Page 1 of 16
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 296
“Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Quality
Education Situation in Pakistan at Primary Level”.
Muhammad Sabil Farooq*, Yuan Tong Kai
PhD Scholar, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Nankai University, 94 Weijin
Road, Tianjin, P.R. China 300071
sabilfarooq@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
The quality of education is a priority for every
nation any educational institution or
organization and their beneficiaries. This
paper is concerned with methods and theories
recently used in Quality Education research in
Pakistan. It begins by looking at policies,
practices and procedures implemented and
their impact on quality of education in the
light of MDGs. This study will explore the
comparative difference of quality education
against MDGs at primary level in Pakistan to
identify the gaps and challenges in their
policies, practices and procedures to suggest
the possible measures for their quality
improvement standards at proposed level.
In light of few international commitments has
made by Pakistan to provide quality basic
education to everyone as a basic right. As per
the constitution of Pakistan, “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”
National Educational Assessment System
(NEAS) reported shocking situation regarding
the achievement of these obligations. The
main focus of this article was to analyze the
current situation of quality education in the
light of MDGs and to understand what we can
expect in near future regarding provision of
quality primary education in Pakistan.
Key Words: Quality education situation,
Comparative differences against MDGs,
Primary education
INTRODUCTION
Situated on the western edge of South Asia,
Pakistan has a population of about 184
million, with sex ratio of 105.6: 100. It is
estimated that about 62% of the people are
residing in rural and 38% in urban areas. GDP
Per Capita Income is US$ 1,387 for 2014-15.
Pakistan is a developing country, gradually
transforming from agriculture-based economy
to an increasing share of industry and services
sectors in the GDP. Country spends a major
part of its budget to address challenges of
national security and interest payments on its
loans. This leaves a relatively smaller amount
to be invested on infrastructure development
to boost economic growth and enable social
sectors to meet basic needs of the people like
education, health, social services etc. Pakistan
is confronted with a host of serious
development issues.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
Pakistan grew at a rate of 4.3% (FY 2014/15),
but there are several challenges which are
likely to restrict its future progress unless
strict actions are implemented. Energy
shortage is a major obstacle to raise
production. Pakistan is a partner of on-going
global war against terrorism. Resultantly, geo- political dynamics in the neighboring
countries and on its borders have generated
security and terrorism related threats for the
local people, foreign investors, and
development workers. This situation is
restricting investment and emphasizing
unemployment in the country. The deficit on
Page 2 of 16
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 297
trade balances is also adding to the fiscal
pressures.
Table1: Area and population by Province/Region
Figure1: Distribution of population in Regions/Provinces
shown in percentage (%)
In the past, Pakistan has not been spending
enough in terms of basic social services to the
people. Another hindering factor has been
rapid population growth, which was 3.1% or
more during 1990s, and is still above 2% per
annum. Continuous fast increase in population
has eaten up or diluted benefits of the
investment on development. Illiteracy, rapid
population growth and slow economic
development have increased unemployment,
stuck evolution of socio-political institutions
and democratic norms in the society. Due to
illiteracy and poverty, health indicators are
also low in Pakistan. One third children are
born underweight and infant mortality rate is
high.
Educational indicators of Pakistan are still
miserably low, although steady progress has
been noticed during last few decades. At
present, about one third primary school age
children are out of school, 42% population
(age 10+) is illiterate. Wide discrepancies
persist in education indicators pertaining to
provinces/areas, location (urban vs. rural) and
gender. At the national level, about two third
women of age 15+ cannot read and write, and
35% girls remain out of school. Gender Parity
Index in case of participation in primary
education is 0.82. It is estimated that over 6.7
million children are out of school, and
majority of them (62%) are girls.
Quality Education Importance:
Quality Education is a dominant instrument of
socioeconomic and political change related to
global, technological and democratic
developments. So it is necessary to improve
quality of education at different levels. Quality
is one of the most important dimensions of an
education system. There are probably as many
different ideas about quality as there are
schools. Quality is creating an environment
where educators, parents, government
officials, community representatives, and
business leaders work together to provide
students with the resources they need to meet
current and future academic, business and
changes. Strengthening the quality of
education has become a global agenda at all
educational levels and more so at the primary
level. The quality of basic education is
important not only for preparing individuals
for the subsequent educational levels but to
equip them with the requisite basic life skills
and social norms too. Quality education also
ensures increased access and equality and it is
mainly due to these reasons that various
international Forums and Declarations have
pledged improvements in quality of education.
It is important to mention that quality of
education can be measured from three
different viewpoints i.e. quality of inputs,
quality of the process, and quality of output.
Input reflects the resources committed by the
government and society in general for the
cause of providing education; these resources
include infrastructure (including various
physical facilities), teaching resources,
curriculum and other support materials.
Quality of the process reflects how good the
Page 3 of 16
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 298
delivery process is, and generally measures
what goes on in the classroom as well as in the
school in general. The quality of output
reflects the conformance of the knowledge and
skill levels of students to well established
standards, e.g. exam systems and their results
are a useful measure of output quality.
Improving and sustaining quality of education
is ultimate importance in any society round
the world. By ensuring quality education the
nations can be able to economic, social,
mental, psychological and emotional growth
of individuals on the right direction. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948) also declared quality primary education
as the basic right of all people. According to
(Hoy, et al, 2000), many developed and
developing countries have attained or near to
the goal of (UPE) universal primary
education. Now the focus has been turned to
the quality of students’ learning and it is quite
justifiable not only for those countries which
have attained quantitative targets, but it is also
valid for those countries who are striving to
achieve the target of EFA and MDGs like
Pakistan. Quality of education requires
standards set in order to develop assessment
tools, compatibility of programs and propose
someone as accountable for to meet the
targets. Pakistan has made its commitments in
all international forums of providing basic
education with high quality and to make it
accessible for all. Commitments of Pakistan
with the international community are as under;
International Commitments
Pakistan was one of the 48 member states who
voted in favor of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights on 10 December 1948.
According to article 26 of this declaration,
“Everyone has the right to education” and
“Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory”.
The convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women was
adopted by the UN general assembly in 1974
but Pakistan acceded to the convention on
March 1996. As a signatory to the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action 1995,
Pakistan is committed to promote “people- centered sustainable development through the
provision of basic education, lifelong
education, literacy and training for girls and
women” (Article 27), and ensuring “equal
access to and equal treatment of women and
men in education” (Article 30).
Pakistan's Commitment to Education-For- All 2000
This is largely because of the sorry state of
Pakistan’s education system and the failure of
successive governments to provide even basic
education for all: according to the 2012 Global
Monitoring Report, Pakistan continues to have
the second-largest number of out-of-school
children in the world. As a signatory of this
declaration on Education for All (EFA),
Pakistan agreed that every person should be
able to benefit from educational opportunities
designed to meet their basic learning needs,
and called for an expanded vision of
education, encompassing factors such as
universalizing access to education and
promoting equity including goal 2 “to achieve
universal primary education” by 2015.
Dakar Framework for Action
Pakistan was among 164 countries who
adopted the Dakar Framework for Action,
Education for All: Meeting Our Collective
Commitments at the World Education Forum.
All 164 countries acknowledged education as
a fundamental right for all people, regardless
of gender or age, recognized the need to make
comprehensive efforts to eliminate gender
discrimination. The Dakar Framework is a
collective commitment to achieve all EFA
goals and one of these is “ensuring that by
2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to
ethnic minorities, have access to and complete
free and compulsory primary education of
good quality” Unfortunately, Pakistan is
among the countries which are not likely to
achieve these goals by 2015.
