The Senate Standing Committee on Education, in its meeting the other day, demanded immediate appointment of Federal Minister for Education. It would really stand to reason that in the absence of a fully-fledged Education Minister many may start doubting the seriousness of the government about fulfilling in right earnest its lofty education-related agenda.
For, as it is, the basic purpose of the meeting, which was chaired by Senator Razina Alam Khan, appeared to have revolved around the understandable urge to resolve the long pending issues bedevilling this vital sector so as to make education really purposeful.
This must have been why the Senate body, among other things, urged the government to accord top priority to providing better training to teachers, on the one hand, and to embark on constant periodic review of the curriculum, on the other, in order to keep pace with the developments the world over. It will also be noted that while supporting the idea of merit-based recruitment of teachers, the committee focused more attention on raising their salary structure and enhancement of their social status.
Again, the emphasis it laid on curricula and related pedagogy will bring to the fore the fact that the deliberations of the meeting were based on an in-depth and objective comprehension of what really ails the country's education sector. Significantly, not only the curricula but also teacher-related situation can be seen as falling too short of what is basically required for attainment of the set goals in many disciplines. Worse, there also happens to be a glaring lack of an integrated system by which one step leads to the next in such an unfailing way as to help a student develop a truly sound base for the discipline he may be interested in.
More to this, even at the higher levels of education, equally conspicuous by its absence happens to be the mechanism to enable a student to assess his potential or opt for just the right academic career. In so far as promotion of higher education is concerned, it will be recalled the situation was far better, prior to the shift of students' focus away from Britain and on to the United States. During those days the Pakistan High Commission, in London, used to have an education attaché for counselling students and helping sort out their problems.
In so far as endorsement of the merit-based recruitment of teachers is concerned, it can be attributed to the increasing disgust caused by the serious disarray plaguing the prevailing system which directly obstructs the very purpose of education, that is, creation of inspired students. This, of course, is a task that inspired teachers alone can accomplish.
Hence, taking due notice of political meddling in appointment, posting and transfer of teachers, more so in the provinces and remote areas, it asked the Education Ministry to accord highest priority to training of teachers at all levels. Pointing out that the flawed approach is damaging the fundamentals of education it did well to ask the Education Ministry to work out a new draft of value-oriented education policy, conducive to elimination of the basic national problems.