KARACHI, Oct 16: Among other pressing issues concerning the state of education in Pakistan, the need for the government to protect the interests of the public in the private sector as well as to reconcile both sectors – currently working in isolation – was underlined at a discussion on educational reforms held here on Thursday.
Hosted by the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) at its Karimabad campus, the Policy Dialogue on Educational Reforms in Pakistan was attended by educationists, government officials and members of non-governmental organizations.
According to the hosts, the discussion was a follow-up to the international conference on the Status of Educational Reform in Developing Countries – also organized by the AKU-IED – held in Karachi from April 8 till the 10th, 2008.
Participating in the panel discussion, Yasmin Bano, head of the research unit at the Habib Education Foundation, spoke on the subject of key challenges and issues in the private sector. She said the missing piece of the quality puzzle in private sector education was the absence of the government.
“Private institutions cater to a large segment of the population. There is a flawed assumption that private represents good whereas public stands for bad. There is the assumption that the private sector provides better quality education than the public based on narrow indicators such as reading, writing, basic arithmetic, grades and speaking English,” she said.
“There is absolute freedom for private schools. People assume they do not need regulation by the government. However, the government should set up a quality assurance body – not necessarily run by it – perhaps on the lines of a public-private partnership” to monitor private schools, she added. If the private institutions follow the quality criteria, “they can get government support,” she reiterated.
Yasmin Bano also alluded to the fact that ‘reform’ itself was a loaded term and tended to conjure up images of a hidden political agenda. “Often, reform has led to an even more deprived situation, a waste of resources and privatisation.” She said the weak institutional framework of private schools made them compete with each other rather than sharing knowledge and resources. “If private schools introduce innovations, they are short-term, sporadic and unsustainable.”
During the panel discussion, it was pointed out that private schools already generated their own funds while some participants felt that comparing public and private educational institutions was like comparing apples and oranges.
Policy and action
Dr Zafar Iqbal, Dean, Faculty of Education at the Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad, another panellist, spoke on reforms in the public sector. He said that just like reform, quality had also become a buzzword. He said one of the dilemmas that needed to be addressed was the disparity between rural and urban standards of education.
“We need reforms in action rather than policy. There are very good policies. We have failed to prepare quality teachers. Commitment and attitude are lacking,” he said.
Ms Fauzia Khoro, manager, monitoring and evaluation at the Aga Khan Education Service Pakistan, shared the experience of her organisation in teacher development and peer education. She cited the example of a successful peer education programme where students from Karachi went to areas in rural Sindh to share their knowledge of computers not only with fellow students but also with teachers.
As for teacher development, she said it was noticed that after training, teachers were hesitant to go back into the classroom and wanted office jobs instead.
Aalia M. Shahid, chief programme manager of the Reform Support Unit, Sindh, spoke on the Sindh education reform programme. She said that reform was a gigantic task which required political commitment, bureaucratic efficiency, clarity and consistency. She said currently, there was no linkage between teacher training and career paths.
Irfan Muzaffar, consultant of the Lahore-based Campaign for Quality Education, also participated in the panel discussion.
Earlier, Professor Anwar Ahmad Zai, Chairman Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, in his address as chief guest, said that education in developing countries required repositioning to meet the challenges of globalization. Referring to the government’s education policy, he said it was for the first time that an action plan had been incorporated as an integral part of the policy.
Disparity in funds
Dr Mehboob Ali Shaikh, the Sukkur BISE Chairman, said that funds were not a problem, but their proper allocation and distribution needed attention. He said over the past eight years, a huge amount had been given to public sector universities at the expense of primary and secondary education. He claimed that a government school could be run with the current salary of a university teacher. He stressed the equitable distribution of funds and also highlighted the issue of absenteeism amongst teachers.
Synthesizing the different elements of the dialogue, Ms Roshni Kumari of the AKU-IED reiterated the fact that reform was not always seen as positive and always seemed to be referred to in quantitative terms. The key issues that needed to be addressed included limited local ownership of educational programmes, political interference as well as the focus on quick-fix solutions.
The dearth of empirical research on education reform and the issue of the language policy (whether to teach in English or the mother tongue) were also narrowed down as key issues.
As for the recommendations, it was suggested that a top-down approach be blended with a bottom-up effort while policies should be influenced by research and practice. Along with other stakeholders, it was also stressed that children – perhaps the most important stakeholders – should also be consulted for their views on the educational system.
Dr Mohammad Memon, Director AKU-IED, and Dr William Doe, AKU Provost, also spoke at the event.
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