Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Spokesman Ahsan Iqbal has said that the recent floods have caused colossal damage to education infrastructure in the country. We need to double our efforts. There is a dire need to decentralise education management at district level by establishing District Education Authorities with professional management.
We must adopt uniform curriculum throughout the country to produce one nation but the 18th amendment has brought further fragmentation of curriculum by leaving it to the provinces. There is an urgent need to establish an All Parties Parliamentary Committee on the pattern of constitutional amendment committee to monitor achievement of MDGs in the country and ensure continuity of policy.
A new public-private-citizen compact is needed to mobilise the entire nation towards attainment of universal primary enrolment. He expressed these views while addressing a seminar "What will it take to achieve education related MDG in Pakistan" organised by Better Pakistan Foundation, a civil society organisation. Ahsan Iqbal said that the Universal Primary Education is the most basic building block for constructing a knowledge-based society.
"Pakistan will take 38 years to achieve universal primary enrollment (UPE) at present pace. We have an international commitment to achieve UPE by 2015. In new knowledge revolution era, nations without strong knowledge foundations will sink further in under development," he said.
He said that lack of political will, class based education system, low budgetary allocations, poor governance, lack of infrastructure, irrelevant curriculum, low morale and quality of teachers, and lack of community ownership are some of the reasons for pathetic performance in education sector.
"We need to declare emergency and develop a five year crash plan to achieve universal primary enrollment target of Millennium Development Goal" he said. Ahsan Iqbal said, "How sad was it that Pakistan was the seventh member of the world nuclear club but has a dismal record in education by standing 141st among 172 nations in Global Human Development Index.
Federal minister for education Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali expressed concern over several educational systems in the country, some of them coming in conflict with one another and also fraught with faulty approach to national requirements, that hampers the evolvement of a national education outlook. Even the Urdu and English medium systems and learning offered by religious seminaries were far from catering the national objectives, as the later was also a popular system and needed to get absorbed in the national mainstream.
Prime minister's adviser on education Shahnaz Wazir Ali said the entire educational system would have to be changed and a new national educational outlook adopted in view of the regrettable fact that Pakistan is the only country in the world that has shown no progress in any sphere of socio-economic life in 63 years and education is no exception. She said, "The main reason for lack of political will in the country was lack of representation of middle classes in the Parliament."
Dr Warren Muller, country Director, UNESCO, speaking on the occasion said, "Achieving MDGs is imperative for development and growth of developing countries. Without strong social foundations we can't make any economic progress". Leading educationists, representatives of provincial governments, media, and experts attended the seminar and made recommendations.