Former Advisor to UK Prime Minister and renowned global innovation expert Charles Lead on Saturday said that government and civil society in Pakistan should work towards betterment of the education system. He said that civil society should give new ideas to the government and this shall improve the system.
Charles Lead was addressing the program organised by Ilm Ideas Program to announce the launch of its second Request for Applications (RFA) to grant awards nation-wide for increasing access to quality education for children aged 5-16 years. The event included an Innovation Education Expo, which showcased ideas on innovation funded under the Ilm Ideas portfolio and demonstrated ideas such as radio learning, satellite enabled mobile vans, and digital whiteboards.
He stressed upon developing a key relationship between the civil society and government. He said, "Your place in society is not fundamentally fixed by the place you were born". Charles said that in Punjab efforts are under way to improve the schools but besides improving the schools and increasing the number of children focus should also be on improving the quality of education.
Director West Asia Department For International Department (DFID) UK Moazzam Malik briefed the audience about the initiatives taken by the UK government for the improvement of education sector in Pakistan. "The United Kingdom recognises that making the world a better place is good for the world and good for the UK", said Malik. Chairperson Bunyad Literacy Shaheen Attique-ur-Rehman said that strengthening of the education system at the local level is difficult without the local government system and unfortunately in our country nobody is ready to boost its powers.
She also said that the provinces have done nothing regarding the implementation of Article 25 (A) of the constitution. She said that technical courses should be introduced at middle level with the support of TEVTA and NAVTEC. Shaheen Atiq-ur-Rehman emphasised the need for people to organise and push politicians into action on the dismal state of education in Pakistan. She called out to Pakistan's educated citizens to become change agents.
Acting Team Leader Ilm Ideas Program Zehra Zaidi said that Ilm Ideas is a three-year program funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development (DFID) aimed at increasing access to quality education, increased enrolment rates of children in primary and secondary schools, improved learning achievements and effective governance in the education sector. She also said that they eagerly await applications with novel and creative solutions that can be scaled up and change the future for Pakistani children.