Over a third of Pakistan’s population of around 200 million is under the age of fifteen, yet it has the world’s second-highest number of children out of school. Pakistan’s youth could be the nation’s greatest asset—or its biggest liability. Turning around Pakistan’s broken education system potentially holds the key to a more peaceful and prosperous future for a country in one of the​ ​world’s most volatile regions.​ U​sing the themes of e-learning, technology, and innovation as broad organizing principles, our hope for this conference is that the discussions will stimulate creative thinking and lead to practical​ ​solutions to this problem.

This conference is the second in this series. The first, titled​, Pakistan’s Biggest Challenge: Turning Around a Broken Education System​​, was held in the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC on ​October 08, 2014​.


ORGANIZERS


Institute for South Asia Studies

CSAS logoOne of the world's leading institutes for research and programs on South Asia, the Institute for South Asia Studies (ISAS) at the University of California, Berkeley works with faculty members, graduate students, community members, private institutions, and non-profit organizations to deepen understanding of the region and to create new generations of scholars of South Asia.


The Berkeley Pakistan Initiative

Pakistan Initiative logoOfficially launched in 2013, the Berkeley Pakistan Initiative is a campaign to broaden and deepen Pakistan related research, teaching and programming at UC Berkeley. Its long-term goals include hiring faculty who specifically work on Pakistan, broadening and deepening understanding of Pakistan by sponsoring talks and conferences on campus and across the Bay Area, promoting scholarly exchanges between UC Berkeley and educational institutions in Pakistan, raising funds for graduate fellowships (to train the next generation of scholars of Pakistan), and providing funding for Pakistan-specific courses at UC Berkeley. Currently, the programs that anchor Pakistan studies at Berkeley are: the Mohamedali Habib Distinguished Lecture Series on Pakistan; the Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada Dissertation Prize on Pakistan; and the Berkeley-AIPS Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP) 


TCF logoThe Citizens Foundation, USA

The Citizens Foundation, USA supports the building of civil society in Pakistan and promotes gender equality by providing quality scientific and balanced education for underprivileged children.