Empirical evidence about socioeconomic development has proven that education is the cornerstone of a developing nation and is a prerequisite for any society. In Pakistan, several studies have been done on analysing the country’s education policies, five-year plans, reforms, projects and programmes. Apparently, aims and objectives of policies were focused on character building of the nation from Islamic ideology perspective. However, an economically poor country needs to improve its human resources to develop productive manpower. 

Education in contemporary studies is seen as the means towards a sustainable development society (UNESCO, 2007). Education research is not merely concerned about gaining knowledge, skills, attitude values etc, it is linking beyond this objective to transform individuals into a global responsible citizen.  

This article explores which priority areas and vision have been focused on in all major educational policies of Pakistan since 1947 to 2017 in order to see what objectives have been set for achieving specific targets for educating the nation, especially from a sustainable development perspective. First, the study will compare different national education policies from 1947 to 2017, and introduce the discussion about post-2009 scenario (after the 2010 18th Constitutional Amendment, education became the  responsibility of provinces). Second, the study will present the results of the decade of education for sustainable development (2005–14) in Pakistan. If education for sustainable development allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and value necessary to shape a sustainable future, it also means including key sustainable development issues (climate change, energy, food, biodiversity…) into teaching and learning methods to change behaviours. Third, the study will link sustainable development education (ESD) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Higher education programmes in Pakistan have to be associated with Education for Sustainable Development. 

References

UNESCO 2007, ‘Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?’, Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – UNESCO, Paris, France, <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001548/154820e.pdf> viewed 2 October 2017