ISLAMABAD, April 10: Education minister Zobaida Jalal on Thursday said the government was committed to reducing poverty to pave the country’s march towards economic independence.

She was speaking at a seminar on “Best investment for the future - education” organised by the Centre for Research here.

The education minister said the government knew that it could not do it alone, but on the other hand it was obligated to create necessary conditions and take all actions to improve service delivery to acceptable levels to propel human development.

She said the intention of the government to move towards private sector provision and support in setting up new facilities and improving existing ones must be clearly articulated as defensible accountable policy positions.

The minister said the country was already dangerously high on private sector presence in view of the current quality public sector provision. She said the government’s own effort to expand its know-how was reflected in the setting up of the CRPRID adding that the publication entitled “Pakistan Human Development Report 2002” by the centre was a solid testimony to its determination to make recommendations for public policy.

“Education was a public good and this could not be sub- contracted outside public sector when we know the conditions and complex profiles of poverty, especially in rural areas.” She appreciated the performance of the CRPRID and said it was the vibrant force behind the centre.

Vice Chancellor Peshawar University Zulfikar Gilani listed incentives not based on performance, lack of transparency and accountability, highly centralised structures and absence of committed human capital as great impediments in implementing packages of reforms in education sector.

Shahnaz Wazir Ali was of the view that every child should have equal base in education. She said people still wanted the state to provide education to their children.

Dr R.A.Kamal spoke about regulation of education. He was not appreciative of the role of public-private partnership saying it did improve infrastructure but did not increase competence of the students.

Mutawakil Kazi, a speaker, stressed respect for education and educators and promotion of female education in particular. He cautioned against myopic approach towards education and asked for identification of talent and its promotion to logical end as was done in Korea and Malaysia.—Junaid Bahadur