Pakistan: Pathetic education indicators

The strength of a nation is measured not only by its economy, but by the quality of minds it prepares for the future.

The strength of a nation is measured not only by its economy, but by the quality of minds it prepares for the future. Education raises productivity, strengthens citizenship and equips societies to absorb technological change. Yet the global challenge now extends beyond access. Countries face weak learning, unequal opportunities, teacher shortages, poor completion, rising costs and qualifications that do not always represent real skills.

The OECD report Education at a Glance 2025 a policy diagnosis of how education systems convert resources into capability and mobility. The report itself is designed to provide internationally comparable evidence that enables governments to build more effective and equitable education systems.

The significant finding is encouraging but unequal. Across OECD countries, 48 percent of young adults hold a tertiary qualification, compared with 27 percent in 2000. Yet the annual rise in attainment fell from about one percentage point between 2000 and 2021 to only 0.3 points since 2021.

Family background remains powerful. Only 26 percent of young adults from the least educated households reach tertiary education, against 70 percent of those with a tertiary educated parent. Denmark shows that policy can alter inheritance, attainment among the least advantaged family group rose by 20 percentage points since 2012 to 49 percent. Expansion is not the same as equality.

The report also challenges the idea that a degree proves competence. Among adults below upper secondary attainment, 61 percent perform at or below Level 1 in literacy, compared with 30 percent of those with upper secondary education and 13 percent of tertiary educated adults. Employment rises from 83 percent for short cycle tertiary graduates to 86 percent for bachelor graduates, 90 percent for master graduates and 93 percent for doctorate holders.

Earnings follow the same gradient: short cycle graduates earn 17 percent more than adults with upper secondary education, bachelor 39 percent more, and master or doctorate 83 percent more. Stronger numeracy produces an additional earnings premium, confirming that learning quality matters as much as credentials.

The wider return includes health and learning. Among tertiary educated adults, 51 percent report very good or excellent health, compared with 26 percent among those below upper secondary educations, whereas daily smoking averages 11 percent and 38 percent respectively. Therefore, among tertiary educated adults with the highest adaptive problems solving proficiency, 74 percent participate in further learning, compared with 42 percent among similarly educated adults with the lowest proficiency.

Among people aged 18 to 24, 54 percent remain in education and 19 percent combine study with employment. Education policy, therefore, must cultivate the capacity to learn throughout life rather than end at graduation. The strongest preventive investment begins in early childhood. Across the OECD, 85 percent of children aged 3 to 5 participate in early childhood education, but only 29 percent of children aged 0 to 2 do so.

Over the past decade, participation below age 3 rose by 9 percentage points and participation among older preschool children by 5 points. Enrolment among ages 3 to 5 increased by more than 20 points in Costa Rica, Croatia, Poland and Türkiye.

Costa Rica extended compulsory education into preschool, while Poland combined an entitlement from age 3 with capped fees and expanded infrastructure. Early education improves language, cognition, social development and school readiness, especially for disadvantaged children.

The compulsory years achieve broad access but reveal avoidable loss. More than 98 percent of children aged 6 to 14 are enrolled across most OECD countries, yet about 2 percent of primary pupils and nearly 4 percent of general lower secondary students are at least two years older than the intended grade age, mainly because of repetition and late entry.

In 2023, 1.4 percent of primary pupils and 2.5 percent of lower secondary pupils repeated a grade. Reforms reduced older student shares by about 2 percentage points in Chile, 4 in Belgium and 5 in Spain. Weekly absenteeism among fourth grade pupils also rose from 11 percent in 2019 to 13 percent in 2023, reaching 32 percent in Saudi Arabia but remaining below 5 percent in Japan and Korea.

The transition from secondary to tertiary education exposes the difference between access and success. About 90 percent of general upper secondary students attend programme that leads to full qualification and tertiary access. Yet only 43 percent of new bachelor entrants complete within the expected duration, 59 percent after one additional year and 70 percent after three additional years.

Women reach 75 percent within that period against 63 percent of men. Completion after three additional years averages 72 percent for entrants from general secondary tracks and 65 percent for those from vocational tracks.

