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LIKE in many other places, education reforms have been frequently initiated in Pakistan with great vigour and sincerity, only to fizzle out as a disjointed set of inputs, further adding to the systemic inertia. A piecemeal approach to reforming components of the education system without aligning all stakeholders into a collective that works with student learning as the singular priority of systemic transformation has consistently failed the children.
Collective leadership must be the guiding principle for ensuring quality education for all. For the reforms to be sustainable, the entire ecosystem around education needs to be understood and transformed holistically.
Systems do not change by themselves; people change them. The theory of change practised worldwide is premised on situating people, especially the youth, inside the inequitable system to change it from within. We must develop cadres of people with ambition, capacity, and resilience to change the entire ecosystem around children. Collective leadership acts as a force multiplier for all stakeholders to affect the requisite change and ensure that every child gets the education and future they deserve regardless of their socioeconomic background.
Collective leadership must be the guiding principle to ensure quality education for all.
One may ask, what is this ecosystem, and who are the actors or leaders who can affect these changes in their spheres of influence, sparking a chain reaction throughout the system, propelling the change forward, and creating a buzz around the education crisis similar to the one the global community has finally succeeded in creating around climate change?
A child’s home, community, school, policy framework, and civil society are all part of their education ecosystem. Students do not walk into a classroom alone; they bring their family’s socioeconomic circumstances, neighbourhood challenges, and the cultural makeup of their community with them. In other words, the heavy schoolbag everyone talks about may appear light compared to the social and emotional baggage that weighs children down and prevents learning.
Agency and leadership development at every level of this ecosystem is imperative to developing a pipeline of human resource capable of envisioning and implementing transformative change in education and all associated sectors. Neither the number of schools and the quality of their infrastructure, nor the textbooks and curriculum alone can ensure that all children realise their potential. Research worldwide bears witness that communities with voice and governance structures geared towards responsiveness and accountability drive need-appropriate allocation of resources, a simple way of ensuring the system is equitable.
Globally, seven out of 10 children in mid- to low-income countries cannot comprehend a written text by age 10. Pakistan is no different; most children are four to five years behind their grade levels in learning. Over the past 15 years, the Teach For All network has learned from more than 60 partner organisations across continents that it is not technical inputs that generate learning outcomes but a critical mass of committed stakeholders throughout the education ecosystem who work together to bring about the change required for learning gains.
This critical mass or collective leadership, as we call it, exercises agency from every level of the ecosystem. It is committed to social justice and believes in learning and leadership development among all students. It is locally rooted and diverse, inclusive of people who have experienced inequity and those who wield influence, and it has networks to collaborate and learn together.
The current system is not working for most children due to misplaced priorities, inefficiencies, and in- equities. Learning outcomes, critical thi-nking, problem-solving, life skills, empathy, social-emotional well-being, and whole child development have taken a back seat to brick-and-mortar models and exam scores.
Youth worldwide face multiple challenges, including climate change, AI-ba-sed automation, for-ced displacements, wars, internal conflicts, rising pushback against immigration, gender-based violence, and economic downturns leading to unemployment. To improve their chances of surmounting these hurdles, we must develop them as leaders of a better future for themselves, their communities, and our planet.
More than reforms that address a few existing challenges through technical interventions and without questioning the premise and logic of the system, a transformation is needed to make learning outcomes the centrepiece of the education system and shift the purpose, principles, and practices guiding it according to the present context and future challenges.
Khadija Bakhtiar is founder and CEO, Teach For Pakistan.
Wendy Kopp is co-founder and CEO, Teach For All.
Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025
