ISLAMABAD: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation (Unesco) and its global partners will provide all possible assistance to Pakistan’s education sector, according to Unesco Assistant Director General for Education Stefania Giannini.

Pakistan and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation (Unesco) have agreed upon establishing the Pak-Unesco Joint Centre of Excellence in Teachers Training and Science, Technology, Education, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Learning in Islamabad.

Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain held a bilateral meeting with Ms Giannini, assistant director general for education (Unesco) on the sidelines of the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to discuss this.

The said centre will mainly focus on early childhood and primary education. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Education on Sunday, Ms Giannini also assured the minister that global partners will provide all possible assistance to Pakistan’s education sector.

The director of Unesco Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education said that the said project will be covered under the component of learning recovery and education which will be included in the formal proposal for the Bangkok Declaration.

It was also agreed that Unesco will enhance its efforts for capacity building of officials of Pakistan National Commission for Unesco (PNCU), whereas Pakistan’s education ministry will ensure availability of adequate workforce at PNCU. Both sides also agreed to engage on the possibility of holding an international conference in Pakistan in a mutually agreed area in line with sustainable development goal (SDG-4).

Ms Giannini was previously a senator and minister for education in Italy.

Mr Hussain spoke about Pakistan’s resolute commitment towards overcoming major challenges in the education sector and mainly related to out-of-school children, girls’ education, urgent actions required to mitigate learning losses, quality of education, introduction of skills in mainstream education as well as incorporation of technology in the conventional mode of education.

He also emphasised on damage caused by recent unprecedented floods with recovery cost in the education sector (around $918 million), adding that various interventions were made in partnership with Unesco, however, the focus shall be on major challenges with one or two high impact targeted interventions instead of low impact scattered collaborations in different areas.

The minister added that Pakistan will make all out efforts towards ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities in light of SDG-4 as well as commitments made in the Bangkok Declaration besides the recently held Transforming Education Summit.

Ms Giannini said Unesco had been doing its best to support Pakistan’s education sector along with its other partners in emergencies. She appreciated Pakistan’s commitment towards addressing challenges faced by the country.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2022