
workable solution could be to change the questions at the end of each chapter in a
textbook. It is noticed that the exact answers to each question may be found in the
content of chapter. This encourages rather compels the student to rote the passage
given in the chapter as the answer to the question. Therefore, changing the
questions to require some interpretive and analytical skills will help to improve the
quality of education.

Teacher Training and Development

Teacher training and capacity building is important to all the aspects of UPE
indicators. Capacity enhancement of teachers has a direct impact on student
retention and their quality learning, building an image of school friendly
environment, and having an ultimate bearing on school enrolment of out of school
lot. It is reported that the primary level teacher training is highly focused on
certain pedagogical techniques; and as a result the teacher’s actions remain too
technical in dealing with the students. Advanced research in primary school
education has shown that while in the class room a primary school teacher is
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confronted with many challenges such as: identity formation of the child,
discrimination on the basis of status of parents, violence against the marginalized,
implications of physical impairments. For example, if a student is absent from
school and is punished by the teacher as a “standard practice” inclusive of corporal
punishment, shouting, naming, stigmatizing, labeling. But the absence of the
student could be because of his/her parental ailment or because of any other reason
beyond the student’s control. But such a treatment of the teacher often has
negative implications for the “self-concept” of the child, his/her denigration
among the peers, his/her silent exclusion from the mainstream students, and
ultimately leading to the self-fulfilling prophecy of the teachers. Resultantly, the
student will consider him/herself as worthless and will try to escape from school
and ultimately be dropped out.

Teacher’s Health Literacy

A child spends a substantial time in school and the role of teacher is not restricted
to imparting knowledge alone but also to monitor the health and wellbeing of the
child. The teacher is supposed to have basic health information in order to make
judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning health care, disease
prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life of a child
(Kickbusch et al 2013). Students’ attendance is associated with academic
performance; therefore, frequent absences affect the learning process and
academic achievement (Judith et al., 2007). Usually, student learning impairments
and physical disabilities are not readily recognized by the teachers and coercive
means of instruction are adopted to improve learning. In other cases, students are
stereotyped as ‘failures which result in self-fulfilling prophecy.

School environment, psychological health and role of teacher

Punjab is a multi-ethnic province with people having diverse subnational

identities. The legacy of discrimination based on the caste, gender and social class
is still prevalent and overshadows the impression of equality which the modern
societies entail. This social reality is often reflected in schools where peers and
sometimes teachers discriminate against the students belonging to minority group
based on their class, language, occupation, area of residence and disability. Such
treatment is detrimental to the self-respect of the discriminated child resulting in
his/her silent exclusion from the mainstream students and the resultant frequent
absenteeism from schools, and the ultimate drop-out.
Therefore in the school environment, it is very pertinent for the teachers to
understand the dynamics of learning, psychological and physical needs of
children. In this regard, teachers should have a basic understanding of how the

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Universal Primary Education
disabilities and stigmatizations of child affect his/her psychological health and
learning achievements.

Re-enrollment/reintegration of the Dropout

Retention of students in primary schools is directly linked to the ongoing

enrolment efforts. Drop-out in primary schools is detrimental to the goals of UPE
because it is extremely difficult to re-enroll a child who has left the school.
Retention is not a pedagogical or technical issue, it is a social issue rooted in the
local context. Primary Completion Rates in Punjab is 78.2% (MICS, 2011) which
is quite low by international standards.
School drop-out is a cross cutting phenomenon but it is an accepted fact that
absenteeism is a preface to drop-out. Absenteeism may be due to health related
issues, hostile school environment, learning pressure and economic deprivation.
As a policy measure, prior intimation for being absent may be made an integral
part of school rules and regulations. Any case of prolonged absenteeism without
intimation may be dealt with administratively as a prospective drop-out. A
standing committee in each school consisting of concerned teacher, Head of
School and local leader may be established to prevent drop-out. In this context,
peer persuasion may also be an effective tool among other mechanisms such as
parental advocacy.

Poor Health and Silent Exclusion

Health issues are an important determinant of students’ retention in school.

