PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister Mushtaq Ghani on Thursday said his government was taking steps to ensure transparency in education governance through effective implementation of the right to information law.

He was speaking during the ‘education governance roundtable’ at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

Mishal Pakistan, a non-governmental organisation, organised the event to highlight the importance of government and media partnership in enhancing accountability.

The objective of this ‘Ilm-o-Agahi’ initiative was to improve accountability and media coverage of priority education issues and build consensus on education policies by engaging stakeholders, including media and policymakers.

Minister says education emergency declared, enrolment campaign launched in KP

Civil society activists, educationists and journalists attended the event, where civil society activist Mohammad Arif, deputy director (elementary and secondary education) Azam Khan and district education officer Peshawar Zahir Shah were key speakers.

Some participants complained the government engaged for education sector reforms and curricular development the same partners, who had failed to deliver over the years.

They said the government should reform educational system, improve curriculum, and ensure recruitment of teachers on merit to achieve enrolment targets in the province.

The information minister said the government had declared education emergency in the province, while a campaign had been carried out for the enrolment of more than 0.35 million students in government schools in the province.

Mishal Pakistan director Puruesh Chaudhary said the law on right to information passed by the provincial assembly in 2013 had empowered the people to hold government officials accountable for their acts.

She said education was crucial to ensure peace and rule of law in society.

The Mishal Pakistan director said the manifesto of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, which ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, advocated spending of the five per cent of GDP on education.

She said the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2013-2014) showed the enrolment rate had improved to 91 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during 2012-2013 from 89 percent during 2011-2012.

DEO Peshawar Azam Khan said though curriculum needed proper attention for development, the government had improved enrolment rate and focused on the merit-based selection of teachers.

He stressed the importance of education to improve the collective consciousness of society.

The DEO said the government had declared education a priority and was working towards improvement of quality standards at primary and secondary levels.

Comsats University Islamabad assistant registrar Asif Malik said education was key player in the development of nations but it had been ignored in Pakistan due to a lack of seriousness on part of the government.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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