Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
176
Weak overall monitorin g and
accountability to the
government. Given the large
number of students attending
private schools in Pakistan and
the important role these
institutions play in the overall
education system in the
country, the current monitoring
and accountability mechanisms
are very weak. Private schools
have some reporting duties
through the NEMIS system and
fall under the responsibility of
the Federal Ministry of
Education and the Provinces’
Education team. However, there is no systematic supervision or monitoring and schools are
accountable to parents but not necessarily to public education agencies. These weak mechanisms
lead to difficulties in tracking students across the systems. As such, many of the childrenwho leave
public schools to join private schools may be classified as drop-outs. Finally, the government can
provide standards but it does not have the capacity to enforce quality standards on private low-
fee schools. This governance failure is therefore a major barrier to access to education (to correct
tracking of out of school children numbers) and a barrier to ensuring quality education.
Supply-side: Quality
The challenges of the education sector include poor quality of education due to lack of physical
facilities, shortage or absence of teachers, and non-availability of suitable learning materials.
Curriculum454: As part of the devolution, details of the curriculum are set by the provinces but
the Federal Ministry retains some overview and provides standards to meet. The National
Curriculumwas revised in 2006/2007 but has not been widely disseminated455. Since it is written
in English, its use is very limited. It is also reported to be very difficult and demanding. By 2014,
the teacher training on the national curriculum was only conducted in one province and the
textbook development was yet to be completed456. In 2006, a Textbook and Learning Materials
policy was developed but its impact on the quality of textbooks has been limited as the material
in textbooks is often not in line with the pedagogical demands of the curriculum leading to
confusion in both students and teachers457.
454 UNICEF (2013)
455 UNICEF (2013)
456 UNICEF (2013)
457 UNICEF (2013)
Figure 63 Distribution of ‘Enrolment’ by levels and by
public and private schools
Source: AEPAM (2017)
52 61 63 65
78
48 39 37 35
22
0
20
40
60
80
100
Preschool Primary Middle High Higher
secondary
Distribution of enrolment (%)
Public Private