A brief overview of education system in Pakistan
Pre-school:
A child may begin his/her schooling at a pre-school at the age of 3. Over the last few years, many new kindergarten (sometimes called Montessori) schools have sprung up in Pakistan.
Primary school:
Formal education in Pakistan starts from around age 5. The first 5 years of school are referred to as primary.
Middle:
After primary education of first 5 years the next 3 are referred to as Middle
High School:
After middle next 2 years are called High schools education in Pakistan Board examination of 9th and 10th grade
Technical Education:
Students can enter a plethora of technical institutes for technical certificates and degrees. The entrance requirements for these courses vary greatly with some such as carpentry requiring the applicant to be literate whereas others such as B. Tech in automation require HSSC.
Intermediate:
After matriculation students may choose to undergo 2 years of additional schooling after which they sit for the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC), more commonly referred to as ‘Intermediate’ exams. Students normally read about 5 subjects in a chosen stream such as pre-medical, science, humanities, pre-engineering etc.
College Education:
Students can then precede to a College or University for Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Science (BSc) or Commerce/Business Administration (BCom/BBA) degree courses. There are two types of Bachelor courses in Pakistan namely Pass or Honours. Pass constitutes two years of study and students normally read three optional subjects whereas Honours are three or four years. It is important to note that Pass Bachelors is now slowly being phased out for Honours throughout the country. Students may also study for professional Bachelor degree courses such as engineering (B Engg), medicine (MBBS), veterinary medicine(DVM) law (LLB), agriculture (B Agri), architecture (B Arch), nursing (B Nurs) etc. which are of four or five years duration depending on the degree
University Education:
After college student may go for master degree of their choice for 2 to 3 years master degree certificate which is also known as postgraduate level.
Student may further go for PhD degree which is normally awarded by the public or private sector universities in Pakistan.