Literacy without Formal Education: A Case Study in Pakistan

Abstract

Universal literacy and compulsory primary education are desirable goals in most developing countries and are elements of their developmental strategies. Investments in new industry, agriculture, and the infrastructure of developing countries often receive more attention than expenditures in the social sectors, which need funds for health, education, housing, and welfare programs. In Pakistan, for instance, the main emphasis during the first three 5-year plans has been on investment in physical goods, and in time of budgetary crises the social sector is among the first items to be curtailed. Leaving aside the complex question of the role of investment in human capital for national economic development, there is still a need to realize the scarcity of funds which confronts the enormous tasks in the field of education and literacy. The 1961 population census of Pakistan reports over 80 percent of the population (age 5 and older) to be illiterate; a plan to overcome illiteracy on a massive scale mentions that 68 million people will have to be included in its program.1 Economists have shown little interest in human-resource development in spite of clear economic dimensions: claims are made on very scarce resources.2 They may even have hindered adult literacy campaigns, arguing that benefit-cost ratios of adult programs compare unfavorably with programs investing in children; the lack of impetus of literacy campaigns in West Pakistan can certainly be related to a development bias toward the areas mentioned before. In this article, I report on empirical research done to explore the question of