Ministry’s devolution: NEF may be handed over to NCHD

The government is planning to bring NEF under the ambit of NCHD.

ISLAMABAD: The government is planning to bring the National Education Foundation (NEF) under the ambit of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), The Express Tribune has learnt.

Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, a number of federal ministries, including the education ministry, will be devolved and handed over to provinces.

Under the devolution plan, different autonomous wings of the education ministry, will be given to independent organisations rather than to provinces, to maintain their national-level functioning.

However, NEF officials are opposed to this move and want to retain its autonomous status, with a separate budget and administrative control.

The foundation is an independent wing of the education ministry that has been promoting and addressing critical educational issues including gender, improvement in literacy standards, community participation and socio-economic empowerment of rural communities for the past two decades.

To bring such an established institution under the control of a newly established institute like NCHD is “an irrational move”, an NEF official said on condition of anonymity.

“The decision will have serious consequences and put the fate of community schools at risk,” the official added.

The foundation works closely with non-government and community-based organizations to enhance their capacity and help educate children of their communities.

It works in collaboration with the private sector as the government does not have enough resources to fund basic education for everyone, the NEF official explained.

Presently, over 5,000 basic community education schools across the country, including 1,400 schools of social action programs are working under NEF in Gilgit-Baltistan.

As many as 15,300 teachers are directly concerned with NEF, in addition to around 500 administrative staff and 1,000 supervisors. Almost 90 percent teachers are female with minimum salary of Rs5,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.