Pakistan’s economic ambitions — higher productivity, export diversification and technological advancement — all aredampened by a weak educational foundation. According to a World Bank report published in October last year, one in four primary-school-aged children is out of school while 78pc of 10-year-olds cannot read and understand a simple text.
Education policy must therefore be judged not simply by enrolment, examination results or the number of institutions established but by what people learn and how effectively they can apply that knowledge.
Pakistan’s future economy will differ considerably from the one that has shaped its existing workforce. Artificial intelligence, automation and digital services are changing the nature of work while higher-value manufacturing, modern agriculture, renewable energy, logistics and knowledge-intensive services offer opportunities for economic diversification. Education must prepare people for the economy Pakistan seeks to build.
An estimated 25.1m children aged 5-16 are out of school, representing 35pc of the population in that age group. Exclusion is particularly pronounced among girls, 34pc of whom are out of school, compared with 22pc of boys.
Pakistan faces challenge to develop workforce for technology-driven labour-market; there is need to address basic deficiencies in the education system
However, for those who attend school, the picture is scarcely reassuring. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2025 reportedly found that only 7pc of Class 3 pupils could read a simple story, 10pc could read basic English and 8pc could perform division. Such figures expose a fundamental weakness: school attendance is not translating into adequate learning. Children who fail to acquire basic literacy, numeracy and comprehension will struggle to benefit from secondary education, vocational training or advanced technical instruction. A World Bank estimate places Pakistan’s annual losses from skills deficiencies at $31.5bn in foregone productivity and exports.
Improving learning outcomes requires more than changes to curricula. Teacher preparation, classroom support, regular assessment and the allocation of resources to disadvantaged schools must receive greater attention. Learning targets should measure what pupils can do, particularly in reading and mathematics, while assessments should identify children who are falling behind early enough for remedial instruction to make a difference.
Millions of young Pakistanis are working in low-productivity occupations or outside formal employment, often without access to training that could improve their prospects. Flexible vocational courses, workplace-based learning and accessible digital programmes could help them acquire additional skills without abandoning their existing livelihoods.
The weaknesses extend to technical and vocational education and training, where the skills imparted by institutions do not always correspond to the requirements of employers. While some trades face an oversupply of trained workers, sectors such as manufacturing, construction and renewable energy report shortages of suitable skills.
Employer-informed curricula, practical workplace experience and credible apprenticeship programmes would allow students to acquire skills that can be applied in actual working environments.
The objective, however, should not be to turn education into a narrow instrument for meeting employers’ immediate demands. Pakistan needs workers who can fill current skills gaps but it also needs people capable of developing new products, solving unfamiliar problems and establishing businesses. Technical competence must therefore be accompanied by analytical reasoning, communication skills and the capacity for continuous learning.
The challenge is particularly pressing in information technology and artificial intelligence. Concerns about the employability of IT graduates and the limited availability of advanced applied-AI expertise suggest that expanding the number of graduates is not enough; the quality and relevance of their training matter equally. In the last fiscal year, Pakistan’s IT and IT-enabled services exports totalled $4.6bn, including $1.76bn from freelancers, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Millions of young Pakistanis are working in low-productivity occupations or outside formal employment, often without access to training that could improve their prospects. Flexible vocational courses, workplace-based learning and accessible digital programmes could help them acquire additional skills without abandoning their existing livelihoods. Employers should contribute to this process through apprenticeships and workforce development, while the state must ensure that training opportunities are not restricted to those who can afford them.
The economic case for expanding educational opportunities for girls and disadvantaged communities is equally compelling. Barriers such as household poverty, transport costs, inadequate school facilities and restrictive social attitudes continue to prevent many children from attending school or completing their education. Exclusion on such a scale represents not only a denial of opportunity but also a loss of potential workers, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Financing and accountability must support these priorities. Public expenditure should be assessed against measurable improvements in learning, access and the relevance of skills acquired. Transparent reporting of school-level outcomes, independent scrutiny of spending and regular assessments of training programmes would help establish whether resources are producing the intended results.
Ultimately, education is an economic strategy as much as a social obligation. Industrial development, export growth and technological advancement depend on a workforce capable of learning, adapting and applying knowledge productively. Investment in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence or digital services would yield limited returns if the people expected to operate these systems lack the foundational skills required to use them effectively.
The decisive question, therefore, is not how many graduates Pakistan produces, but what they can do, how readily they can adapt and how much value they can create.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, November 2nd, 2026
