CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Pakistan, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan appeared on the map of the world on 14 August 1947. It covers an area of about 796,096 km2 and shares its borders with China, India, Iran and Afghanistan.
The Location of Pakistan is of vital importance in South Asia. It connects the Eastern world with the West. It has friendly and trade relations with China, a growing economic and tech giant, in its north. Afghanistan in its west. India, which shares long historical and cultural relations with Pakistan, lies in its East. It has a coastal belt of about 700 km, which connects it to the Middle East and provides a trade route through the Arabia Sea.
Currently Pakistan is on the sixth number with respect to world population. Its man-power is another one of its resources. People who are daring and passionate make up to about 18.5 million of this country.
This country has been blessed with a variety of natural resources like salt, gypsum, coal, oil, copper and gold. Its physical features like its planes, deserts, northern highlands, lakes and rivers are not only a tourist’s attraction but are also related to renewable energy resources like hydal power dams, wind power production and solar power parks.
Pakistan is an agricultural country. Its major exports include agricultural products like cotton, sugar, rice and textiles. The literacy rate of the country is nearly 58%. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan whereas English is used for education, trade and other administrative purposes. Pakistan is home to some of the earliest human civilization in South Asia, including Indus Valley and Gandhara civilization. It lies between 23-35 to 37-05 north latitude and 60-50 to 77-50 east longitude.
The principle conduit of Pakistan is the Indus River that starts in China, and runs about the whole length of Pakistan, coursing through the greater part of Pakistan's areas aside from Balochistan. It is encouraged by the consolidated waters of the Chenab and Jhelum. Along the Indus and its tributaries are discovered the majority of Pakistan's populace, its boss horticultural zones, and its major hydroelectric power stations, interconnected by the world's biggest arrangement of rural waterways, join the Indus before it releases into the Arabian Sea.
According to Human Development Report 2015, Pakistan’s HDI value is 0.538 — in the low human development category — positioning the country at 147 out of 188 countries and territories. Between 1980 and 2015, Pakistan’s HDI value increased from 0.359 to 0.538, an increase of 43.0 percent or average annual increase of about 1.3 percent.
1.2 Education System in Pakistan
The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 lays down that “State shall be responsible for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory education up to secondary level, within minimum possible time” (Article 37-B, 1973 Constitution of Pakistan)
The article 25A – Right to Education – of the Constitution says that: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”
Education is a fundamental human right and every child is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps cover the way to a successful and productive future. When we ensure that children have access to a quality education that is rooted in gender equality, we create a ripple effect of opportunity that impacts generations to come. Unfortunately, Education is one of the deprived fields of country and unable to get due attention by past governments. Current government has initiatives for building concrete educational foundation of the country and gave considerable attention to the betterment of education.
Pakistan among other countries of world has signed the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. Goal 4 of SDGs relates to quality education and lifelong learning. Various levels and dimensions of monitoring frameworks have been defined to better monitor the SDG-4 at national and global levels. The monitoring system that provides in-depth specifics of education system provide greater opportunities to policy makers for their unique circumstances and development priorities. As Pakistan was unable to achieve the Education for All (EFA) agenda by 2015, the pounding significance and unfinished business of EFA would be integral part of new agenda.
On the EFA Development Index (EDI) published in EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015, Pakistan lies at the bottom with Bangladesh, in the region, and is considerably below in comparison to Sri Lanka. A similar picture is painted by the gross enrolment ratios that combine all education sectors, and by the adult literacy rate measures.
The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) shows, Pakistan’s performance is weak, on the health and education related elements of competitiveness, when compared with other countries in the region like India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.