Islamabad: Despite generous funding from foreign donors to transform the educational sector in Pakistan and the claims by various governments regarding improvements, there are almost 23 million out-of-school children in the country, the second highest number in the world, a report said.
The findings were made public in the report titled, "Why can't Pakistani children read?" by published by the Wilson Center's Asia Programme, The Express Tribune reported on Monday.
The report highlighted the weaknesses of the Pakistani educational system and the reasons why schools were unable to impart skills necessary for reading and learning.
Researched and authored by Nadia Naviwala, a Wilson Center global fellow and former public policy fellow, the report is based on visits to about 100 Pakistani classrooms, discussions with government ministers, other senior officials, technical experts, and international donors; and interviews with teachers and students.
Pakistan has one of the largest externally-funded education reform programmes in the world and since 2001 the education budget has been going up by 18 per cent every year.
