5.7.1 THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY1998-2010
1. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Elementary education is the fundamental right of the people. It is bedrock and a foundation of the entire educational pyramid as compared to other sectors. Therefore. the government had attached greater importance in the policy to the problems of eradicating illiteracy and promoting primary education all over Pakistan in collaborating with foreign agencies.
i. Issues and Constraints in Elementary Education
Some major issues and challenges in elementary education which had been pointed out in the policy were as:
- More than 5,5 million primary schools age(5-9 years) children were left out.
- About 45 percent children were dropping out of schools at primary level.
- Teachers absenteeism was a common malady in primary schools.
- International supervision was weak:
- Learning materials were inadequate.
- Above one fourth of primary school Red teachers were untrained.
ii. Programme Forwarded in Policy for Important And Development of Elementary Education.
- Quality of elementary education would be improved.
- Character building on Islamic lines would be assigned top priority.
- Teacher's competence would be improved through ensuring relevant training programmers.
- All types of disparities and imbalances would be eliminated.
- Out of school children would be given high priority.
- Financial resources base of elementary education would be diversified.
- Non-formal system would be adopted as a complement to formal system.
- Management and supervision would be improved through decentralization and accountability.