Conference: ‘Revamp education sector’

Participants stress need to take measures to improve school education.

ISLAMABAD: Speakers of a conference have called for revamping the education sector besides cleaning-up it of politics.

They were speaking at a conference titled “Education Policy Hub”, organised by Ilm Ideas Advocacy and Innovation Funds for Education in Pakistan in collaboration with the UK Aid here on Thursday.

The speakers stressed the need to take concrete measures at the policy-making level to overhaul the education system instead of just measuring the performance in numbers.

British Department for International Development Pakistan Deputy Head Judith Herbertson called for the need to make radical changes to improve the delivery of education. “One of the first things I learnt in Pakistan is safarish (reference). We need to clean-up the education system of political influence,” she said.



Institute of Social and Policy Science Executive Director Dr Salman Humayun talked about lack of funds being spent on education. “Salaries have been increased to almost 53 per cent but learning indicators show only eight per cent improvement,” he said.

“I have very strong feeling that there is a distinct disconnect between knowledge production and policy makers,” said Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives Director Dr Faisal Bari.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Member Muhammad Arif Khan spoke about steps taken towards quality education in his constituency. “We have ensured the need-based appointment rather than making recruitments on political influence as we are trying to make the hiring system free of politics.”

Sindh Assembly Member Khursheed Ahmed Junejo said that “we need to involve the local community to achieve the desired results”.

Balochistan Assembly Member Masooma Hayat said that his province faced more issues as compared to other provinces. “How can we ensure quality education when we do not even have schools?” she asked.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2015.