September 27, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 26, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 26: The Senate standing committee on education on Friday expressed concern over alleged political interference in recruitment, postings and transfers of teachers particularly in remote areas of the country.

The committee at a meeting presided over by Senator Razina Alam Khan called for an immediate end to the unhealthy practice which it said was undermining the cause of education in the country, said Senator Liaquat Ali Bungalzai while talking to Dawn.

Underlining the need for merit-based recruitment, the committee called for enhancement of teachers’ salary structure and social status. Merit-based recruitment of teachers must be ensured and ways and means be explored to find dedicated teachers.

It also directed the federal ministry of education to accord highest priority to the training of teachers at all levels. The Senate body also called upon the government to name the federal minister for education without further delay, so that matters in this vital sector could be streamlined.

The post is lying vacant after Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N resigned when his party decided to part ways with the ruling coalition for its failure to restore the deposed judges as per an agreement.

The absence of education minister has hampered the progress of many important projects, especially the education policy, which seems to be in the doldrums. Despite the fact that the draft of the policy had been finalised in April, no tangible progress has been made in this regard.

The former minister had announced to hold an inter-provincial meeting in order to develop a consensus on the draft policy.

Initiated in 2005, the policy has been prepared following a lengthy process of consultations. The review exercise was conducted in close cooperation with all stakeholders, particularly the provincial and district governments. Several research studies were also commissioned to feed into the process.

To garner focused discussions, a series of 23 green papers were prepared on different topics by the National Education Policy Review (NEPR) team and distributed to stimulate discussions and get feedback. With further consultations, the results were summarised in a pre-policy white paper and were circulated for comments and debates to finalise the national policy.

The findings and recommendations are the consensus emerging from the consultations and represent a national view. Though the consensus has been achieved on technical level by all stakeholders but consensus on political level has yet to be achieved.

The committee also asked the ministry of education to prepare the new draft education policy in a manner that it should address the core national problems.

A number of the committee members expressed reservations on the new system of starting the academic year in September every year, apprehending that the new system may provide very short time to the students to complete their courses of study. It said due considerations should be made for the weather conditions, harvesting of crops, etc., and other ground realities to make the new policy more realistic and effective.

The committee hoped that the issue of appointment of the new director general Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) would be resolved amicably and only the best and most suitable candidate would be offered the slot.

Earlier, secretary education apprised the committee of the broad contours of the teachers’ training programme being launched by the ministry in the federal capital and various provinces.

He said the project seeks to support the vision of the government i.e. strengthening professional development of teachers and designing of National Standards for Teachers Certification and Accreditation. The project strives for the enhancement of the government’s capacity to ensure quality teacher education by improving policy framework, coordination and standard-setting in order to bring about long-term challenges.