Students suffering from vision and hearing problems find it very difficult to learn
in the classroom environment. Similarly, bad dental care and skin related issues
may damage the self-esteem among students. Because of health disadvantaged
condition, which may attract stigmatization and discrimination, a student may not
withstand the punitive sanctions by teachers and peers and as a result go for “silent
exclusion”.
Health promotion programs have been successful in other parts of the world.
‘CHERISH’ in Singapore and ‘Fit for School’ in Philippines have yielded results
which outweigh the associated costs. For similar practice in Punjab, student health
program could be launched on the lines of National Integrated Health Screening
program by Iran. In this connection, public health institution could coordinate with
the school education department in providing health care services and
institutionalized mechanisms may be established to ensure effectiveness.

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Meals in Schools

Since there is remarkable disparity between the north and south of province,
Midday meal to all primary school children has manifold advantages. It includes
preventing hunger, malnutrition, and thereby increases enrolment and retention.
Particularly for most disadvantaged districts, provision of food in schools can be
an overwhelming incentive for both parents and children to enroll and retain in
schools.
Indian State of Tamil Nadu pioneered Midday Meal Scheme Program in
India. Despite the labeling of this program as populism, it generated spectacular
increase in NER and PCR. As a result, the program was expanded to other states
of India. Moreover, Supreme Court of India directed the government to ensure
provision of meals to all primary school children and hence the scheme was
universalized.
In order to provide meals to primary school children in Punjab and keeping in
view the budget constraints, institutional collaboration with private business
enterprise and World Food Program (WFP) is significant. The principle of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may be used as an instrument of advocacy
with corporate sector. The feasibility may also be increased by initially targeting
the most vulnerable districts and directing the local philanthropy to schools.

Congenial School Environment

Despite all infrastructural facilities, school could be an unattractive place for the
child. It is learnt that joyful learning is a prerequisite to retention especially at
primary school level. In addition to acquiring friendly methods of instruction,
strategic partnership with sports department to conduct regular sports event at
schools could be a viable course of action. In addition to the school interior, school
surroundings may be important to create a congenial learning environment.

Physical Environmental Issues

It is noticed that throughout the province of Punjab, vicinities of several schools

are hazardous. Garbage dumping, noisy transportation, commercial activity
stagnant water, poor sanitation and open drainage are common activities around
schools. While these affect the health status of children, they make school going
an unpleasant experience. Moreover, such activities distract the students’
concentration and affect the learning outcomes.

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Local philanthropy

Philanthropic activities contribute significantly to the provision of welfare services

in the province of Punjab. It is reported that local philanthropy is highly tilted
towards supporting religious education (Madrasas). While religious education
serves important function in existing social context, formal education is also
important and requires favorable consideration from philanthropic organizations.
Initiatives may be taken to ensure that resource mobilization is directed towards
formal primary education. Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) is already working
on raising funds through donations, grants and subscriptions. Enhancing its role to
involve the local organizations may harness the financial capacity of local
educational facilities.

Discussion

It is highly likely that Pakistan will default on EFA 2015 Targets (Khan, 2011).
Generally, schooling of children in developing countries, especially in Pakistan,
often competes with their economic contribution (e.g. household tasks, paid
employment) in low-income families. The competition has become even more
intense due to high inflationary pressure in Pakistan. A great majority of
population in Pakistan lives in rural areas. There is dearth of both educational and
employment opportunities in the rural areas. Most of the people in the rural areas
are dependent on agriculture. Population growth rate is also higher in rural areas
compared to the urban areas, leading to greater pressure on the available resources.
Resource constraints and unavailability of adequate education, increase the
opportunity cost of the education. Resource constrained parents, for whom
immediate economic contribution from their children is critically important, may
perceive the general education to be of little use because it does not equip their
children with employable skills. There is also a shortage of educational institutions
in rural areas of Pakistan. Greater distance (from home to school) coupled with
poor quality of education reduce the likelihood that parents will send their children
to school. The issue of quality of education can be dealt with the community
involvement and support to the schooling; results of the World Bank studies show
close association between community involvement and the quality of schooling
(Gazdar, n.d). However, access to schools still remains a serious issue especially
in remote rural areas and urban slums (UNESCO, 2011). The implementation of
Article 25-A requires free and compulsory education up to secondary level. This
requires more infrastructure and teachers. The problem of distance becomes even
more sensitive in cases of female education. Many girls drop out of school due to
long distance and the security reasons (Khan, 2011). Greater drop out rate among
the female students is also attributed to lesser number of female-only schools and
shortage of female teaching staff (Khan, 2011). Cost benefit analysis may lead the

