Prime Ministers’ Initiative to Impose Educational Emergency in Pakistan: Stakeholders Perceptions

Journal of Elementary Education, Vol 35, No 2 (2025)

Prime Ministers’ Initiative to Impose Educational Emergency in Pakistan: Stakeholders Perceptions

khadija Sittar, Rafaqat Ali Akbar, Sumaira Munawar

Abstract

AbstractThe education sector in Pakistan has been experiencing a long term crisis of low levels of literacy, high rate of out of school children, gender differences, lack of proper infrastructure and teaching and learning. To solve these ongoing problems, the Prime Minister of Pakistan announced an Educational Emergency, to hasten reforms and to deal with structural failures. The qualitative research discusses the perceptions of the stakeholders towards the Prime Minister initiative to introduce an emergency in the educational sector of Pakistan and whether the initiative stands any chance of making a significant difference or it will be just another political slogan, as evident in previous policy programs. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data of fifteen important stakeholders/interviewees including parents, teachers, students, researchers, and education experts. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show that although the stakeholders are generally aware of the gravity of the educational crisis and embrace the declaration of an educational crisis, there is a lot of doubt about the seriousness of the government, its ability to implement and the willingness to devote budgetary resources. Respondents pointed out that the success of the initiative requires more funds, reforms in governance, training of teachers, building of infrastructure and involvement of the communities. The research determines that in the absence of proper planning, sufficient financial distribution and well established accountability systems, the declaration of an education emergency would not lead to sustainable educational reform in Pakistan.Keywords: Prime Ministers’ Initiative, Educational Emergency, Stakeholders Perceptions

References

References

ADB. (2019). Pakistan: Education sector assessment. Asian Development Bank.

Ali, S. (2020). Governance challenges and education reforms in Pakistan. Journal of Educational Policy Studies, 7(2), 45–59.

Ahmad, I. (2021). Educational disparities in underdeveloped regions of Pakistan: A regional analysis. Pakistan Journal of Education, 38(1), 23–41.

Bari, F. (2020). Community participation and educational development in Pakistan. International Review of Education, 66(3), 377–395. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09825-6

Government of Pakistan. (2010). Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Article 25-A). Islamabad: Ministry of Law and Justice.

Government of Pakistan. (2009). National Education Policy 2009. Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

INEE. (2018). Education in emergencies: Policy, practice, and preparedness. Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies.

Khalid, M., & Saeed, M. (2021). Gender gaps in school enrollment in Pakistan: Challenges and policy implications. South Asian Studies, 36(2), 211–226.

Khan, A. (2020). Educational reforms and political commitment in Pakistan. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 59(4), 89–104.

Mansoor, Z. (2021). Accountability and transparency in Pakistan’s education sector. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 11(1), 56–71.

Raza, S. (2021). Policy implementation failures in Pakistan’s education system. Journal of Educational Research, 24(1), 1–15.

Shah, S. M., & Farooq, R. A. (2020). Education policy reforms in Pakistan: Promises and realities. International Journal of Educational Development, 74, 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102149

Smith, J., & Thompson, L. (2019). Education in crisis contexts: Global perspectives and policy responses. Comparative Education Review, 63(3), 356–378. https://doi.org/10.1086/703154

UNESCO. (2021). Global education monitoring report 2021: Central and Southern Asia. UNESCO Publishing.

World Bank. (2020). Pakistan public expenditure review: Education sector. World Bank Group.

World Bank. (2023). Out-of-school children and youth in Pakistan. World Bank Group.

Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.