KARACHI, April 23: Speakers at a seminar here on Tuesday called for creating awareness and taking effective actions by media and civil society at all levels to achieve the goal of basic education for all in the country.

They observed that as the Constitution held the state responsible for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory education up to the secondary level, efforts should be made to enhance literacy rate without gender disparities.

The seminar on “Role of Media and Civil Society in Education For All” was organized by the Sindh Education Foundation in collaboration with Unesco, Islamabad. The director of Unesco, Ingeborg Breines, and education secretary, Sindh, Nazar Hussain Mahar, were the chief guests at the two sessions.

Ms Breines stressed the need for strengthening dialogue with media, educators and people concerned with promotion of education and literacy in the province. She said financial resources should go to the education for all programmes, as it was imperative for real democracy and good governance.

She said Unesco was encouraging all education actors, including teachers, pupils, parents, NGOs, community-based organizations, schools and international organizations, to organize awareness- raising activities during the Education For All (EFA) Week, which is held globally from April 22 to 26.

“We need the involvement of all parties not least the civil society and the media to help implement the EFA national plan of action,” she added.

She said media representatives were particularly important to help bring positive changes in the field of education. “You can highlight the achievements as well as the possible bottlenecks that keep half of the population of the country in a situation in which they never know how to read and write, thereby having without positive influence on the development of the society.”

While referring to Unesco’s measures for enhancement of adult literacy with special emphasis on girls and women’s education, Ms Breines mentioned that the agency was aware of the very strong links between female literacy and the living conditions of the family, particularly in relation to health, the size of the family and the level of education of the children.

Talking about the role and status of a teacher, she said a well- trained and well-equipped teacher was the pillar of all educational efforts. “A competent and confident teacher can even teach and help children learn without school buildings, textbooks and computers,” she said, adding that the building structures and teaching materials were important but would not be of much help if the teacher was unprepared, underpaid, and of low socio- economic and cultural status.

Referring to the implementation of national plans of action for achieving the Dakar Framework, the Unesco director said Pakistan was the first country to come up with a draft national plan for action, while there was also an unmistakable evidence of political will and commitment on the part of the government to implement the plan, and equally a growing commitment by the donor community to assist it.

Sindh education minister Prof Anita Ghulam Ali said the provincial government was making effective steps on EFA programmes in line with the world declarations, including the Jomtien Declaration on Education for All, 1990, and the Dakar Framework of Action, 2000. She said the government always hold dialogue with the civil society before formalizing any policy pertaining to education.

The minister informed the participants about special measures taken in Sindh, including participatory approach and input of the community and stakeholders before formulating policies. She said primary-level schools to be opened in the province would now be gender-free, which meant that there would be no separate boy or girl primary schools.

Sindh education secretary Nazar Hussain Mahar admitted that with the passage of time the capacity of the government to deliver the goods in the educational sector had deteriorated and that’s why the government was looking towards the private sector. He said the government needed support from the community in monitoring and controlling the affairs of the public educational institutions.

Urging the private sector to adopt government schools, he said if the NGOs or other parties found the schools not viable to continue with the existing government staff, then they could appoint teaching and other staff on their own to manage the schools and teaching in a more effective way.

The EDO (literacy) of the Karachi city government said print and electronic media should dedicate space and time for promotion of literacy. Newspapers can publish half a page every week, highlighting the problems, issues and achievements by individuals and groups.

Former director of PTV News, Burhanuddin Hassan, said that information had been mixed with education as far as media were concerned. Even the world electronic media were churning out information and not education. He said electronic media could be more effective than print media in educating the masses as it was reaching to about 80 per cent of the population.

He said quality of education in the country was pathetic, which could be termed as a fault of the nation, as according to him, every funding from the foreign agencies was available but the required mindset for imparting education was missing.

A coordinator for Unesco, Arshad Saeed Khan, said Pakistan had signed the education for all declaration in September 1994. He said human rights violations took place at places where literacy rate was low.

He maintained that the overall literacy rate, which was 45.29 per cent in 1998, has gone up to 48.29 per cent. About two-third of females could not read and write, while three out of four in rural Sindh were illiterate.

The additional secretary for education, Sindh, Anwar Ahmad Zai, highlighted the measures taken by the government for compulsory primary education. He said 102 talukas would be covered under the compulsory primary education ordinance by June 2004.

The editor of Daily Ibrat, Hyderabad, Jami Chandio, said EFA would remain a dream unless the civil society and the media come up with a determination and worked pragmatically.

The civil society had not been able to express itself in a real sense and there was a need for sharing the outcomes of researches, learning from others’ approaches in training and actions in the field of education, he added.

LHRLA president Zia Awan said the dilemma in Pakistani society was that issues were not taken seriously. Through education we can stand against human right abuses and violation of rules and other injustices. He called for a knowledge-based and strong media.