Pakistan’s education system is expanding schooling, but not necessarily learning. Enrolment numbers have improved over the years, yet a quieter reality persists inside classrooms: many children are present but not truly learning.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Education Report 2026, around 77% of ten-year-olds in Pakistan cannot read and understand a simple, age-appropriate text. This is what global research calls “learning poverty”, but on the ground it looks less like a statistic and more like a daily struggle.

In one classroom I recently observed, a student in grade five could recite an entire passage from memory, yet hesitated when asked to read a short, unfamiliar sentence independently. This is not an isolated case; it reflects a wider pattern.

For years, policy has focused rightly on getting children into schools. More buildings, more enrolment drives, more access. But somewhere along the way, learning itself became secondary. The system has become efficient at filling classrooms, but far less effective at ensuring what happens inside them.

As someone........

© The Nation