The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, referred to as Pakistan, means “holy land” and “halal country”. It is located in the northwestern part of the South Asian subcontinent. The land area tends to be about 800,000 square kilometers (excluding Kashmir), and the total population reaches up to 197 million. Pakistan is an Islamic country with many ethnic groups. When it comes to language, Urdu is the national language and English is the official language.
In 2007-2008, the total population of Pakistan amounts to more than 159 million and the labor force population reaches up to 51.78 million, an increase of 1.45 million over the last year. And the employed population was 49.09 million, an increase of 1.44 million over the previous year. What’s more, the number of women employed has increased, too. The employment status figures show that the number of employees has dropped from 37% to 36%, and the families without income have risen from 27% to 29%. The overall number of unemployed people increased slightly by 10,000. The number of unemployed men decreased while the number of unemployed women increased. The total unemployment rate was 5%. The relative importance of the formal economic sector in terms of employment absorption has declined overall (from 28% to 27%), falling from 27% to 25% in rural areas and remaining unchanged in towns. In contrast, the informal economy provides 73% of the main jobs outside the agricultural sector with 75% in rural areas and 71% in urban areas. There is lots of labor force in Pakistan but lacks high-end talents, and a large number of people with low education levels become employment burdens. It is difficult to be competent and only can be engaged in some low-end, unskilled or low-tech jobs due to the low vocational skills. In order to increase the employment of this country, the Pakistani government also strongly advocates the export of labor. The United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and the Middle East have become the main destinations for their labor exports. There are a large number of Pakistani practitioners in all walks of life in these countries and regions. However, the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” has provided many employment opportunities to Pakistan. According to the data of the Ministry of Planning and Development of 2018, the early harvest project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has created 38,000 jobs, 75% of which are Pakistani labor. It is expected that the corridor will continue to create 500,000 jobs for Pakistan in the next 5-7 years. Besides, the corridor will help Pakistan improve its investment and business environment and create an ideal platform for attracting foreign investment.
After the founding of Pakistan, universal primary education is one of the main goals of the education plan. The enrollment rate of school-age children in 1980 was 56% (of which the male student ratio was larger than that of female students). The problem of primary school fluency is more serious, reaching up to 59%. The development of primary education is out off balance between men and women. In 1972, the national illiteracy rate totaled 73.3%. During the secondary education stage, the course is divided into three years, including two years of middle school and two years of high school. In 1980, the enrollment rate of children aged 10 to 16 was 18%. Traditional secondary education attached much importance to theoretical knowledge and study the curricula for graduation exams. Since 1972, the reform of secondary education has been gradually carried out. One of the main measures is to implement agricultural technology education and combine general education with vocational and technical education. New courses of agricultural technology education are offered in grades 6-8, and vocational courses are offered in grades 9-10. There is only one Punjab University in Pakistan and 26 independent colleges before independence. After independence, higher education entered a new era of development. In 1977, there were 15 universities and 261 independent colleges. However, there was no corresponding development of secondary education when developing higher education. Besides, the rate of reading liberal arts among undergraduate students is always high, reaching up to 60%. Since the late 1970s, the Pakistani government has greatly improved higher education and enriched the university’s and independent college’s book laboratories and equipment. In addition, key discipline centers in some universities have been established, offering master and doctor graduate programs such as analytical chemistry physical chemistry, marine biology, solid physics, geology, etc.. They have also established regional research centers and applied research centers and set up higher education research institutes.
There are many poor children in Pakistani universities. Any middle school students who graduated from the Urban School Group and the Lighthouse School Group (the two aristocratic school groups in Pakistan) often do not choose Pakistani colleges and universities because of their wealthy family. Instead, they choose to go to Dubai, London, New York and other places for further study. What’s more, private aristocratic middle schools are the cradle for cultivating Pakistani students. They are often directly linked to colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. Students who graduate from private aristocratic high schools are easily given the opportunity to go to Europe and the United States to study, and their teaching materials are in line with Europe and the United States. The students of Pakistani domestic universities are usually from the lower middle class and poor families. In comparison, Pakistan’s higher education attaches more importance to liberal arts than sciences, and the proportion of liberal arts has reached up to 70%. Therefore, outstanding speakers in Pakistani can be seen everywhere, while decent engineers are difficult to find.
Chinese language education in Pakistan has a history of more than 40 years. There are more than 20 middle and primary schools have opened Chinese courses. The number of Chinese learners in Pakistan has increased by a hundredfold, from more than 30 people to more than 3,000 today. The four Confucius Institutes and a Confucius Classroom established in Pakistan provide opportunities for more and more Pakistani students to learn Chinese. The Confucius Institute and the Confucius Classroom are the Confucius Institute at Islamabad, the Confucius Institute at Karachi University, the Confucius Institute at Faisalabad Agricultural University, the Confucius Institute at Punjab University, and the Confucius Classroom at the Muzaffargar Shortwave Listening Club. Politics between China and Pakistan has always been allied, and Pakistan is also an important country on the Silk Road. Therefore, the development of student exchanges tends to be promising, and other higher education exchanges and cooperation also need to be expanded and deepened in order to cultivate and maintain the relationship and social construction between the two countries.
[box type=”note” align=”” class=”” width=””]Author: Ashley from FTM Machinery Source From: https://www.ftmsino.com/[/box]