GILGIT: Urgent reforms in government schools and colleges are must to enhance the quality of education in Gilgit-Baltistan, speakers at the Education Stakeholders Conference 2024 stressed on Saturday, expressing disappointment over the poor performance of students in GB’s government schools in the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) secondary school exams.

The conference, organised by the Gilgit-Baltistan Dep­art­ment of School Education in collaboration with the Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan (AKF), was held at Karakoram International University (KIU).

Key participants included GB’s Minister for Education Shehzad Agha, Chief Secretary Abrar Ahmad Mirza, Secretary Education Syed Akhtar Rizvi, Acting Vice-Chancellor of KIU Prof Dr Abdul Razzaq, Director General Education Faizullah Lone, as well as senior administrative staff, education experts, representatives from private schools, civil society members and parents.

In their speeches, participants expressed concerns over the government’s failure to improve the quality of education despite significant financial investments.

Over Rs15 billion has been spent on 3,000 schools across GB. Yet the latest FBISE results showed poor performance by the schools.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024