Navigating Pakistan’s Educational Landscape: Roadblocks, Detours and Crossroads

DescriptionWith over 20 million children out of school, Pakistan is going through an education crisis. This book outlines how successive governments have tried multiple reforms but the gap between formulation and implementation is ever-widening. The situation would have been more catastrophic had the private schools not emerged on the educational landscape of Pakistan in the 1970s.Today, private schools, which offer a wide range of qualifications – from local to international – and cater to nearly half of the school going population, have become the educational backbone of Pakistani society.Knowledge and skills taught at these schools, gives the students the agency to make positive changes in their lives and the lives around them. The majority graduates from these schools are promising international students, successful entrepreneurs and innovative individuals. These students of yesterday have turned into problem solvers and change agents of today. Through their efforts, they are bringing visible changes in the fabric of our society.The chapters in this book argue that it is time for the government to take tangible steps to partner with private schools and replicate their best practices at the grassroots level. A scalable education model can be developed by utilizing the government’s resources and tapping into the knowledge-base of the private schools, so that quality education becomes accessible to all. This will be a step in the right direction – a direction which can lead our country towards development and growth.