Accountability and education

In his new assignment as Chairman of the National Commission for Governance Reforms (NCGR), former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Husain, is emphasising transparency and accountability, the lack of which, he observed at a seminar on "Governance Reform in Education Sector" is a major cause of poor public sector performance.
To make his point, he referred to the example of SBP, which, he said, "was made corruption and black marketing-free through transparency and disseminating all information on web site."
The real problem in the present context, according to him, is not with policy but the implementation task wherein no one accepts responsibility for failure. A cursory look, though, at the public sector education suggests that what accounts for deterioration at all levels is failure in both policy and implementation work.
In fact, Dr Husain stated a basic policy issue as he commented that there is a dire need to promote quest for knowledge and research for the achievement of sustainable economic growth. It needs to be recalled that the downward slide in our public education system started when the Zia-ul-Haq regime decided to ignore this fundamental imperative in order to advance his personal political agenda.
As part of a well-calculated policy, curriculums were revised to introduce contents that discouraged scientific thinking, promoting, instead, retrogressive ideas and attitudes. The result has been a dismal decline in the general standard of public sector education accompanied by distortions and retrogressive tendencies in society.
The present government has undertaken a much-needed policy change, and is in the process, though a hesitant one, of modernising and upgrading the curriculums taught at different levels of learning.
It hardly needs saying that it is not enough to announce a good policy, it is equally important to ensure its implementation. Towards that end NCGR has formulated a number of important recommendations that have been forwarded to its steering committee for approval.
These include the establishment of district education boards for civil society participation in planning; empowerment of school management committees and parents/teacher associations; separation of teaching and management staff; better testing and examination systems; greater public-private partnership; and creation of a data management information system.
NCGR also mentions the role of district and provincial governments in the context, but it is unclear how the responsibilities are to be divided between the two tiers of government.
Ideally, local governments should have greater control over the schools within their jurisdiction. However, according to some, this oftentimes leads to favouritism and nepotism in appointments and transfers as well as in teacher absenteeism, which is a serious issue in the rural districts. It can be addressed through an oversight and accountability mechanism.
The provincial governments have the necessary capability to perform the supervisory task. That, though, in no way should mean reversion to the old system under which provincial governments controlled every little detail with regard to the performance of schools and their staff. Local communities must play an effective role and hold the school managements to account if they do not come up to the required standards.