In Pakistan, continuing education is often framed as a youth-centred pursuit tied to school-leaving exams, university admissions and early career preparation. Yet millions of adults live outside this narrow pipeline. For those who wish to complete matric, pursue intermediate credentials, gain vocational certifications, or resume academic studies later in life, the path is obstructed by bureaucratic hurdles, rigid age restrictions and a striking absence of public policy focused on adult learning. At a time when global economies emphasise lifelong learning as a driver of mobility and resilience, Pakistan remains structurally unprepared to support education beyond the age of 18.
The barriers begin at the most basic level. For adults wishing to appear for matric or intermediate examinations, procedures vary widely across provincial boards. Age limits and documentation requirements often make registration difficult, particularly for older learners who may have lost earlier records or never enrolled in formal schooling. Some boards allow private candidates; others impose strict conditions; and none provide a dedicated adult stream designed to recognise diverse life trajectories. What should be a straightforward process becomes a maze of applications, attestations, and repeated visits to board offices. This alone discourages thousands of potential candidates every year.
The problem extends into higher education. Public universities rarely offer flexible pathways for mature learners. Evening programmes exist, but primarily in urban centres and with limited disciplines. Bridging courses, credit recognition mechanisms and competency-based alternatives, which are standard features in many middle-income countries, are largely absent. Even the Higher Education Commission’s policies contain little reference to adult-entry frameworks. This creates a system in which education is front-loaded in early life, leaving minimal room for academic re-entry later.
While the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission reports that more than 300,000 trainees graduate from technical institutes annually, access remains constrained by geographic concentration, traditional course offerings, and entry criteria that do not account for adults with irregular schooling histories. Moreover, informal training in trades like plumbing, tailoring and carpentry continues to dominate the labour market, but these skills rarely translate into formal certifications. Without recognition-of-prior-learning models, adult workers remain excluded from higher-income opportunities.
These barriers have wider economic implications. Pakistan faces a labour market in which more than 60 per cent of the population is under 30, yet unemployment among young adults remains high. At the same time, millions of mid-career workers find themselves displaced by technological change, declining industries or post-pandemic restructuring. A 2024 World Bank labour assessment noted that Pakistan requires “large-scale reskilling and upskilling initiatives” to align its workforce with emerging sectors such as digital services, renewable energy, and logistics. In countries like Malaysia and Turkey, adult education centres, modular diploma systems, and industry–education partnerships help individuals re-enter the labour force with enhanced skills. Pakistan, by contrast, relies on a narrow model of early-life education that does not match contemporary labour realities.
The absence of national initiatives specifically targeting adult learners is striking. Countries across South Asia have institutionalised adult literacy programmes with structured pathways into formal qualifications. Bangladesh’s Bureau of Non-Formal Education operates community-based centres that enable adults to progress from literacy to secondary equivalency. India offers the National Institute of Open Schooling, which provides flexible assessment options for learners of all ages.
Pakistan once operated adult literacy campaigns through provincial education departments, but these were never scaled into long-term qualification systems. Today, most adult education efforts are run by NGOs or small-scale private academies, lacking regulatory support and recognised accreditation. Education also intersects with gender disparities. For women who left school early due to marriage or caregiving responsibilities, re-entry into formal education is an essential pathway to economic participation. Yet, limited women’s testing centres, absence of flexible learning arrangements and bureaucratic rigidity prevent many from enrolling. A Unicef report estimated that nearly 12 million adult women in Pakistan lack basic literacy. Without targeted pathways for their re-entry, national gender equity goals remain unattainable.
Technology could ease some of these barriers, but digital learning remains underdeveloped. While federal and provincial governments have launched e-learning portals, these are primarily designed for school students, not adult learners. Digital literacy gaps and inconsistent broadband access also limit their reach. For a country with more than 125 million broadband subscribers, the potential for online continuing education exists, but the institutional frameworks required to support lifelong learners are missing.
The economic costs of neglecting adult education are substantial. Productivity losses, skill mismatches, and underemployment reduce the overall potential GDP. The Asian Development Bank estimates that inadequate workforce skills cost Pakistan up to two per cent of GDP annually. Adult education is not merely a social service but an economic imperative. By enabling workers to adapt to technological change, complete unfinished schooling, or shift into new sectors, continuing education directly strengthens national competitiveness.
There is also a broader social dimension. Adult education enhances civic participation, improves health outcomes, and strengthens community resilience. Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment are more likely to access banking services, participate in democratic processes, and engage with public institutions. In Pakistan’s context of governance fragility and low institutional trust, adult learning becomes not just a labour intervention but a nation-building tool.
Despite these stakes, adult learners remain an invisible constituency in national policy. Without flexible examination pathways, bridging courses, recognition-of-prior-learning systems and accessible vocational programmes, millions remain excluded from meaningful advancement. The narrative that education ends at 18 is out of step with global practice and harmful to national development.
Pakistan’s future depends not only on schooling its children but on empowering its adults. A modern economy requires continuous learning, institutional flexibility, and accessible qualification systems. Building such a system is not a matter of creating new institutions but of reorienting existing ones toward inclusivity and lifelong relevance. Expanding adult exam pathways, formalising vocational recognition and supporting flexible entry to higher education can begin to close the gap.
The question is not whether Pakistan needs adult education reform but whether it can afford to ignore the millions who seek a second chance at learning. The answer should be self-evident. Sustainable economic progress depends on ensuring that education is not a one-time opportunity, but a lifelong right.
The writer is a transnational educational consultant, freelance columnist and policy analyst based in Lahore.
