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| Among ADBs Developing Member Countries Pakistan Is the Least Prepared for Digital Education. |
The Asian Development Bank's report, "Toward Mature Digital Education Ecosystems:
The Digital Education Readiness Framework," highlights Pakistan as the least prepared among developing member countries (DMCs) for digital education. Pakistan faces challenges such as low internet connectivity (34.1% households connected), slow fixed broadband speeds, high fixed line broadband costs, and limited rural electricity access. In comparison, Uzbekistan is the most prepared, followed by Indonesia.
Across various pillars, countries perform weakest in the Providers pillar, with six DMCs in the "initial" readiness category (Cambodia, Bangladesh, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Fiji) and four in the "emerging" category (Indonesia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, and Uzbekistan).
The gap between the model country and the highest-scoring country is significant, approximately 45 points. While most DMCs maintain low mobile broadband costs relative to GNI per capita, fixed broadband costs vary. Pakistan, Cambodia, and Indonesia have less affordable broadband costs, while Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan are more affordable.
Urban electricity access is high, but rural access ranges from 90% to 100% for DMCs, with Pakistan lagging at 41.3% of rural households lacking electricity. In terms of TV coverage, Pakistan ranks lower at 62.8% of households, but leads in cable TV subscriptions among the countries studied.
Pakistan's National Education Policy 2017–2025 emphasizes ICT access in schools, enhancing teaching quality through ICT, and capacity building, though device access specifics are not detailed.
