ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The education sector needs fundamental and comprehensive reforms; and not just piece-meal reforms that are currently being attempted.

There is also a dire need to ensure transparency and accountability in the allocation and utilisation of funds; as well as with regard to appointments, transfers and promotions of teachers.

This was stated by Dr Muhammad Said, Senator and Member of Senate Committee on Education and Science and Technology, at a Round Table Meeting organized by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, Pakistan (CPDI-Pakistan) in Islamabad. He assured the participants that he would take up the civil society concerns in the Senate as well as in the Senate Committee on Education.

Dr. Said further stated that allocation for education must be thoroughly debated by the citizens and civil society organizations before the parliamentary approval. And this is possible only if all the related information is shared with them by the ministry in a timely manner.

He said that funds allocated for the education sector are generally released quite late, which explains their misuse and under-utilisation. He particularly demanded transparency in the use of funds provided by foreign donors to the government for education sector reforms. He also urged the non-governmental organizations to ensure transparency in their functioning.

Ms. Shakila Khanun Rashid, member of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education, informed the participants that the committee on education was constituted a long time after the commencement of the present assembly. And since then, the committee on education has held only a few meetings. Even when the Committee has met, it only took briefings from the ministry or related departments without allowing any significant opportunity for members to cross-examine the officials or expressing their views.

She criticized the HEC’s policy of overlooking the need of developing social sciences and humanities, which are essential to promote human values, critical thinking, peace and tolerance in the society.

She said that the National Assembly Committee had not been consulted in any meaningful way about the changes in curriculum or about the establishment of the private school regulatory authority. She emphasized that teachers should not be appointed on contract basis or on daily wages. The government must also stop appointing military officers as vice-chancellors of universities, she added.

Prof Peerzada of Government Postgraduate College Asghar Mall, Rawalpindi informed the meeting that about 30 per cent out of 18,000 posts of college teachers were vacant in the Punjab province alone. How can the quality of education improve when even the teachers are not being provided in required numbers, he questioned?

Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Executive Director, CPDI-Pakistan, emphasized the need of greater interaction between the civil society organizations and members of the parliament, so that the goal of education for all could be jointly and efficiently pursued.

Ms Zahra Arshad, Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE), informed the meeting that lack of comprehensive and authentic data remained a major concern, as it made any kind of sound planning difficult. She regretted that, even after 58 years of independence, there were still more than 6.5 million children out of schools.

Zaigham Khan, however, pointed to several sources of data, which could be useful. He viewed that, on times, there existed problems on the demand side as well, which also needed to be addressed to ensure that the available data and reports are efficiently utilised.

Dr A. H. Nayyar also emphasized the importance of active parliamentary oversight in relation to the education sector, and agreed that civil society groups must engage them more effectively.

He, however, argued that there was a greater need to work at the district levels and with the provincial governments. It is because the education is a provincial subject, while most of the implementation activity takes place in the districts.

Prof Ghazala Ashraf, International Islamic University, stressed the need that university education was based on critical thinking. She strongly argued against the appointment of military officers in education departments and universities. In universities, we encourage and train people to think critically, while military officers are trained differently.

Education is an extremely important area for a developing country like Pakistan where major challenges include basic literacy as well as production of adequately educated, politically conscious and technically skilled human resource that could contribute to social and economic development of the country,” said Ms. Amera Hamid, Director Educacy Foundation, Islamabad.