Bachelor programmes receive 78 percent of new tertiary entrants, while more than two fifths of doctorate graduates are in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Weak preparation, poor guidance, financial pressure and insufficient academic support help explain noncompletion.

The financing evidence shows why ambition needs resources. OECD governments spend an average of USD 12,438 per student from primary through postsecondary education, with private sources contributing USD 1,088. At tertiary level, government expenditure averages USD 15,102 and private expenditure USD 6,343 per student.

Primary and secondary education absorb about 3.3 percent of GDP and tertiary education 1.4 percent. Early childhood education receives USD 13,331 per child, including USD 11,483 from government; government preschool funding rose 23 percent from 2015 to 2022. Spending on children aged 3 to 5 averages 0.59 percent of GDP, but reaches 1.05 percent in Iceland, 0.87 percent in Norway and 0.85 percent in Israel.

The variation between systems shows that composition matters as much as totals. Government spending averages USD 12,051 per primary pupil and USD 13,402 per lower secondary student, but ranges from below USD 3,000 in Mexico and Peru to above USD 25,000 in Luxembourg. Upper secondary governments spend roughly USD 13,000 per student, with vocational program often costing more because equipment and practical training are expensive.

At tertiary level, Luxembourg and Norway spend above USD 33,000 per student in public institutions, while Greece and Israel spend below USD 10,000. Norway relies heavily on public finance, while England uses greater private contributions supported by loans and grants. The policy test is whether the model protects quality, access and affordability.

The teacher’s picture is equally consequential. The average student teacher ratio is 14 to 1 in primary education and 13 to 1 in lower and upper secondary education, while primary classes average 21 pupils. Teachers with 15 years of experience receive average statutory salaries from about USD 55,725 at preschool to USD 63,925 at upper secondary level, yet actual teacher salaries equal only 83 to 91 percent of the earnings of tertiary educated workers.

More than one third of primary and secondary teachers are aged 50 or above; only 9 percent of secondary teachers are under 30, and 7.1 percent are not fully qualified. At tertiary level, women comprise 46 percent of academic staff, staff aged 50 or above account for 40 percent, and admission systems in most countries still limit places by field. Workforce renewal and institutional capacity are inseparable.

The comparison with Pakistan is sobering because Pakistan is not included among the countries covered by the OECD indicators, so it must be assessed through national and international evidence. The Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 records literacy at 63 percent, with 73 percent for men and 54 percent for women, and 74 percent in urban areas against 55 percent in rural areas.

It reports the share of out of school children falling from 38 percent in 2023 to 28 percent in 2025, while UNICEF estimates 25.1 million children aged 5 to 16, or 35 percent, are outside school. These estimates use different datasets and should not be treated as identical.

Federal and provincial education expenditure stood at Rs. 962 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2025, only 0.8 percent of GDP. The World Bank places learning poverty at 78 percent among tenyear-olds. Poverty, distance, weak infrastructure, gender barriers and uneven provincial capacity turn access, finance and learning into a single policy problem.

The policy response should treat education as national economic infrastructure rather than a residual social expense. Pakistan should establish a multiyear path for higher education investment, protecting early childhood learning, foundational literacy and numeracy, girls, rural districts and teacher development.

Provinces should publish comparable learning, attendance and spending results so resources follow need and performance. Repetition should give way to early remedial support. The secondary education should combine sound academic foundations with credible vocational routes and career guidance.

The universities should be judged by completion, skills, research quality and employment outcomes as well as enrolment; and teacher recruitment should pair competitive pay with professional development, accountable attendance and pathways for capable professionals to enter teaching.

The larger lesson is that a successful system is not the one that awards the most degrees, but the one that turns every stage of education into capability, social mobility and citizenship. _____________________________________________________________ Dr. Ikramul Haq, Advocate Supreme Court, specializes in constitutional, corporate, environment, media, ML/CFT related laws, IT, intellectual property, arbitration and international tax laws. He holds an LLD in tax laws with specialization in transfer pricing. He was full-time journalist from 1979 to 1984 with Viewpoint and Dawn. He served Civil Services of Pakistan from 1984 to 1996.