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parents to send their children to workshops (to learn skills) or to some paid work.
Proper campaign at the community level to educate the parents about the long-
term benefits of education may be helpful to change their ideas with regard to
usefulness of education (Siddiqui, 2007; p. 44).
Parents take school quality into account while sending their children to
school. Buchmann (2008) found that parents’ perceptions of the value of education
were important determinant of children’s school enrollment. This can be addressed
by improving the quality of education and by reducing the cost of education to
parents (ILO, UNICEF, and UNESCO 2008). Primary education needs to be
provided to the students free of cost by the government. Provision of food to the
school children during school hours can be another incentive for the poor parents.
Basic infrastructure of government schools exists all over Pakistan. However,
it needs serious attention from the decision makers. Physical as well as educational
condition of these schools is deplorable. A large number of schools do not have
clean drinking water, washrooms, appropriate buildings, electricity and
appropriate number of teachers. (Siddiqui, 2007). Serious attention to these public
sector schools by the government can improve the situation considerably. Proper
attention and allocation of funds can bring about a great deal of improvement in
the infrastructure and the quality of education in the public sector schools. In
Balochistan, government with the help of local communities and NGOs is
successfully providing primary education in the far flung areas (UNESCO, 2008).
Participation of the local community can be useful for improvement in school
infrastructure and quality of schooling. No serious attempt has so far been made to
enhance the functioning of the government schools. Parent educational committees
are suggested to be formed to monitor the day to day performance of the
government schools (Gazdar, n.d). Due consideration is not given to the
appointment of teachers according to the number of students in the schools. There
may be many teachers in a school which has a small number of students. On the
other hand, there may be a few teachers in a school to teach a large number of
students. According to UNESCO (2003), there are 2.35 teachers, on average, for
each government primary school. The average is even low (1.3 teachers per
mosque school) in case of mosque schools. The qualification of the teachers and
their recruitment is also questionable. The National Education Policy 1998-2010
recognized the importance of teachers in bringing about reforms in education.
Teachers can provide the students learning experiences that enhance their interest
and engagement with the learning. Due to inappropriate monitoring system,
teacher absenteeism is frequent in these schools. In such circumstances, parents
may perceive schooling as wastage of time and resources.
Academic environment in the schools is worse than the physical environment.
Recruitment of teachers for the elementary schools generally takes place on
political recommendation instead of merit. The selected teachers normally do not
undergo teaching training before starting the job of teaching. Those who get
opportunity to have some teaching training during service are taught about the
pedagogical skills. The training is not meant to change their conceptions of

