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Chronicling the Education System in Pakistan

Chronicling the Education System in Pakistan
Published On: 12-Mar-2021
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The present education system in Pakistan is the outcome of pre and post-1947 policies and discourses. After the creation of Pakistan, the system of education which was implemented in the country mostly got the flavor of the policies introduced by the British government in the subcontinent. The same policies are generally utilized in our country with minor changes to suit the indigenous environment. In this process, various parallel systems of education started operating in Pakistan. To develop a coherent educational policy after independence, the government of Pakistan took a number of steps. On the instruction of Quaid-i-Azam, a conference on education was organized by the Ministry of Education on November 27, 1947. Though he did not personally participate in the conference but sent his message in which he proposed his ideas regarding future education system of the country. At the end, a number of resolutions were passed on the basis of which a national education policy was devised. An important point of the policy was that it was laid down that the base of the system should be Islamic in nature. Afterwards, in 1951, another conference was arranged by the Federal Ministry of Education. On the recommendation of these conferences, a six-year educational policy was chalked out from 1952 to 1958 by the ministry to guide the state regarding future. In 1959 these efforts were institutionalized by Ayub Khan’s government through establishing the National Commission on Education.

During Yahya Khan’s rule, the ministry of education was entrusted to Air Marshal Noor Khan. The ministry of education, under his guidance, prepared a document in 1969 which was called “Recommendations for New Educational Policy''. It recommended that the system of education should be Islamic, and made the subject of Islamic-Studies compulsory up-to matriculation. He institutionalized the religious madrassa system by establishing a proper national board for them. It also recommended debarring Pakistani Muslim students from getting education in missionary institutions. Then the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto embarked on a new education policy in 1975, therefore, the Ministry of Education prepared a four-year national education policy from 1976 to 1980. Through the system of education, Z. A. Bhutto wanted to integrate different ethnic groups into a bond of Pakistani nationalism. He retained the subject of Islamic-Studies as compulsory up-to secondary level.

The Government of President Zia-ul-Haq organized a conference in 1977 on education, and brought about major changes in the system. He established the system on the basis of Islamic Ideology and made Urdu as the medium of instruction and the official language. Those materials which were contrary to the ideology of the state were deleted from the text books of schools and colleges. All the textbooks were thoroughly redrafted and basic Islamic provisions were inserted in all the subjects. It was thought to the students that being a part of the Muslim Umma, they should prepare themselves for the welfare of Muslims in all over the world. Afterwards, the successive governments of the PPP and PML (N) published their own recommendations regarding education. Despite all these policies and recommendations, the subsequent governments could not provide a coherent education system to meet the desired objectives.

In the light of the aforesaid discussion, it might be concluded that research regarding the education system of Pakistan is essential in order to perceive the pros and cons of the system. Instead of building on preceding policies, introduction of every new policy reflects a state of transition from one way of thinking to another. However, there is a dire need to conduct research on the history of education in Pakistan in the post-1947 era and relate it with various socio-political factors. Resultantly, we could diagnose the problems and issues in the way of a coherent system of education on the one hand, and could prescribe the remedies of the problems being faced in this regard on the other.

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