No improvement in literacy rate

E-Paper | June 13, 2026

ISLAMABAD: Despite making significant improvements in the educational budget, the incumbent PML-N government could not improve the literacy rate in the country. This year, the literacy rate remained at 58pc, the same as last year.

Last year, the literacy rate saw an annual drop of 2pc from 60pc to 58pc and this year there is no change in the rate, according to the recently released Economic Survey 2017-18. The survey says that the overall education condition is based on key performance indicators such as enrolment rates, number of institutes and teachers which have experienced minor improvement.

The total number of enrolments at national level during 2016-17 stood at 48.062 million as compared to 46.223 million during 2015-16. This shows a growth of 3.97 pc and it is estimated to further rise to 50.426 million in 2017-18.

The Economic Survey stated that the total numbers of teachers during 2016-17 were 1.726 million compared to 1.630 million during last year showing an increase of 5.9pc. This number of teachers is estimated to rise further to 1.808 million in FY 2017-18.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

Newspaper

BUDGET 2026-27: HEC’s recurring grant kept unchanged despite demand for significant increase

Rawal Dam sewage treatment plant receives nominal allocation, again

Protesting govt employees term 7pc pay increase a pittance

Skeptic

Apr 27, 2018 01:44pm

That's because the past few governments have been busy enriching themsleves, buy properties in Dubai and London, traveling around the world at poeple's expese and enjoying themselves - when not building Metros and Motorways, Instead of Schools and Colleges or Vocational Training facilities for people to become literate and empower themselves. Sad commentary. Especially coming a day after the Minister of Planning and Dev and Financial Advisor were braging about economic growth of the country. The real picture is being concealed behind fancy charts and graphs.

Recommend 0

DR.Salaria,Aamir Ahmad

Apr 27, 2018 01:49pm

Pakistan is the most literate nation in Asia and the world.

Recommend 0

Hassan

Apr 27, 2018 02:06pm

The other problem is the quality of education. I have seen many graduates in Pakistan who can't even read and write properly......

Recommend 0

Akram

Apr 27, 2018 02:07pm

This issue needs to be highlighted come election time as they country's future economic growth depends on delivering a good education to the maximum number of people. What is not clear is if more money has gone into the education budget, is this a cut in real terms? What has happened to the extra money?

Recommend 0

Tariq

Apr 27, 2018 02:31pm

The country is falling apart gradually and the rulers whonavr ruled this country are fighting their individual fights .they have no respect and concern for the real issues. 75% people without clean drinking water. 1 hospital for 7 lakh people 1 lady Dr for 40000 pregnant women,1 bed for 30000 critical patients and still idiots re shouting Nawaz, Bhutto zindabad . politicians and diapers need a change for same reasons and it is high time people understand this and make others realize this situation to build up a string society and this is what is our religious and human obligation as well.

Recommend 0

Amir

Apr 27, 2018 02:36pm

Quality of education is questionable

Recommend 0

Junaid Ali

Apr 27, 2018 02:46pm

Im from AJK and despite being just a small area of Pakistan it has the highest literacy rate in the country Education is number one priority for parents here and not Madrassas which is the case with rest of Pakistan that’s the reason why we don’t have terrorism problem here

Recommend 0

Sarmad

Apr 27, 2018 02:47pm

The literacy rate preaents a gloomy picture of education in pakistan , it shows how much we as a nation are concerned towards acquiring education. If another survey is conducted on quality of education, may be 15-20 percent of those 58 percent would be considered proper educated as per International standards. People need to revisit their criteria for casting votes in upcming electorate in a hope that if a new party comes into power , it might take some concrete steps to ensure maximum enrolement along with improvement in quality of education. They only way forward lies in investing human development rather than infrastructure.

Recommend 0

M. Emad

Apr 27, 2018 02:55pm

Good.

Recommend 0

Rkk

Apr 27, 2018 03:01pm

Extremely disturbing unless the data is not reliable.

