Pakistan firmly committed to attain quality education.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

No doubt, Education being the fundamental human right stands most significant element in evolution of human progress and nation development. It develops capabilities to fight against injustice, violence, corruption and many other social evils. Sustainable socio-economic development of a country depends on substantial investment in its human capital by education and skill development. Educated people work as an effective tool in accepting and adopting innovative ideas and means of productivity/technologies, ensuring the elimination of economic and social ailments. Further, as a dividend, it brings socio-economic progress also prosperity in to the country.

An educated and skilled nation is productive enough to accelerate economic growth through expanded vision, creativity and, innovations in the country. According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2020, Pakistan is ranked 154th out of 189 countries with the Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.557.

The present government of Pakistan is committed to attain Goal 4 of SDGs i.e. "Quality Education", which stipulates equitable education, removal of discrimination, provision and up-gradation of infrastructure, skill development for sustainable progress, universal literacy, numeracy and enhancement of professional capacity of teachers. As per Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan "State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16-year" therefore, the government is working on various initiatives to offer quality education to its citizens. A Single National Curriculum (SNC) has been planned with the vision of one system of education for all, in terms of curriculum, medium of instruction and a common platform of assessment, so that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to receive high quality education. SNC will be implemented in three phases, Phase I: Development of SNC and textbooks for Pre I-V classes in March 2021, Phase II: Development of SNC and textbooks for VI-VIII classes in March 2022.

Presently, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 in the country, conducted through Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) was designed to examine the impacts of Covid-19 after the unprecedented school closures of 2020 and early 2021. Experts recorded that primary school students are experiencing a learning crisis as a consequence of school closures. Learning losses are more common...