Allah Bakhsh Malik is a social scientist, public policy advisor, academic, researcher, and author with experience in management, education and institutional and human development. He served as Secretary for Education during 2017-2019. Malik was conferred UNESCO Confucius Award in 2011. He served as Secretary of Education to the Government of the Punjab and Secretary of National health Services, Pakistan. He also served as the Federal Health Secretary of Pakistan.[1]
He represented Pakistan and Asia Pacific nations on the Board of Global Partnership for Education - GPE, The World Bank for three years.[2]
Dr. Malik is the former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) (2004 to 2008). He revamped and restructured PEF as an autonomous organization established to forge public-private partnerships for the promotion of quality education for the less affluent and under-served marginalized sections of society at affordable cost. He developed and introduced for the first time in Pakistan, new instruments for affordable quality education through innovation. The Economist declared these instruments as the best designs and replicable model in the world. LUMS has published a landmark study on the best performing institutions in Pakistan, 'Candles in the Dark' and PEF is one of them with Dr. Malik as CEO of the organization. He served as Secretary Literacy and Basic Education Department with Skill Development Program and Secretary Youth Affairs (2009 to 2012) Government of Punjab Pakistan. He served as Federal/Additional Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for National Tariff Commission, Commerce and Textile Industry. Malik has several decades of experience in various aspects of the education sector and skill development: policy and situation analysis, assessment, policy formulation, strategic interventions, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. He has vast experience in implementing social development projects focusing social and human development. Dr. Malik led one of the largest education system in the world as Secretary Education Punjab and introduced new instruments and maverick initiatives in collaboration with The World Bank, DFID, UNESCO and UNICEF. He restructured DSD into Quaid e Azam Academy for Educational Development - QAED, now one of the premier teacher training academy in the region.
Dr. Malik was elected Alternate Member of the Board of Global Partnership for Education - GPE for Asia Pacific Region. The Global Partnership for Education supports developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, most vulnerable and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Dr. Malik also worked with Asian Development Bank on Skills and Employment and skills required in fourth Industrial Revolution. He was also Member of the Steering Committee and Drafting Group of Framework For Action beyond 2015 by UNESCO Paris. He is the founding trustee of Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE). Dr. Malik also served as lead international consultant with the UNESCO, IUCN, Asian Development Bank, The British Council and many other international organizations. He worked as Advisor the Governments of South Africa, Philippines and Qatar for promoting affordable quality education.
Malik is a Chevening Scholar and Charles Wallace Trust Fellow at SOAS, University of London. His work has been extensively published. He was conferred Global Excellence Award of Management in 2013. He was the first Chairman of National Curriculum Council, Government of Pakistan.
Dr. Malik is Post-Doc Visiting Scholar (2006-2008) in Economics of Education in Public Private Partnership: Freedom of Choice, Affordable Quality Education in Public Private Partnership from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA. He is PhD in Development Economics, Public Finance and Resource Mobilization, Punjab University Lahore Pakistan. He completed his MPhil degree in Economics and Politics of Development from Cambridge University – United Kingdom. Dr. Malik formulated Punjab Youth Policy 2012, National TVET Policy 2015, Punjab Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) and supervised the revision of National Education Policy 2009.
Dr. Malik served as Member and Chairman Punjab Public Service Commission from May 2021 to May 2024.[3] Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik is currently serving as Vice Chancellor of a university; Ghazi National Institute of Engineering and Sciences.