ABSTRACT
Pakistan is among a unique set of countries that is at the start of a demographic phase when its working population will constantly increase, in relation to those that are not at a working age. The extent to which young people will be educated and the quality of education they receive will be critical to Pakistan’s future. Since the demographic transition happens to be timed alongside the country’s democratic transition, the intimacy of their interplay, both real and perceived, is inevitable. The current situation is, however, quite alarming, since Pakistan is headed in a direction that will produce multiple generations of illiterate, unlettered and unfulfilled citizens. Frequent allusions to democratic transition and demographic dividend are therefore out of synch with the reality both the state and society are invested in, and actively working towards. There is little to no indication that a major transformational change is on the cards, despite a significant change in some aspects of education. This chapter begins by assessing what a set of positive signs with regards to democratic transition in Pakistan looks like from the lens of reform in education. It then identifies how those signs may be catalysed, and what it will take to sustain them so that they represent the beginnings of a larger social, economic and political transformation in the country.
