Abstract:
Higher Education (HE) in Pakistan presents a case of the "inverted
pyramid". The need of the country is to eradicate illiteracy and yet on the
eve of the new millenium it stands at a humble 45 per cent. Poverty in the
country is on the rise. Given the constraint of the financial resources the
downward spiral is evident and yet the masses at the grassroots level could
greatly benefit from increased literacy skills. Equipping them with functional
literacy skills would clearly improve their quality of life. Given the two
opposing trends whereby the country needs to provide massive literacy skills
to its populace and the infrastructure of education heavily biased in favour
of HE, an innovative approach within the education system and its mode of
delivery is needed. This paper focuses on one such possibility and proposes a
model to develop a link between the two to place the benefits of HE at the
doorstep of the populace where it is desperately needed.
