Guided by the concepts of Islam machinery for social and political progress in West Pakistan where nearly eighty percent of the population is rural is gradually being developed This coupled with an improvement in literacy may well trigger significant advances in the next generation Conversely if normal development is retarded a potentially disastrous situation could result In all developing countries of the world education in rural areas has always presented an array of difficult problems Although the strategy for rural education has to be different for different climes and cultures most of the basic problems have common features The agricultural population is conservative and their economic position necessitates optimal utilization of all human and material resources However all developing nations are now realizing more intensely than ever before that sheer exploitation of physical resources would not accelerate economic growth unless due preference is given to the development of human resources Here written from the viewpoint of a Pakistani scholar is a much needed progress report which encompasses the impact of educational social political and health education programs in the rural population as well as an analysis of these programs in their wider historical perspective