Speakers at a conference observed that framing the rules of business under their respective Right to Education (RTE) laws and ensuring implementation and operationalization of these rules remains a concern. This was the crux of a day-long education conference "Education Policy Hub" organised the Ilm Ideas Programme.
Ideas partners comprising leading civil society organizations presented policy asking the public and private education community to focus on addressing key bottlenecks in delivery. These included recommendations on re-sourcing public education; making it more inclusive towards marginalized communities; leveraging media to influence and communicate policy reforms; and identifying effective measures to reduce barriers to reform and implementation, especially 25-A.
Zehra Zaidi, Team Leader, Ilm Ideas said the Programme has been working with leading practitioners, activists, and researchers to develop innovative education solutions as well as accountability models to support education delivery. She added that the "Education Policy Hub" is a platform to have meaningful conversation about converting policy into action so that we can accelerate the process of reform. Dr Faisal Bari of IDEAS said there is a lack of significant evidence in the policy process due to which we do not ask the right questions. "In order to undertake effective policy reform there needs to be a direct link between evidence, advocacy, and policy" he said. Dr Salman Humayun, Executive Director of Institute of social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS) said that the principle challenge faced by public education in Pakistan is linked to the way resources are allocated and spent on public education.
Atif Shiekh, President STEP said that "access and quality of education for children with disabilities (CWDs) have long been ignored, and despite a large population of children who need to be mainstreamed into the education system this continues to be a severely under represented area in policy circles.
A session on assessing performance and delivery with leading education experts consulting on the state of education delivery five years after 25-A. Panelists stated that while it was heartening to see that federal and almost all the provincial governments have passed the laws to comply with the constitutional obligation. "Framing the rules of business under their respective Right to Education (RTE) laws and ensuring implementation and operationalization of these laws remains a concern." stated Ahmad Ali, Research Fellow at ISAPs.
The State Minister for Education Muhammad Baleegh-ur-Rehman said the government is committed to improving access to quality education in Pakistan in significant ways which is reflected through the increase in budgetary allocations. Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform Ahsan Iqbal said the importance of education is known to all and it is need of the time to act and move forward. "I will totally support what was being discussed, said the minister adding that we have to train our students to ask intelligent questions.
Pakistan education system is based on the industrial revolution system, he said, adding that we are building robots in our schools and need to develop their cognitive skills and creative thinking. The government is aware to the education challenges in Pakistan, the federal government has convinced the provinces to form curriculum in unison. We need to develop a more scientific curriculum, he added.
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