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A daylong conference on 'Reforming education in Pakistan: Constraints and opportunities' will be held on April 4, at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, here. Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Jehangir Karamat will present the introductory remarks, while the speakers invited are Sindh Education Minister Dr Hamida Khuhro and noted educationists from the four provinces of Pakistan, says an announcement of the South Asia Studies Wednesday.
Universal education and equipping citizens to take an active role in Pakistan's political and economic life is widely perceived to be a key prerequisite for a vibrant civil society and for economic development.
Many Pakistani governments in the past had put education rather low on the policy agenda, resulting in inadequate funding, which might explain the dramatic rise of the private education including religious schools, the organisers stated.
Inadequate funding has also kept overall literacy rates including female literacy at a low level. Over the past several years, especially since 9/11, the country's educational systems have come under very close and very critical scrutiny.
Religious schools, in particular, have been perceived to have a radical agenda. Another issue is the social impact of low rates of female literacy. There is now a renewed effort, both by the government of Pakistan and by the international donors, to improve the quality of education and to make it more universal.
This conference brings together some of Pakistan's best academics and practitioners in the education sector to analyse trends in education, to identify major challenges and to probe the likely outcomes of various policy options.
The goal is to stimulate discussion and debate among the experts and to involve the audience as much as possible in this exchange of views.
The conference will have two panels, to be moderated by visiting SAIS scholar S. Akbar Zaidi and SAIS Associate Director Walter Andersen.
The topic for the first panel will be 'Delivery and content,' and the participants will be: Shahid Hafeez Kardar, Education Specialist, Lahore, who will speak on 'The changing educational landscape;' Abdul Hameed Nayyar of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, on the topic: 'State schools: Are they preparing students to be productive citizens?; Bernadette L., Dean Aga Khan University, Karachi: 'Are there alternative curriculum models that would make students more productive citizens?; Anita Weiss, University of Oregon: 'The neglected poor: who will educate them and what will they learn?; Tahir Andrabi, Pomona College: 'Religious school enrolment in Pakistan: A look at the data'; Saleem Ali, University of Vermont: 'Are Islamic schools compatible with the demands of a modern society?'.
The panel two is titled as 'Partners, Communities, Donors and Government.
The speakers will be Sindh Minister of Education Dr Hamida Khuhro: 'Government reform in curricula: building on the debris of a half century of neglect'; Abbas Rashid, Society for the Advancement of Higher Education (SAHE), Lahore: 'Are the teachers qualified? And what will it take to make them better?'; Shandana Khan, CEO, Rural Support Programmes Network, Islamabad: 'Rural people care about education: the experience with community-managed schools'; Kathy Barlett, Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva: 'Are schools ready for children and are children ready for school?'; Vijitha Eyango, USAID, Bureau for Asia and Near East: 'Identifying challenges and defining progress by a major foreign donor: the experience of USAID'; Ambreen Hayat, Advisor of The Citizens Foundation 'Pushing the envelope on education: efforts of private citizens'.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005

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