Recommend 0

Apr 27, 2018 03:11pm

Atleast we are better than our illiterate neighbours

Recommend 0

M. Emad

Apr 27, 2018 03:16pm

Over 90% of men and women in Bangladesh aged from 15 to 24 years are literate. The overall literacy rate about 73%.

Recommend 0

Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad

Apr 27, 2018 03:32pm

What a great and grave tragedy?

Recommend 0

gaurav

Apr 27, 2018 03:32pm

on the other hand India has more than 78% literacy rate...with literacy rate of men more than 85% and of women more than 75%.

Recommend 0

MA Qadir

Apr 27, 2018 03:42pm

@M Yes better than Afghanistan (38%) but less than India (74%) and Iran (93%). We should compare ourselves to our more educated neighbours not the weaker ones.

Recommend 0

Abcd

Apr 27, 2018 03:50pm

@M you mean 58 % is better than 80%

Recommend 0

wise2win

Apr 27, 2018 03:59pm

@M Both India and Iran has higher literacy rates. Actually the worst state in India has higher rate than Pakistan. So no consolation for you.

Recommend 0

Vishnu Sharma

Apr 27, 2018 04:00pm

I never knew that literacy rate of any country drops down... That is something needs research..

Recommend 0

Truth

Apr 27, 2018 04:13pm

@M - Other than Afghanistan, all of our neighbors have a better literacy rate and higher quality educational system than Pakistan. Just check out the statistics for every nation around us, including Banglades and Sri Lanka too. You will be shocked how far behid we are in comparison.

Recommend 0

Ibneadam

Apr 27, 2018 04:18pm

Improvement comes with Investment and conviction which is lacking.

Recommend 0

King

Apr 27, 2018 04:23pm

Simply, if people get educated, who will vote Nawaz, Zardari and Achakzai?

Recommend 0

Indian

Apr 27, 2018 04:23pm

Lets accept the fact that in developing and underdeveloped nations, there's big gap between what is budgeted and what actually reaches the people

Recommend 0

Zak

Apr 27, 2018 04:25pm

This can be changed overnight by an honest run government. For Pakistan to reach 80% would be no problem. Only accessibility in certain areas may hinder reaching target of 100%. The lowest budget and most incompetent person is given minister of education post. Example, anyone know who is current Minister of education.

Recommend 0

Prateik

Apr 27, 2018 04:49pm

Pakistan needs a massive increase in federal budget for education.

Recommend 0

human first

Apr 27, 2018 05:02pm

@Zak you really have great and easy solutions up your sleves..

Recommend 0

Swetha

Apr 27, 2018 05:18pm

@DR.Salaria,Aamir Ahmad You must be joking right..25mn children out of school..highest in world.. yet most literate nation.Have you checked literacy rates in Ur neighborhood?

Recommend 0

Imtiaz Ali Khan

Apr 27, 2018 05:24pm

That is a great achievement thank you Nawaz and his most educated leadership. Enjoy and celebrate the economic progress of the nation. So half the people in Pakistan don't know how to read and write, what amazing work, good going pmln. Really making us all proud I guess Wharton MBA is really paying off Asif Iqbal.

Recommend 0

Apr 27, 2018 05:34pm

Seems the population growth not considered while making the budget

Recommend 0

Exlim

Apr 27, 2018 06:04pm

Amazing how many people here cannot tell the difference between illiterate and literate. I would say about 58 percent think illiteracy is a good thing.

Recommend 0

HONEST OPINION

Apr 27, 2018 06:06pm

PML-N report card. The literacy rate saw an annual drop of 2pc from 60pc to 58pc and this year there is no change in the rate.

Recommend 0

DR Sethi

Apr 27, 2018 06:16pm

@DR.Salaria,Aamir Ahmad sir dont embarrass us

Recommend 0

Bitter Truth

Apr 27, 2018 07:07pm

@DR.Salaria,Aamir Ahmad There can be two cases,either you are illiterate that you don't know the difference between literate and illiterate or you forgot to type i before literate.

