Pakistan’s Education Debt: A Nation That Has Never Paid What It Owes Its Children |
Imagine a bank that has mismanaged a loan for decades, only to blame the borrower for the bankruptcy. Picture a corporation that has recklessly polluted a village's water source for years and then shifts the blame to the residents for their ensuing health crises. Envision a water system that deliberately delays repairs for leaks, only to accuse consumers of overreacting when they demand action.
This is the stark reality of Pakistan’s education system, a realm marked by dysfunction and neglect for far too long. Education debt constitutes the cumulative historical, economic, sociopolitical, and moral burden resulting from generations of unequal educational opportunities afforded to marginalised groups. Its repercussions include persistent inequality, poverty, social exclusion, and the forfeiture of human potential.
After COVID-19 and the floods of 2022, analysts argue that Pakistan is suffering from a polycrisis—a situation in which multiple, distinct crises (educational, economic, environmental, geopolitical, social, or technological) occur simultaneously and interact in ways that amplify each other, deteriorating outcomes more severe than the sum of the individual crises.
Education debt is a foundational fault line that undermines the stability of our society. It turns small, local issues into bigger, ongoing, and self-reinforcing polycrises. When marginalised communities lose access to education and economic resources, they become more vulnerable to environmental and technological changes. This makes it easier for small problems to grow into larger, society-wide disruptions. Over time, education debt does not just add to other crises—it helps cause them. This keeps inequality in place and makes it harder for us to solve the serious challenges we face today.
In May 2024, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif declared an education emergency—an acknowledgement that came only after harrowing statistics revealed that 26 million children are out of school and that the World Bank (2022) ranked Pakistan among the lowest in education performance. Disturbingly, in the same year, Pakistan allocated less than 1% of its GDP to education.
This prolonged educational crisis has rarely been viewed as a comprehensive issue. Instead, Pakistan's educational challenges have been tackled piecemeal, missing the opportunity to........