He established Huzaima & Ikram in 1996 and is presently its chief partner. He studied journalism, English literature and law. He is Chief Editor of Taxation. He is country editor and correspondent of International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) and member of International Fiscal Association (IFA).

He is Visiting Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and member Advisory Board and Visiting Senior Fellow of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).

He has coauthored with Huzaima Bukhari many books that include, Tax Reforms in Pakistan: Historic & Critical Review, Towards Broad, Flat, Low-rate, and Predictable Taxes (third edition, 2024), Pakistan: Enigma of Taxation, Towards Flat, Low-rate, Broad and Predictable Taxes (revised/enlarged edition of December 2020), Law & Practice of Income Tax, Law , Practice of Sales Tax, Law and Practice of Corporate Law, Law & Practice of Federal Excise, Law & Practice of Sales Tax on Services, Federal Tax Laws of Pakistan, Provincial Tax Laws, Practical Handbook of Income Tax, Tax Laws of Pakistan, Principles of Income Tax with Glossary and Master Tax Guide, Income Tax Digest 1886-2011 (with judicial analysis).

He is author of Commentary on Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements, Pakistan: From Hash to Heroin, its sequel Pakistan: Drug-trap to Debt-trap and Practical Handbook of Income Tax. Two books of poetry are Phull Kikkaran De (Punjabi 2023) and Nai Ufaq (Urdu 1979 with Siraj Munir and Shahid Jamal).

He regularly writes columns/article/papers for many Pakistani newspapers and international journals and has contributed over 3000 articles on a variety of issues of public interest, printed in various journals, magazines and newspapers at home and abroad. _______________________________________________________________ Abdul Rauf Shakoori, Advocate High Court, is a subject-matter expert on AML-CFT, Compliance, Cyber Crime and Risk Management. He has been providing AML-CFT advisory and training services to financial institutions (banks, DNFBPs, Investment companies, Money Service Businesses, insurance companies and securities), government institutions including law enforcement agencies located in North America (USA & CANADA), Middle East and Pakistan.

His areas of expertise include legal, strategic planning, cross-border transactions including but not limited to joint ventures (JVs), mergers & acquisitions (M&A), takeovers, privatizations, overseas expansions, USA Patriot Act, Banking Secrecy Act, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Over his career he has demonstrated excellent leadership, communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills and have also developed and delivered training courses in the areas of AML/CFT, Compliance, Fraud & Financial Crime Risk Management, Bank Secrecy, Cyber Crimes & Internet Threats against Banks, EChannels Fraud Prevention, Security and Investigation of Financial Crimes. The courses have been delivered as practical workshops with case study driven scenarios and exams to ensure knowledge transfer.

His notable publications are Rauf’s Compilation of Corporate Laws of Pakistan, Rauf’s Company Law and Practice of Pakistan and Rauf’s Research on Labour Laws and Income Tax and others.

His articles include: Revenue collection: Contemporary targets vs. orthodox approach, It is time to say goodbye to our past, US double standards, Was Due Process Flouted While Convicting Nawaz Sharif?, FATF and unjustly grey listed Pakistan, Corruption is no excuse for Incompetence, Next step for Pakistan, Pakistan’s compliance with FATF mandates, a work in progress, Pakistan’s strategy to address FATF Mandates was Inadequate, Pakistan’s Evolving FATF Compliance, Transparency Curtails Corruption, Pakistan’s Long Road towards FATF Compliance, Pakistan’s Archaic Approach to Addressing FATF Mandates, FATF: Challenges for June deadline, Pakistan: Combating the illicit flow of money, Regulating Crypto: An uphill task for Pakistan. Pakistan’s economy – Chicanery of numbers. Pakistan: Reclaiming its space on FATF whitelist. Sacred Games: Kulbhushan Jadhav Case. National FATF secretariat and Financial Monitoring Unit. The FATF challenge. Pakistan: Crucial FATF hearing. Pakistan: Dissecting FATF Failure, Environmental crimes: An emerging challenge, Countering corrupt practices .

The recent publication, coauthored by these writes with Huzaima Bukhari is: Pakistan Tackling FATF: Challenges & Solutions, available at: https://aacp.com.pk/book-detail/pakistan-tackling-fatf-challenges-and-solutions-35 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RXH8W46