Literacy Trends in Pakistan - UNESCO Islamabad

PlanTable 13Allocations for Adult Literacy, Non-Formal and Mass Education in PakistanTotal Allocations forEducational Sector(in Million Rs.)Allocations forLiteracy andMass Education(in Million Rs.)Literacy Allocationas Percentage oftotal Allocations forEducation SectorActualExpenditure(in Million Rs.)Percentage ofActualExpenditure toTotal LiteracyAllocations1 st . Plan to 5 th Plan (1955-83) 15,577.67 - - - -6 th Plan (1983-88) 18,830 750 4.0 % 724.00 96.53 % (0.038%)7 th Plan (1988-1993) 22,684.8 300 1.32 % 510.308 170.10 % (0.022%)8 th Plan (1993-98) 20,232.8 1750 8.6 % 409.164 23.34 % (0.02%)9 th Plan (1998-2003) 133,500 1000 0.74 % - -Source: National Education Policy (1998-2010), Govt. of Pakistan, Ministry of Education, Islamabad, P.134Note: Figures in parenthesis indicate the percentage of total allocation.Table 13 indicates that investment on adult literacy and mass education was not given serious consideration during the initial five 5 Years Planor upto 1983. In the 6 th Plan, the allocations for literacy and mass education were only 4.0 percent of the total allocation for the education sector.With such meagre funding a considerable rise in the literacy rate of the country cannot be expected. It was only in the 8 th Five Year Plan and theNational Education Policy of 1998-2010 in which literacy and mass education were seriously addressed and allocations increased for thispurpose. The 9 th five Year Plan has an allocation of Rs.1,000 million, which constitute less than one percent of the total education budget foreducation sector. But again it is uncertain that the entire amount allocated for literacy will actually be released or spent.13.3 Gender IssuesIn Pakistan, like most of the developing countries, the traditional ascription of feminine and masculine standards of behavior, division of laborand family responsibilities, have been the main barriers in achieving a female literacy rate equal to that of males. In the rural areas, the poorpeople send only their sons to school, and that too by making great personal sacrifice, but female children are kept without schooling. Thecountry has not been able to provide adequate opportunities for the girls to acquire education. This lack of providing adequate opportunity forfemale education is also reflected in the gender parity index in Pakistan which deteriorated from 54 per cent to 48 per cent between 1990 and1998 (Haque, 1998, p.5)*. As a result, the situation has not only hampered the overall process of national development, but has also adverselyaffected the management of the day-to-day affairs of women, like child-care/child rearing, economic participation and social mobility. The___________________________________________________________________________________________________________*Source: Human Development Report 1998, Mahbub-ul-Haq Human Development Center, Oxford University Press, Karachi.29