KARACHI, July 27: The four-day conference on "policy and planning of education in Pakistan" called for a holistic developmental approach for enhancing quality of education in the country.

The conference, which concluded on Tuesday, considered the education as a supreme structure to provided solid foundations for social, cultural and economic development of a society.

Representatives from educational institutions, business and corporate sectors and grassroots practitioners participated in the general, technical sessions and panel discussions at the conference, and identified challenges and issues.

The conference declaration was read out by Reaz Ahmad, the chief executive of Faran Educational Society, at the concluding session, which was chaired by technical assistant to federal education minister, Baila Jamil.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry had organized the conference in collaboration with the Faran Educational Society and Education Foundation.

The conference recommended a progressive curricula, responsive to students' needs. It also called for providing access to universalized education to all the children. The participants recommended that technical education was one of the most neglected areas in the existing education set up, and it needed top most priority.

They also suggested for exploring cost-effective modes of training and setting up community-based centres with the support of corporate sector, donor agencies and the government.

The conference stressed the need for treating special education as an important sector like normal education. It was further emphasised that general awareness and information about the disabled people be increased through media campaigns.

In regard to secondary and higher secondary schools, it was suggested that these should be brought under one umbrella. The high drop-out rate at schools should be dealt with immediately, and measures be taken to improve the joining rate in the higher secondary education.

For primary education, it was said that the slogan "education for all" must be implemented in true sense. However, the conference was of the view that the nation could not progress without quality higher education and emphasis should be placed on research-based approaches.

There was a consensus that private-public partnership was indispensable for building sound foundations for the reforms in education sector. The conference also called for procedural manuals for district governments to facilitate the process of public-private partnership.