Education in Pakistan: Fifty Years of Neglect

"You know that importance of education and the right typecannot be over-emphasised.... It" we are to make real, speedy andsubstantial progress. We must earnestly tackle this question ... havingregard to the modern conditions and vast developments that have takenplace all over the world". Quaid-i-Azam Pakistan was created in the nameof Islam under the outstanding leadership of Quaid-i-Azam. The Quranplaced great emphasis on education. The Quaid as quoted above alsohighlighted its importance for the new nation. Unfortunately, despitehigh and repeated rhetoric, education remained the most neglected aspectof national life during the last half century. The literacy level arelow, the female literacy levels are among the lowest in the world andthe lowest in the Muslim countries. The emphasis in education is stillon a general and liberal type of B.A. or M.A. degree. The change towardsscientific and technical education has still not taken place. Thequality of education is low; the teachers are under-paid, under-trainedand dispirited. The students are apathetic as they see no relationshipbetween education and higher earnings or status in thesociety.