 In December 1966 the second Martial Law

was imposed by General Yahya Khan.

 The country remained in a state of political
crisis for about three years.
 Elections were held under the Martial Law
regime in 1970, but the results were not
accepted and government was not handed
over to the party which had a sweeping
majority in the East Wing but did not contest
for even a single seat in the West Wing.
 War broke out in 1971 and East Pakistan was
dismembered.
 In West Pakistan the government was handed
over to the second majority party of Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto in 1971.
 During this intervening period, the Martial
Law government set up a number of study
groups to formulate a new education policy.
 These study groups consulted with parents,
teachers and other cross-sections of society and
drafted a policy which offered a variety of
proposals.
 The deliberations of the policy were announced
in July 1969.
 Keeping in view the political turmoil in the
country, the policy aimed to use education as a
force of national unification and recommended
the integration of the two separate education
systems, madrassahs and contemporary public
schools, which were operating side by side.
 The medium of instruction was also suggested to be
Bengali in East Pakistan and Urdu in West Pakistan.

 It also called for more involvement of the students and

teachers in the affairs of education and establishment of
National Literacy Corps, a University Grants Commission,
changes in the University Ordinance and in the functioning
and management of private institutions, removing the
disparity between rural and urban education and making
the education system more functional in terms of its
contribution to productivity and economic growth.

 The policy also recommended attaching high priority to

the development of analytical and technical skills to
overcome unemployment issue in educated class.
 The decentralization of educational
institutions was also outlined for the better
administration.
 The announcement of policy coincided with
the political instability in the country.
 Political turmoil in the country even did not
allow the implementation of the Fourth Five
Year Plan (1970-75).
 Thus, the policy was abandoned and a new
policy was evolved; the Education Policy
1972-80 by the new government whilst the
proposals of the previous policy became the
basis of the new education policy.
 As quite evident from the statistics (table
3.8), the education sector had made a
substantial development since independence
with the main emphasis on quantitative
expansion.
 From 8413 primary schools, 2190 middle
schools and 406 secondary schools in the
areas now comprising Pakistan, the education
sector expanded to 41290 primary schools,
5745 secondary schools and 290 colleges
and 7 universities by the end of 1970s.
 Most of this expansion took place under five
year development plans.

 The First Five Year Plan (1955-1960) was

developed in the framework of First National
Educational Conference 1947
 ambitious targets were set to expand the
system of education and to improve its
quality. However, only 2400 new primary
schools were opened in West Pakistan against
the target of 4000 schools.
 Similarly, the anticipated rate of enrolment at
primary level was not achieved.
 The progress at secondary school level was
appreciably higher as the number of newly
established secondary schools and its
enrolment rate was higher than that was
anticipated.
 Out of total 581 million allocated to
education, only 400 million i.e. 69% of the
proposed allocation was spent on education.
 The Second Five Year Plan (1960-1965) was
developed by incorporating the
recommendations of Commission on National
Education 1959,
 by recognizing the fact, that the various levels of
education makes a pyramid and that education
system cannot be expanded without expansion at
all levels.
 More than 12000 new primary schools and
above 2000 secondary schools were added to the
system of education and a stipulated target of
enrolment at secondary level was achieved.
 Only 64% of the budget allocated to education
was spent during the second plan. The overall
emphasis was on expanding the secondary and
higher education, compared with primary
education and financial allocation was made
accordingly.
 Figure 4.1 gives comparison of financial
allocation for primary education, secondary
education, technical education and colleges and
universities, which reflects a clear shift of focus
from one sector to another sector under the
three five year plans.
 Figure 4.1: Comparison of financial allocation for
primary, secondary, technical and colleges and
universities under different plans
 Under the first five year plan, the focus was on
secondary education and colleges and
universities. Under second five year plan, the
focus shifted away from primary and secondary
education to the technical education as well as
the colleges and the universities. Under the third
five year plan, focus was shifted to secondary
education and continual support for technical
education.
 The financial allocation for education sector
made under the Third Five Year Plan (1965-1970)
was 2.5 times of the second plan. However, out
of 2374.55 million, only 1328.322 million,
 i.e. 56% of the actual allocation was spent on
education.
 In East Pakistan 70% and 125% targets of
enrolment at primary and middle stage level were
achieved respectively, while in West Pakistan the
target achieved was 37% and 50% respectively.
 The achievement targets of enrolment at
secondary and higher secondary level was 100%
and 60% in East and West Pakistan respectively.
 Hence, like second plan, more expansion was
achieved at secondary and higher secondary level
as compared to the primary level.
 Although the number of institutions at different
levels of education and the enrolment rate had
increased during the initial years, but in
comparison with the population explosion, the
expansion was not enough to cater the
requirements of all the learners, especially school-
age children. Even the lofty targets set in different
plans and policies were not fully achieved.
 As a result, the overall performance of the
educational development was not
satisfactory, particularly in the West Pakistan.
Moreover, the war of 1971 led to the
dismemberment of East Pakistan.
 This state of affairs led to the need to re-
orient the education system in the areas now
called Pakistan in accordance with the
challenges and demands of the age.