Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
155
of children under 5 presenting with stunted growth, high infant mortality for children under 5 at
81 per 1,000 live births, and large numbers of out of school children and high illiteracy rates.
Pakistan has been spending around 2.5-2.7% of its GDP on education over the last decades and
the delivery of its education services has been impacted in recent years by economic and social
challenges. For example, Table 1 shows that Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in primary education has
actually worsened and increased from 41.1 in 1990 to 46.3 in 2015, therefore factors such as
teacher recruitment and/or number of classrooms in schools have not kept up with the increasing
enrolment rates over time.
Administration: The administrative units of Pakistan consist of four provinces (Balochistan,
Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), one federal capital territory (Islamabad), two autonomous
and disputed territories (autonomous Gilgit-Baltistan and disputed/autonomous Azad Jammu
and Kashmir). There are 6 tiers of government in Pakistan (1 Federal Government, 7
Provinces/Territories, 34 Division, 149 Districts, 588 Tehsil/Towns and finally several thousand
Union Councils).
Punjab is Pakistan's most populated province, with 56% of the country's population (over 90
million people) and a number of important cities. The province also has high levels of illiteracy
with over 3.8 million illiterates 412. Sindh is the second most populous province which together
with Balochistan are the two poorest provinces. Balochistan contains a desert and a mountainous
region, making it the least densely populated province (see with implications for the
supply of schools. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the 3rd most populous province and has experienced
significant security threats affecting the education sector.
Table 23 Main regional administrative division in Pakistan
(population 413, area, density)
Population Area (km2) Density
(per km2)
ICT Islamabad Capital Territory
(federal)
1,151,868 906 1,271.38
BN Balochistan (province) 13,162,222 347,190 37.91
KP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(province)
26,896,829 74,521 360.93
PB Punjab (province) 91,379,615 205,344 445.01
SD Sindh (province) 55,245,497 140,914 392.05
FATA Federally Administrative Tribal
Areas
3,930,419 27,220 144.39
GB Gilgit-Baltistan (autonomous) 1,441,523 72,971 19.75
AJK Azad Jammu & Kashmir
(autonomous)
2,972,501 13,298 223.55
Source: Wikipedia “Administrative Units of Pakistan”
412 Rehman et al. (2013)
413 Year 2011