Teachers and the learning crisis

World Teachers' Day, on 5 October, called on governments to stand with teachers. In Pakistan, that commitment must survive beyond the speeches. It must reach the classroom, where teachers are expected to deliver learning despite unequal pay, uneven deployment and inadequate professional support.

The Pakistan Economic Survey 2025–26 reports education expenditure at 0.8% of GDP in 2024–25. The Education 2030 financing benchmark is 4–6%. This distance matters because improving teaching requires sustained funding for preparation, classroom materials and the work conditions. Provincial governments need credible spending plans, with published allocations and actual expenditure, so commitments can be assessed against delivery.

The consequences are visible in children's learning. ASER 2025 finds that only about half of Class 5 children can read a Class 2-level story. The finding exposes a serious failure: children can spend years in school without mastering foundational skills. Enrolment and learning must be pursued together.

Teacher shortages also require a more precise diagnosis. Tabadlab's Dec 2025 report, The Missing Ustaani, using 2022–23 school census data, identifies 195,550 vacant sanctioned teaching posts. Vacancies, however, are not interchangeable with the additional teachers needed to meet a particular classroom staffing benchmark. National totals can conceal schools with surplus staff alongside schools struggling to function.

A quarter of public primary schools for girls operate with one teacher, rising to 52% in Balochistan and 51% in Sindh. Expecting one teacher to provide individual attention without additional support is a failure of system design.

Provincial departments should publish school-level staffing needs and use transparent rules for recruitment and transfers. Redeployment must be combined with targeted hiring where shortages remain. Remote postings need incentives, safe transport and suitable accommodation. Staffing decisions should protect girls' access to education and their progression beyond primary school.

Pay deserves equal scrutiny. A study of 436 science and math teachers, published by UKFIET in 2026, found that private-school teachers accounted for 85% of those earning below Rs20,000 monthly; women constituted 82% of that lowest-paid group. These are findings from one sample, not national estimates. They nevertheless raise serious questions about how the profession values qualified women and sustains teaching in low-fee schools.

Fair salaries and secure employment should accompany meaningful professional standards. Promotion should recognise demonstrated teaching practice and professional growth. Raw examination scores alone cannot fairly measure a teacher's contribution when children enter classrooms with vastly different opportunities and levels of preparation.

Professional development must become part of everyday teaching. The Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel identifies structured support for teachers and instruction matched to children's learning levels as cost-effective approaches. Pakistan should translate that evidence into usable lesson guides, regular classroom coaching and simple assessments that help teachers identify gaps and adapt instruction. Pre-service preparation should include supervised classroom practice.

Teachers also need preparation for multilingual and multigrade classrooms, and for including children with disabilities. Books in languages children understand, accessible materials, safe drinking water and functioning toilets belong in the same reform agenda. Digital resources should support teaching.

Curriculum and exams must reinforce this work.

Implementation needs clear responsibility. Provincial departments should publish annual progress on staffing, teacher support and foundational learning, with additional resources directed towards the schools facing the greatest disadvantage. Teachers must help shape these reforms, and headteachers must have the support to sustain them. Pakistan will honour its teachers when it makes effective teaching possible in every classroom.