ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education is one of the most inactive and ineffective bodies in the parliament as it has failed to perform any useful function.

This was alleged by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives Pakistan (CPDI-Pakistan) in a statement here on Saturday.

It expressed its concern over this state of affairs and urged the NA Standing Committee on Education to contribute to the education sector reforms through policy inputs and effective monitoring of the implementation of national education policy and other programmes.

It said the committee had held very few meetings since its establishment in the current tenure of the National Assembly, and had not been able to take up any substantive business related to the education sector.

It appears that the chairperson of the committee as well as other members have either little interest in the education sector or they are unable to spare time to perform the responsibility assigned to them by the house.

The NA body can learn from the experience of the chair and members of the Senate Standing Committee on Education, which has been very active and has taken up a range of critical issues to inform and influence the reform process in the education sector.

Since its establishment, the Senate Standing Committee on Education has submitted three reports to the house including deliberations and recommendations on important issues.

Although the Senate body still needs to improve its methodology in terms of adopting a more focused, transparent and participatory procedure, its performance has been impressive and can be a good model for the National Assembly standing committee to follow.

The CPDI-Pakistan also demanded the chairs and members of the education committees of both the Senate and National Assembly to implement transparent procedures in the course of considering legislative bills and exercising parliamentary oversight on government departments.—PPI