More than 90 percent of primary and lower-secondary students in Pakistan have only a weak or basic understanding of the mathematics and science they are required to learn, according to a nationwide study conducted by faculty at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan (IED). “Science and mathematics education are in dire need of attention from practitioners and policymakers,” said Assistant Professor Nusrat Fatima Rizvi, a study co-principal investigator. Researchers found that multiple factors were significantly correlated with students’ learning outcomes including high-quality teaching practices and a student’s mother having a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Among the study’s notable findings was that students in monolingual classrooms – where the textbook, teaching and examinations were all in one language – outperformed those in multilingual classrooms.