US, Pak officials discuss cooperation on education

Officials from both the US and Pakistan met to discuss issues relating to the education sector in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Officials from both the United States and Pakistan met in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss issues relating to the education sector in Pakistan, as part of the ongoing Strategic Dialogue between the two countries.

The Education Strategic Dialogue highlights the shared commitment to a long-term relationship between the US and Pakistan that focuses on improving the lives of the Pakistani people and working to ensure that all have access to quality education, particularly girls. At Thursday’s meeting, the second of the Education Working Group, participants further discussed the direction of the US-Pakistani partnership recently agreed upon by Pakistani government officials and US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator, Dr Rajiv Shah. The dialogue underscored the commitment of the governments of the US and Pakistan to continue support for basic education while exploring ways to increase support for technical and higher education.

The Education Strategic Dialogue was co-chaired by Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on the Social Sector, and David Barth, Director of Education, USAID. Other members of the Pakistani delegation included Federal and Provincial Education Secretaries Dr Javaid Laghari, Chairman, Higher Education Commission, and Dr Sohail H. Naqvi, Executive Director, HEC. Other members of the US delegation included Alina Romanowski, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programmes, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State, and Dr Marshall Smith, former Deputy Secretary of Education.

The US delegation also called on Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali, Federal Minister of Education. The Secretary of Education, Imtiaz Kazi, presented to the delegation the National Education Policy adopted in 2009, followed by presentations by representatives from the provincial governments of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, and officials from Azad Jammu Kashmir, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Gilgit-Baltistan on educational priorities and challenges in their regions. Members of the Pakistani and American delegations discussed how to jointly support implementation of the education policy, especially at the provincial level.

During the session on higher education, the Education Working Group considered how the US government can improve its support to higher education in Pakistan.  The discussions included the possibility of establishing centers of excellence at Pakistani universities and further developing US-Pakistan exchanges, linkages, and scholarship programmes, including the Fulbright Programme.

Other sessions included discussions on the 18th Amendment and its implications for the provinces, National Achievement Standards for Teachers and Students, technical education, and the Pakistan Education Taskforce.

The group will continue to interact over the coming months and will meet again in six months.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2010.