Education and Social Change in Nankana Sahib: A Historical Study of Post-Partition Educational Development

Abstract

This study examines the development of education in Nankana Sahib after the Partition of British India in 1947, with particular attention to literacy, the expansion of primary education, and the availability of institutions for secondary and higher studies. Nankana Sahib, like many other areas of post-Partition West Pakistan, faced considerable challenges in the development of its educational infrastructure. The 1961 Census recorded a literacy rate of only 7.5 percent in Nankana Sahib tehsil, indicating the extremely limited educational opportunities available to the population during the first decade and a half after independence. The absence of a higher secondary school or college in the tehsil until 1964 further demonstrates the limited institutional foundations of formal education in the early post-Partition period. Using census material, contemporary newspaper reports, and official educational records, this study traces the gradual expansion of educational facilities from 1947 to 2005. Particular attention is given to the establishment of primary schools and the changing pace of educational expansion during different periods. The available records indicate that 281 new primary schools were established between 1947 and 1977, while another 239 were established between 1978 and 2005. Although these developments substantially increased educational access, the relatively slow expansion during the earlier period illustrates the difficulties faced by the area in overcoming its educational backwardness. The study argues that the educational transformation of Nankana Sahib was a gradual and uneven process shaped by the expansion of state institutions and changing access to formal education.