Importance of education is evident from the Education policies introduced by the Government different periods. Following education policies have been introduced in the country since its independence in 1947:
- Educational conference 1947
- Report of the Commission on National Education 1959
- Education Policy 1972-80
- Education policy 1978
- National Education policy 1998-2011
From 1947 to 1998 all the policies emphasized upon the promotion of literacy, universal primary education, improvement in the quality of education and promotion of science and technical education. Stress was also laid on the quality of teacher training, improvement in the textbooks and the examination and evaluation system. High targets were set for improving primary education and literacy rate but in reality those targets could not be achieved.
After 5z years, literacy rate is 51%. The important aspect of Education policy 1972-80 was nationalization of private institutions but it damaged the system of education. In the policy of 1978 teaching of Islamiat and Pakistan Studies was made compulsory from class lX to degree level.
During this period Social Action Programme was started for improvement of education by opening new schools for female children. Literacy Commission was set up with an objective of spreading literacy in the country. But in practice the objectives of education could not be achieved as per targets set in the policies due to meagre allocation of funds for different sectors of education, defective supervision and mismanagement of the educational institutions.
Private sector was totally ignored and was kept away to share in the promotion of education. The examination system suffered from a number of malpractices. The Teacher training system could not be improved. Therefore, government decided to prepare a comprehensive Education policy to meet the challenges of the modern world. In this Perspective National Education policy 1998-2011 was prepared and enforced in the country.