Asian Development Bank tells Pakistan to adopt Indian education model

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has advised Pakistan to adopt India’s scheme ULLAS to fix its dysfunctional education system and impart quality training to its citizens, according to a media report.

The Manila-based lender’s recommendation comes in response to Pakistan’s request for financial support to improve its education system and impart education to all out-of-school children, a newspaper said. The Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society (ULLAS) was launched by the Government of India in July last year to help non-literates and adults who had missed out on formal schooling.

The ADB recommended that the government adopt a strategic and multi-stakeholder consultative approach, drawing on international best practices, such as the government of India’s new Centrally sponsored scheme ULLAS.

The ADB emphasised that the ULLAS scheme emphasises the need for both federal and provincial governments to collaborate urgently to enhance access to quality education and can offer insightful lessons of success and challenges when considering a similar vertical scheme in Pakistan. PM Narendra Modi approved ULLAS for a five-year period to cover all the aspects of “Education for All”. Pakistan last week declared an education emergency on International Literacy Day to educate around 26 million out-of-school children in the country.