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Nineteen years back on July 4, 2011, I was discussing the future of education in Pakistan with my friends. At that time I was studying for a master’s degree in education at a private university in Pakistan. I was young, energetic and wanted to contribute to the wider educational development of the country.
Today on Sept 9, 2030, while working on my super computer from my home in my virtual office as a consultant on strategic management, I can easily recall the mist of uncertainty that had surrounded everything in Pakistan including education in the year 2011. Year 2000 onwards Pakistan was on the edge of inherited paradoxes of identity, ideology and democracy. It had created anxieties and brought groups and individuals of difference of opinion face to face. Major cities in Pakistan were under suicide bomb attacks. Inflation was at its peak. There was a lack of consensus on matters of national interest including educational policies, reforms and its implementation. The quality of education as a result was compromised and ignored.
However, this situation did not prevail for a long period of time. Pakistan had no choice but to reform its basic educational, political, administrative and judicial mechanism and structures, set its target and decide its priorities. This was due to increasing globalisation and competitive market pressures in the rapidly-changing knowledgeable society of the 21st Century. A free media supported by the judiciary and educated class of the Pakistani society played an important role in strengthening democratic reforms by 2020.
By that time we had 70 per cent representation in the parliament by common Pakistani educated parliamentarians who were aware of both the challenges and opportunities offered by the knowledge society of the 21st Century. They realised that there is an inevitable linkage between a country’s economic development and its education. By the help of media and a free and fair judicial system they focused on improving fiscal structure, developing governance and management capacity, controlling corruption and introducing financial reforms. This resulted into a landmark economic progress of achieving half of the estimated economic targets by 2020 as per vision 2030 set by the planning commission in 2007 which was $141 billion as compared to 100 billion at that time and raising the per-capita income from the $925 to $4,000.
Economic achievements helped Pakistan to invest more in education, research and development. In 2022 a five-year strategic plan was developed to raise the literacy and primary enrolment rate to 100 per cent. For this purpose a large section of the education sector was privatised. As a result now in 2030, 70 per cent of the academic institutions including schools colleges and universities are privatised.
Five years back, in 2025, insurance companies were invited to develop public-friendly education finance programmes. This reduced public dependency on government funding for educational development in the country. But the Pakistani government was thinking ahead and the parliamentarians were concerned about the underprivileged sections of Pakistani society so the government developed an educational financing programme for them. Since the developments in networking and IT integration had reduced physical sense of schooling which was why the government and private sector was in a better position to maintain their virtual compasses on low cost-no cost basis. This in return enabled the government to save a large amount previously used for infrastructure development and maintenance. This amount was then diverted towards quality enhancement and educational support programmes for under privileged sections of Pakistani society.
Today in 2030, the economic liberalisation is facilitating the growth of the capital market, commodities and exchanges across the globe. It is coupled with innovation, knowledge, technology and competition. A rapid growth can be seen in electronics, fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automotive products, textiles, iron and steel industries across the globe with 10 to 15 per cent growth worth $500 to $2,500 billion record business. Its triple down effects can be seen in the Pakistani economy so the institutions of higher education in Pakistan are now focusing on developing a human resource capital to fulfill the growing industry needs of the post-2030 world.
The flux of information and technological advances have now impacted educational policies and reforms in Pakistan. For instance, as compared to 2020, there is a greater emphasis on new fields of knowledge that have now an economic value in a techno-driven world, which includes agro industry, services, leisure and tourism industry, space sciences, bio technology, genetic engineering and information, communication technologies.
Overall the developments in education in 2030 Pakistan are like the whisper of spring in a desert. After a trying journey we, as a nation, are now able to generate and absorb knowledge and harness technology for the good of all while promoting social sciences and humanities as an essential branch of knowledge vis-a-vis technological advancements of the 21st Century.
