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Educational status in Pakistan during 2000s
Summary of statistics

The gender disparity in education is much lower in urban places then rural areas. One of the possible explanations of this pattern is because of its area and wealth of the residents. Moreover, there are very few employment opportunities for women in rural areas, and thus, there is very little financial incentive for families to send their girls to schools.

Education and Literacy:

Although free primary education is a constitutional right and is compulsory in every province except Balochistan, people rarely send their daughters to school. They maintain their stereotype that women should only stay about home to look after their husbands and children and “15 years old means a girl becomes a woman”, therefore, women stay at home and do domestic work.

Reasons why adolescents cannot go to school

Inadequate teacher preparation and teacher attendance

Gender, income and area

Current statistics about education in Pakistan

5.4 million children of primary school age are not in school; 62% of them are girls.

49% of girls who begin primary school leave before completing the final grade.

62% of girls and 5% of boys between the ages of 10 and 12 are not in school

71% of women in Pakistan have not completed primary school, compared with 41% of men

Statistics about education in 2005-2006

Primary school: 59% for boys and 41% for girls

Public middle school: 61% are boys, and 39% are girls.

In rural schools, 66% enrolled students are boys and 34% are girls.

High school (grade 8-10): The 61% of students are boys and 39% are girls.

In rural high schools, only 28% of the enrolled students are girls, and 72% are boys.

Statistics about education in 2008-2012

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Cultural politics

The political culture of Pakistan is defined by the multi-ethnic. The politics was concentrated mainly in the hands of a few people who migrated from India and having been displaced.

Ethnic groups

Punjabis are the largest linguistic group (44.2% of the population)

Three occupational castes: Rajputs, Jats, and Arains.

Pakhtuns (15.4%) are the dominant ethnic group in the North-West Frontier Province

Sindhis (14.1%) are dominant in Sindh and are divided into occupational and caste groupings.

Balochis (3.6%) are dominant in Balochistan and are divided into various eastern and western tribes.

Other ethnolinguistic groups include the Siraikis, who live mostly in Punjab;

Urdu-speaking Muhajirs

Refugees from India and their descendants who migrated to Pakistan during the 1947 partition and are concentrated in Sindh

Brahuis, a Dravidian language group in Sindh and Balochistan.

Political Parties

Political parties have increased in number but declined in political power, particularly in relation to the military. Since the late 1990s, numerous parties have divided into factions. The Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif have divided into numerous parties, and the Muttahida Quami Movement has lost substantial legitimacy as a result of involvement in violence. Officially, 73 parties contested the 2002 National Assembly elections, but only 3 percent of voters were registered as members of a political party. The military has given financial support to religious parties as a counterweight to secular parties, but electoral support for religious parties has been well below 10 percent nationwide. Many parties have separate wings for women and youth, and many are accused of having militias that collect funds and intimidate opponents.

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The overwhelming majority of the population (96.3%) is Muslim (of which 95 % are Sunni and 5% Shia). Sunnis and Shias are sub-divided into numerous sects.

Approximately 1.6% of the population is Hindu

1.6% is Christian

0.3% belongs to other religions, such as Bahaism and Sikhism.

Some 0.2% of the population is Ahmadiyya (also known as Qadiani)

Pakistan was founded to promote religious freedom, and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. However, Islam is the state religion, and the constitution states that religious practice is “subject to law, public order, and morality.” The government also has Islamic institutions such as the Federal Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology. The government has promoted Islam as a means of unifying numerous ethnic groups.

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The Kashmir conflict, in particular, remains a great human tragedy and a major cause of migration instigator in many ways. The conflict, began in 1947, when the Hindu ruler of the Muslim majority princely state opted to accede to India as armed tribesmen from Pakistan advanced towards the state capital Srinagar. Two – thirds of the former state went under the control of India. Soon after the war in 1948, India and Pakistan signed the Karachi Agreement in July 1949 and established the ceasefire line (CFL) in Kashmir.

The war of 1971 resulting in the military defeat and surrender of Pakistan in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and some territorial loss in West Pakistan (present day Pakistan)

A number of bombs explored in the Mumbai trains on 2006 and killed people. India pointed its accusing finger toward Pakistan and then the relations deteriorated. However, the relationship improved after a meeting between India’s Prime Minister Man Mohan Sindh and Pakistan’s President General Pervaiz Musharraf.

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By the early 1800s the British had emerged as the preeminent political and economic power in much of the subcontinent. British dominance was far from complete, with at best tenuous control over what are now Pakistan’s western provinces. The British East India Company had the power ruling most of the Indian subcontinent, but the Indian-led Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 seriously challenged British occupation and caused the British government to administer India directly.

Prior to 1857, Muslims were excellent in economics and administration, and Muslim leaders are believed to have led the country to regain the political and economic advantages. The British responded by dropping Urdu and Persian as official languages and replacing them with English, thus rendering many Muslims functionally illiterate and unemployable. The British also placed Hindus in many positions previously occupied by Muslims.

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China has been Pakistan’s most consistent ally because of shared antipathies of other countries, such as India and Russia. But in the 1990s China formed a more distant relationship as a result of India and Russia’s growth in military. However, China is alleged to supply Pakistan with nuclear weapons material

Relations with Afghanistan have been harmonious and tense. The two countries have a disputed border, but Pakistan supported insurgents in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation in the 1980s and was a key ally of the Taliban in the 1990s.

Since their 1971 war, Pakistan and Bangladesh have formed a closer relationship because of the shared opposition to India.

Pakistan’s successful nuclear tests in 1998 initially led to international sanctions that were later eased as a result of economic concerns. After September 11, 2001, the United States and other countries saw Pakistan as an important ally in fighting international terrorists operating in Afghanistan, and international aid increased.

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Muhammad Iqbal conceived the concept of a Muslim homeland called Pakistan (“Land of the Pure”) in the 1920s, but the establishment of Pakistan was most advanced by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a Bombay lawyer.

In July 1947 the British announced their intention to withdraw from India. Pakistan was born as an independent state in August 1947, divided by 1,600 kilometers of Indian soil and by economic and social divisions between a largely Bengali East Wing and a heavily Punjabi and Sindhi West Wing. The country also faced problems with absorbing millions of Muslim refugees from India, addressing substantial poverty, and establishing a functioning government and national unity over a geographically and ethnically divided state.

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President Pervez Musharraf accommodated U.S. requests for assistance after 9/11, especially in the search for al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. "The United States and [President] Bush have confidence in Musharraf. He’s seen as the best alternative in Pakistan,"

Pakistan joined the U.S. war on terror and broke relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban government. In June 2003, Bush announced that Pakistan had arrested more than 500 Taliban members. One of the most significant catches was the “March 2003 arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed”, the former No. 3 leader of al Qaeda and the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Pakistan has also deployed 25,000 troops to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the mountainous region that borders Afghanistan, to track Qaeda fugitives.

Because of the relationship between America and Pakistan, they regained the strategic importance it had during the 1980s, when it was a base for U.S. aid to Islamic militias fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. On June 24, 2003, President Bush hosted Musharraf at Camp David and announced a $3 billion aid package for Pakistan, as well as $1 billion in loan forgiveness, in recognition of its assistance to the United States in fighting al Qaeda.