Only 26.4% of the 100 millon people living in Pakistan are literate. There are sharp differences between urban and rural literacy rates, literacy rates in the four provinces of Pakistan, and the literacy rates for men and women (with females constituting the largest group of illiterates in the country). Politically there has been a great deal of articulation of the need for educating the masses. However, this has remained a superficial concern. Governmental funding, alone, will not suffice to bring about an appreciable rise in Pakistan's literacy rate. Literacy efforts in the future have to have a social rather than a bureaucratic base in order to succeed. A project which has met with a great deal of success in Pakistan is the Adult Basic Education Society of Gujranwala, established in 1948. The low drop-out rate of this project's students is a result of sensitive planning, monitoring, and administration of literacy programs. (RS)