Pakistan’s education system has been under pressure for years, with significant concerns about quality, access, and equity across both public and private schools. Although millions of children attend school, learning outcomes often fail to meet grade-level expectations.
The National Achievement Test (NAT) has traditionally measured student learning in Grades 5 and 8 across public schools. However, the results of NAT 2023 exposed what officials openly called a “serious learning crisis.” In response, the Prime Minister declared an “education emergency,” signaling that the problem had finally reached political and policy priority.
As a result, the Ministry of Education and Professional Training has decided to widen the scope of national assessments. NAT 2026 will now include students from private schools, offering a more comprehensive picture of student learning across the country.
How Will the 2026 Assessments Work?
This year, students in Grades 5 and 8 from both public and private schools will participate in national assessments across all provinces and regions. More than 20,000 students are expected to be evaluated under a scientific sampling framework.
Separately, the government will conduct the first-ever National Foundational Learning Assessment (NFLA) to evaluate early learning outcomes in the lower grades. Both assessments are being aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which emphasizes inclusive and quality education.
Why Is This Happening Now?
This expansion is being driven by several key factors:
- The government seeks a complete picture because private schools educate a large share of students, and in some areas, they even outnumber public schools. Their performance has largely been missing from national data, resulting in an incomplete view of learning nationwide.
- NAT 2023 also revealed serious learning gaps, with students failing to meet benchmarks across the system. Including private schools will confirm that the crisis is nationwide, not limited to government schools.
- There is also international pressure to meet SDG-4 commitments, so aligning assessments with global standards enables Pakistan to track and report progress more effectively.
- Finally, there is growing recognition that early reading and math skills are the foundation of lifelong learning. If children do not master these basics in the early grades, they struggle later. This approach reflects Pakistan’s effort to address this challenge.
Lessons From Past National Assessments
Including private schools in NAT 2026 is a crucial step toward creating a more accurate and representative picture of learning across the country.
However, it is not the first time that private schools have been included in a national assessment. The NAT assessment tested 30,000 students using a carefully designed sample and found that students in private schools generally performed better than those in public schools. Yet, those results did not trigger meaningful systemic reform. NAT 2023, despite donor support, fell short due to its neglect of writing skills and the use of a flawed sampling design that compromised national representativeness.
What sets NAT 2026 apart is that it will run alongside the first-ever National Foundational Learning Assessment, focusing on early grades and foundational skills. This could help identify gaps early and guide improvements before children fall behind.
NAT 2026 must not just stay on paper. If results aren’t used to improve teaching, critical skills could be overlooked, and schools may struggle to build the capacity needed to support better learning.
A Chance To Learn From Our Own History
NAT 2026 has the potential to turn assessment results into real improvements in learning. Students will be assessed more systematically, teachers may face greater scrutiny, and low-fee private schools could feel pressure to demonstrate quality. Policymakers will gain broader and more reliable data, and parents may finally get a clearer picture of how well their children are learning.
However, the real impact will depend on how the government uses these results. The difference between success and repetition will depend on whether assessment is treated as a tool for accountability and improvement, rather than an event to report numbers.
Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CREDP. This content is meant for informational purposes only.
