KARACHI, Nov 22: Though factors such as funding constraints, limited human resources and the attitude of the bureaucracy were hindering the growth of Pakistan’s nascent research culture, participants of a panel discussion held here on Saturday also felt that the research that is being conducted in education was not benefiting the end users – schools – and that a partnership should be formed between schools and universities to share and benefit from the findings of research.

The discussion, titled ‘Improving quality of educational research in Pakistan,’ was held at the auditorium of the Aga Khan University and was part of a seminar – ‘Educational research in Pakistan: opportunities and challenges’ – organized by the Pakistan Association for Research in Education (PARE), a group which brings together educationists and educational institutions to promote research in the country.

Participants of the discussion included Dr Hafiz Mohammad Iqbal of Punjab University, Dr Mohammad Memon of the Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development, Dr Nelofer Halai (PARE president), Tahir Javed (Al-Murtaza Network), Professor Dr Tanveer Khalid (University of Karachi) and Dr Syed Abdul Aziz of Hamdard University. Dr Fauzia Shamim of KU served as moderator.

Mr Tahir Javed felt that a very important bridge needed to be built between researchers and users (schools) as users were not benefiting from the research. Suggesting the establishment of a partnership between universities and schools to share research, he said schools were sitting on a goldmine of data, which was not being tapped.

He added that there was a perception that researchers were distant and when they came to schools, they seemed to be riding an intellectual high-horse, retreating to universities after conducting the research and not sharing the findings with schools. Dr Fauzia Shamim initiated the discussion by pointing out that if research was weak, it could lead to bedlam if put into practice.

Dr Tanveer Khalid said that the purpose of research should be to make students productive citizens. “We must understand the ground realities, which might not be what we desire,” she said, adding that students from a multitude of backgrounds from across the country attended KU and thus the varsity had to be realistic when framing policies. She also said that social sciences were usually ignored when research was being conducted.

Dr Hafiz Mohammad Iqbal decried the lack of government funding for research, saying that with the predicted 50-60 per cent cut in the Higher Education Commission’s budget, Pakistan’s research culture was being nipped in the bud. He also pointed out that social taboos hindered the growth of research culture as people often asked what was the need for research.

“The bureaucracy’s mindset is such that it does not believe in any research, data or facts and figures. They think they know what is better. The leadership doesn’t believe in competency, but (fulfilling) political commitments,” he said, adding that there was no tradition of publishing research in Pakistan’s universities. “We need to write, publish and disseminate more.”

Dr Mohammad Memon said the philosophy driving academics should be that whatever we do, we should share. He said the turf war between public and private educational institutes must end and instead, institutions must come together and formulate a research agenda. He added that it was the “moral responsibility” of educators to guide policy-makers, as the latter were not academics but technocrats and bureaucrats.

‘A nebulous concept’

Dr Nelofer Halai said that quality was a “nebulous concept” and needed elaboration. However, she said that a few characteristics of quality in education were that studies should be relevant and contextual to the problems confronting the developing world. “How do you get there? It goes back to the classroom. Quality resides in teaching.” She suggested that nodes be established in different universities to bring educators together.

Earlier, educational researcher Abbas Rashid delivered the keynote address titled ‘Research, advocacy and policy: exploring contextual imperatives.’ He said the reason for the disconnect between research and policy was that the policy-makers did not feel the need to conduct context-based research and that consultation had taken the place of research. “Very few institutions have the ability and the incentive to do research.”

He said that though there were exceptions to the rule, in general there was limited research output, while a tenuous link existed between policy-makers and research institutions.

Talking about what shaped educational policy, Mr Rashid said at times it was ideological preferences, which resulted in such experiments as nationalization, de-nationalization and privatization of institutions while in other instances it was “travelling reforms” suggested by such multilateral institutions as the World Bank, which were not contextualized to the local environment.

He said no new policy mentioned any research-based evaluation of previous policies, identifying the strengths and weaknesses, while decisions seemed to be made arbitrarily.

“Teachers are the key determinants of quality. Where do they come from? Colleges that no one is looking after,” as the HEC and ministry of education both did not want to claim ownership of the vital educational institutions.

He concluded by saying that collaborative research was required within and outside the education sector, while politicians should be lobbied, for instance with cut motions during budget sessions, to bring about positive changes in educational policy.