Recommend 0

M. Saeed

Apr 27, 2018 08:11pm

This Government had ordered all principals and heads of schools that, whoever shows poor results of his/her students their salaries would be reduced or they would be transferred to the far away rural areas in punishments. In result, they started passing all the students, even if they left their exam answer books blank. Now, the CJP has taken notice of such a situation and anyone can see the results. Therefore, from where would come the literacy rate improvement?,

Recommend 0

Zak

Apr 27, 2018 08:21pm

@gaurav Indian literacy rate is lower than Pakistan and rural areas are totally illiterate. Don’t repeat your government falsified figures here.

Recommend 0

Zak

Apr 27, 2018 08:24pm

@human first That’s because great and easy solutions are the best solutions.

Recommend 0

Hasnain Haque

Apr 27, 2018 08:52pm

People need to know what literacy rate means first, the true literacy rate for pakistan is below 30%

Recommend 0

hamza K

Apr 27, 2018 09:00pm

bring back musharraf!!!!

Recommend 0

Alba

Apr 28, 2018 04:55am

Pakistan's literacy rate remains at 58% with no improvement because of population growth. Population is outpacing development.

Recommend 0

Amjad Durrani Engineer- USA

Apr 28, 2018 08:13am

These surveys which are done randomly are seldom providing factual figures.It is a fact that leaving urban areas and central Punjab,we do not stand out having even 25 percent literacy rate.One has to visit Baluchistan, south Punjab,rural areas of Sind and KP, the real picture emerges, which shows the pathetic and absolutely untenable. And adding fuel to the fire those counted as literate or semi literate who can hardly read or write. When the national budget allocation for education is merely 2.5 percent,one should not expect miracles.The country's basic infrastructure in public schools are under resources and is suffering in far flung areas where due to lack of oversight school & teachers exist on papers.I have personally seen two room so called primary school in interior of Baluchistan being used as cattle barn,but on paper salary of teachers are monthly drawn.Few years back a similar scandal was unearthed in Punjab.Unless resources & oversight is not enhanced,nothing will change.

Recommend 0

Amjad Durrani Engineer- USA

Apr 28, 2018 08:38am

@Swetha well said.Adding 65 percent of population between age of 18&26 years,most of the themilliterate and those completing high school have no where to go, as either short of resources to continue education or suffering due to under employment or no employment.Far flung areas having ghost schools with no teachers or student but a decapciated building consisting of 2 rooms but that too being used as a cattle barn by our noble chaudries,khans, Waderas,and Sardars. It is not surprising that the so called survey shows a drop of 2 percent in literacy rate few years back and that continues and as things stand we may be reducing it further.The population growth a lack of resources,rampant corruption and poor quality of education are endemic and shall persist to be so in the coming years too,because we have no plan and have other priorities such as wasting our meager resources on white elephant such as Steel Mills, PIA,& others.Unless our orientation is not corrected we continue to slide.

Recommend 0

Hafeez Asghar Mirza

Apr 28, 2018 12:01pm

Being a Principal at a private sector, Most of the time i get frustrated, when i ask a young graduate to write a proper formatted application for job. Honestly, most of the time they are unable to draft a proper application. Quality of Education is getting down day by day.

Recommend 0

Shakeel Ahmad

Apr 30, 2018 12:34am

Education and specially school education is a provincial government's subject. 3 out of 4 provinces are ruled by anti PML(N) parties. Is it fair then to single out PML(N) only for this failure, even if it is so in your opinion ! ? While you accept that significant improvement has been made in educational budget, you should also understand that improvement in output will not be as quickly conspicuous as in a wheat mill where flour output is proportional to wheat input.

Recommend 0

Branded Content

Why SQD-Mini LED is the display breakthrough we’ve been waiting for?

The display industry is entering a new phase, where reducing trade-offs is as important as pushing performance limits.

The Palms at Silk Gardens introduces a new family address in Karachi

The Palms places families at the heart of its vision, offering thoughtfully planned 2 and 3-bedroom units in a secure, peaceful and community-led environment.