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Universal Primary Education
teaching and learning. Conceptions of teaching and learning are based on the
transmission and acquisition of information. Teachers emphasize rote learning of
knowledge. Understanding of the content and describing it in one’s own words is
not generally appreciated by the teachers, rather it is discouraged. Learning in such
an environment is defined as absorption of maximum information. The students
are assigned heavy homework that generally consists of reproduction of material
from books to the notebooks.
Financial constraints, greater distance from home to school, failure in
examinations, parents’ perceptions of quality of education, incompetence of
teachers, teachers’ absenteeism and unpleasant physical and academic
environment are the most common causes of drop out. Physical punishment is
practiced frequently that makes the school highly an unpleasant place, and is
responsible for student absenteeism, low academic performance and consequently
drop out of the students (Siddiqui, 2007). State can provide financial incentives to
the resource constrained parents and free elementary education to all the citizens in
the public sector schools. A strong political will is required to identify the
bottlenecks in the way of literacy and to remove them.
Three things are considered to be very important with regard to the Universal
Primary Education: enrollment, retention and quality of education. Almost two
third population in Pakistan live in rural areas. There is still scarcity of schools in
the rural areas. There is great demand of quality education, and government has
failed to provide educational services according to the demand, especially in
remote rural areas. Although, private sector schools can accommodate a sizable
number of school going age children yet a great number of parents can not afford
to bear the cost of even the low-fee private schools (UNESCO, 2011). All Pakistan
Private school Association claims that the private-sector schools are greater in
number in the Punjab than the public-sector schools in the Punjab. (UNESCO,
2011). In such circumstances, public-private partnership may be a way out to
provide access to all the school going age children. Moreover, the government
needs to provide financial assistance to the poor parents for the primary education
of their children.
A number of factors influence the retention or drop out of children. According
to PSLM (2010-2011), 52% population completes the primary education. There is
a high drop out rate with regard to primary education in Pakistan. Higher teacher
absenteeism, untrained and incompetent teachers, physical punishment, poor
physical and academic environment and low quality of education are regarded
responsible for the higher drop out rate. Additionally, lack of post-primary
technical and vocational educational services further aggravate the situation in the
wake of wide-spread poverty in Pakistan. A strong political will and good
governance (committed to remove all types of constraints and obstacles) are
prerequisite to achieve the universal primary education in Pakistan.
Deeni madrasas are also being run by different religious sects in Pakistan.
They provide free deeni education to the children of generally the poor people.
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They also provide free boarding and meal to the Madrassa students. Along with
the religious education the students also learn literacy skills of reading and writing.
They indirectly, share the responsibility of increase in literacy with the
government. However, the madrassa education can be reformed by introducing
social sciences, natural sciences and computer literacy programmes to enable them
to get reasonable employment after completing the education. NEP 2009 advised
the concerned authorities to introduce market-oriented and skill-based subjects to
prepare the madrassa graduates for reasonable employment (UNESCO, 2011). The
total number of madrassas in Pakistan is estimated to be 28982. According to the
estimates of interior ministry, there are 20000 madrassas where 3 million students
are enrolled (UNESCO, 2011). Intervention from the government to introduce
reforms in madrassas to integrate them with the mainstream education can be very
useful to improve literacy and to develop human resource for the country. The
reforms by introducing modern education subjects in madrassas can also be
effective to produce enlightened moderates and useful citizens. The involvement
of community can be handy to bring about improvement in enrolment, quality of
education, to reduce the drop out rate.
The availability of qualified, satisfied, competent, honest and motivated
teachers, accountable to the school administration is important for quality
education. The incentive-based salary structure linked with the performance is a
solution for many shortcomings in education system (UNESCO, 2011). Adequate
infrastructure, trained and accountable teachers, recruited on merit, active
electronic media campaigns (to educate the people about the importance of the
education), provision of post primary technical and vocational education
(especially for the resource constrained parents) along with financial assistance to
the poor parents can be helpful in achieving universal primary education.

Conclusion

Keeping in view the statistics relating to budget allocations, enrolment, literacy

rates, gender-based and rural-urban differences in literacy, it seems highly unlikely
that Pakistan can achieve UPE by 2015. In the wake of great advancements in
science and technology and emergence of knowledge economy, it does not seem
possible for a society to progress with 50 % literacy rates and without a quality
education. Pakistani government has to show a high level of political will and
commitment to make both quantitative and qualitative progress, not only with
regard to basic education but also higher education. There is a plenty of evidence
(documented in this paper) that literacy and primary education can be improved by
involving parents, community and local institutions in the efforts to make progress
in this regard. However, all these goals can only be achieved with political
stability and good governance. We need to construct more schools, in addition to
improving the existing ones. According to the review of literature, we need to
focus on enrolment, retention and quality to achieve UPE in Pakistan. Teachers

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Universal Primary Education
need to be appointed on merit, and be trained to promote understanding, creativity
and critical thinking among the students. The teachers need to be trained according
to the modern teaching-learning techniques. They should provide the students
learning environment and the learning experiences which encourage their greater
participation in the teaching learning process. The teachers should also be trained
to provide a pleasant and an attractive learning environment to the students to
reduce their drop outs.

References
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Biographical Note
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zakria Zakar is Dean, Faculty of Behavioral & Social
Sciences and Director of Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the Punjab-
Lahore-Pakistan
Dr. Shazia Qureshi is Assistant Professor at the University Law College, University of the
Punjab, Lahore.

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Dr. Raza Ullah is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies,
University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan
Dr. Rubeena Zakar is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies,
University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan
N Aqil is MPhil scholar at Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the Punjab.
Dr Riffat Manawar is Associate Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies,
University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan
______________________________

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