Education and development in the Karakorum: educationalexpansion and its impacts in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Abstract

Despite countless political declarations of commitment and continued efforts to improve rural education in the Global South, little progress has been made in the last decades. Some parts of the Gilgit-Baltistan Region in northern Pakistan constitute a rare exception in this respect. The analysis of this instructive example of a successful educational expansion allows for identifying key facilitating factors which made possible here what was doomed to fail elsewhere. Starting from very low education levels only six decades ago, parts of the region today are among the educational front-runners of Pakistan. Various education sector initiatives of the government, non-government institutions, denominational networks and the private sector have improved access to education and created new educational opportunities. This educational expansion has not been a homogeneous and linear process but is characterized by variegated ruptures, inequalities and disparities along regional, denominational, socioeconomic , inter-and intra-generational as well as gendered lines. Many households could largely benefit from the educational opportunities in form of off-farm income generation and professional employment, but a group of continuously poor and educationally marginalized is threatened to be left behind. Zusammenfassung: Trotz unz�hliger politischer Absichtserkl�rungen und anhaltender Bem�hungen, die Bildungssitu-Trotz unz�hliger politischer Absichtserkl�rungen und anhaltender Bem�hungen, die Bildungssituation in l�ndlichen Regionen des Globalen S�dens zu verbessern, wurden in den letzten Jahrzehnten dabei nur geringe Fortschritte erreicht. Teile der Region Gilgit-Baltistan im Norden Pakistans stellen eine der wenigen Ausnahmen in dieser Hinsicht dar. Eine Analyse dieses aufschlussreichen Beispiels einer erfolgreich verlaufenden Bildungsexpansion erlaubt es, entscheidende Erfolgsfaktoren zu identifizieren, die hier ermöglichten, was in vielen anderen Regionen bislang nicht realisiert werden konnte. Ausgehend von sehr niedrigen Bildungsraten konnten einige Gebiete Gilgit-Baltistans innerhalb von nur etwa sechs Jahrzehnten zu den f�hrenden Bildungsregionen Pakistans aufschließen. Durch zahlreiche Bildungssektor-Initiativen von Seiten der pakistanischen Regierung, Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen, konfessionellen Netzwerken und dem Privatsektor wurde der Zugang zu Bildung verbessert und neue Bildungschancen geschaffen. Der Bildungsexpansionsprozess verlief jedoch nicht homogen und linear, sondern ist charakterisiert durch vielf�ltige Br�che, Ungleichheiten und regionale, konfessionelle, sozio-ökonomische, inner-und intergenerationelle sowie Gender-bezogene Disparit�ten. Viele Haushalte konnten stark von den neuen Bildungsmöglichkeiten profitieren, etwa in Form von formaler Besch�ftigung und außerlandwirtschaftlichen Einkommen. Doch eine Gruppe von fortw�hrend Armen und bez�glich Bildung Marginalisierten droht zunehmend abgeh�ngt zu werden.

Framing Modernization Interventions: Reassessing the Role of Migration and Translocality in Sustainable Mountain Development in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

“…Thanks to new medical facilities and a rising trend of seeking health treatment outside the region, the health situation in Gojal has also improved noticeably (AKRSP 2007: 38; Uddin et al 2010; Mohyuddin and Begum 2014). The level of formal education is almost unparalleled in other rural peripheral regions in Pakistan (Benz 2012(Benz , 2013a(Benz , 2014a and is well above the national average (Table 1).…”

English and the transnational Ismaili Muslim community: Identity, the Aga Khan, and infrastructure

“…These private Aga Khan Higher Secondary Schools are known for their ‘high quality standards’ (Benz 2013:130), and were frequently mentioned during my fieldwork with respect to the quality of teaching in English. While the most reputable English-medium schools in Gilgit-Baltistan at the secondary level are costly and unaffordable for the majority of local residents, ‘the beginning of the age of mass education in Gilgit-Baltistan’ for boys (Benz 2014:128), and later for girls (Benz 2014:129; cf.…”

“…While the most reputable English-medium schools in Gilgit-Baltistan at the secondary level are costly and unaffordable for the majority of local residents, ‘the beginning of the age of mass education in Gilgit-Baltistan’ for boys (Benz 2014:128), and later for girls (Benz 2014:129; cf. also Benz 2013) is the result of efforts on the part of the Aga Khan III who used his authority to make local rulers of Ismaili settlement areas, who were themselves Ismaili, open up the educational system to children from various backgrounds. These efforts have been continued by the Aga Khan IV and the AKDN, who have contributed widely both to a general increase in literacy in largely rural Gilgit-Baltistan as well as to an increase in access to English 21…”

Examining the relationships between early childhood experiences and adolescent and young adult health status in a resource-limited population: A cohort study

“…Considerable investment in rural support, education, and health changed this situation after the 1978 opening of the Karakoram Highway, which provided increased accessibility to the area, leading to substantial societal change [ 5 ]. Communities in G-B were strongly motivated to invest in children’s education for future job opportunities and income [ 7 ]. The most recent evaluation in 2010 showed a dramatic secular transformation, resulting in a narrowing of the income gap, to a per capita income of about 90% of the national average [ 8 ].…”