A Challenge for Third-World Education: Changing Male/Female Literacy in Pakistan.

Noting that the formal education system in Pakistan has failed to make an impact on the nation's literacy rate, this paper reviews efforts since 1955 to improve education and adult literacy education and discusses reasons why these programs have not met most of their goals. The first portion of the paper presents an evaluation of the impact of primary level education on literacy rates and summarizes the aims and results achieved for each five-year planning period from 1955 to 1975, giving particular attention to the issues of underfunding and the failure of increases in primary school enrollments to keep pace with the annual increase in population growth. The second portion of the paper evaluates the impact of the adult literacy program and criticizes these efforts for being too small in magnitude, failing to motivate participants, and lacking educational research, materials, and teaching methods for adults. In addition, this section discusses the National Literacy Programme, a comprehensive national plan to be in operation from 1983 to 1993, which has as a major goal the reduction of female illiteracy, a culturally induced phenomenon that devalues education for women and has kept their participation in literacy programs to a minimum. An analysis of the program's strengths and weaknesses follows, with an emphasis on the need for a workable measurement of literacy. Problems in the area of relevant instructional materials and curricula, teacher qualification standards, and a specific implementation plan are also noted. (RBW)