‘Education outsourcing’: ‘UK-backed initiatives have done more harm than good’

Teachers’ union expresses concern at foreign influence over education policy.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Teachers’ Union has criticised the provincial government for “outsourcing education” to British organisations, saying their initiatives have “done more harm than good”.

The statement released on Sunday comes less than two weeks after the launch of a joint project by the British Council and the Schools Education Department to improve the English language skills of thousands of teachers, in view of the Punjab government’s plan to introduce English as the medium of instruction in all public schools in the province.



And British expert Sir Michael Barber, as a representative of the UK’s Department for International Development, formulated the Punjab Schools Reform Roadmap in 2010 that drew up a strategy for achieving 100 per cent school enrolment and improving education quality in the province.

The PTU expressed concern about the influence of “foreign hands” on the education system. It said that while teachers found training programmes to be encouraging generally, they did not want a “British system” implemented in Pakistani schools.

The education system in Pakistan “is in a dismal state” and the “outsourcing” of education to British organisations had contributed to this, said the union. “Foreign aid and expertise [have bred] initiatives that have caused more harm than benefit to education in the province,” it said.

PTU President Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi said that the government should take local stakeholders and ground realities on board before launching education initiatives.



PTU General Secretary Rana Liaquat Ali said that the government should concentrate on infrastructure and hiring more teachers before implementing roadmaps for school improvement. “When there is an education system which lacks facilities and teachers ... suggestions by foreign experts are rendered useless,” he said.

The Punjab Schools Reform Roadmap, he said, focussed on numbers rather than quality. “The focus was on improving teacher and student attendance,” he said. “These are not the only factors determining the quality of education.”

Barber reported back in May that school enrolment had increased by 1.5 million, student attendance from 83 per cent to 92 per cent, and teacher attendance from 81 per cent to 91 per cent from 2011 to 2013. The PTU dismissed these figures as doubtful, since they came from the same people that drew up the roadmap.

English medium

The PTU has also been critical of the Punjab government’s decision to make English the language of instruction in public schools, saying it is impractical.

A recent report prepared by the British Council, the Directorate of Staff Development and the Idara-i-Taleem-o-Agahi stated that 56 per cent of public primary and middle school teachers lacked even a basic knowledge of English.

The British Council and the Schools Education Department launched a project earlier this month to improve the English language proficiency of some 300,000 teachers.

“It is encouraging that the government is interested in investing in teacher training. What remains to be seen is the output,” said Ali.

If the government had not decided to make English the medium of instruction, there would be no need for the project, he added. “We need sound policy making which reflects the needs of our system,” said Ali. “Instead, we seem to be investing in one direction on issues we are still debating over.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2013.