January 11, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: Pakistan must frame its own agenda for education according to its needs and priorities, the education minister, Zobaida Jalal, said here on Friday.

She was speaking to the coordination committee of donor agencies in Pakistan.

Briefing the 30 representatives of donor agencies in Pakistan, including DFID, JAIC, USAID, Ms Jalal said in the past three years, the government had worked very hard to mobilize opinion across provinces, even at the district level, with all partners for policy resolution and implementation.

Provinces will make adjustments according to their priorities, that are currently being finalized by the new governments, she said. The current focus is on elementary education with evolving links to secondary, post-secondary education, to ensure opportunities for transition between one level of education to the next, she added.

The minister said the scope of work in education was included in the ESR document, and had a balanced sub-sector approach from early childhood to tertiary levels. She acknowledged the help of development partners in the education sector.

She said the government would facilitate donor agencies with a view to serving human resource development. She said quality was a thrust area across all sub-sectors. It addresses curriculum, development and management, textbooks, language, pedagogy, assessment/examination, supervision and physical learning environment, she added.

Later, the minister answered various queries made by the donor agents.

All the agencies assured the minister that they would work closely with her ministry for the betterment and uplift of basic education in the country.

APP ADDS: The federal education minister has said the public-private partnerships in education sector are being mis-interpreted, in terms of the government giving up its fundamental responsibility.

“This is not true as public-private partnership is about collaboration to improve public sector service delivery,” she said while presiding over the donors coordination committee meeting, on Friday.

The minister contended that education was the government’s primary responsibility.

“Not everything offered by the private sector is of quality,” she remarked and cautioned that “comparing public and private against low benchmarks is not always in the best interests of the child, the learners.”

The minister said, now that the new provincial governments were in place, the government would discuss the best mechanisms or a code of conduct for private sector, adding, but it also meant that the public sector must also evolve a similar code for its own improved functioning.

Ms Jalal said: “It is timely under the new national government, that we sit together to discuss how we can have human resource development with our best skills and knowledge, which are abundantly available in country.”

However, she added, there was a need to positively engage with the emerging realities of a society in transition and involve in transformation.

She said, work in the education sector had been embedded in the national macro framework which was well articulated in the interim poverty reduction strategy paper (IPRSP), adding, the recent poverty assessment seminars held at provincial and national levels were yet another step towards finalization of PRSP.

The minister said, negotiations skills to deal with, and between administrative and political actors were limited to ensure good governance at this early stage.

She reiterated that implementation was at the core of policy refinement, programme as well as fiscal adjustments.

“We are committed to now judge our work through classrooms, children and youth, who are the only litmus test of policies/programmes in education,” she remarked.

She said, the initiative to convert the Directorate of Staff Development (DSP) into the University of Education (Punjab) for ‘pre-service’ and ‘in-service’ diplomas/degrees had to be lauded as it opened teacher development particularly for women and optimal utilization of GCETs.

“There are already 4,500 students in BEd programme in the Punjab with self-financing programmes in the afternoon.”

The minister said, about 42 training institutions had been step up, adding, MEd, MPhil and PhD programmes were also being launched including virtual learning possibilities through improved IT connectivity.

Under the ESR, she said, over 400 resource centres had been set up or were in the process of being set up as decentralized training and information facilities.

She said a committee had been formed with the ministries of education, finance and planning to support fast track initiative.

The minister said, it is the beginning of a process of establishing meaningful communication between the government and donors as complementing effort, adding: “I look forward to this meeting as a regular feature of healthy discussion to further national priorities.”