KARACHI, May 21: The draft of the federal government’s new national education policy came under close scrutiny by educationists at a roundtable discussion here on Wednesday, with speakers suggesting that though the framers of the policy had played around with jargon, there was no major difference in the substance of the policy when compared to previous plans.
A number of educators and educationists, as well as the executive district officers (education) of Karachi and Thatta, participated in the discussion, held at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) on behalf of the Campaign for Quality Education (CQE), a network of individuals and organizations concerned with education.
In his introduction, Dr Mohammad Memon, Director of the AKU-IED, said “radical plans were needed to help the government come up with proper policies.” Praising official efforts, he said the public and private sectors must work together for quality education and that there was a major paradigm shift where policy design is concerned as earlier, a ‘top-down’ approach was applied.
Admitting there were “gaps in the national education policy,” he said a framework based on sociological, socio-economic, ideological and philosophical factors was missing, which should be reconsidered.
He said it was for the first time that the policy discussed the quality of education and access to it and that the government had set itself a tall order by aiming for free primary and secondary education, adding that individuals, institutions and thinkers needed to contribute to the debate.
Dr Memon said making policies was not enough without proper implementation. “We cannot afford experimentation. Let us learn from the experiments of other South Asian countries. The policy is full of rhetoric about quality, but only a few strategies are mentioned. It’s an action-oriented policy, but there cannot be action without commitment and vision,” he observed.
Various topics related to the policy came under discussion, including the professional development of teachers and the alignment between quality elements.
In the first session, moderated by Dr Anjum Halai, Head of Research and Policy Studies, AKU-IED, the discussion centred round the vision of the policy. Speakers were of the opinion that the document is too wordy (62 pages) and at times employs vague, loaded terms, for instance using the term ‘producing’ in relation to students, as if people were commodities.
They also felt there are tensions within the document and that it plays it safe, whereas a bolder stance in certain areas might be in order. Some felt there is too much of a focus on globalization, while others were of the view that the urban-rural divide in relation to education needed to be addressed keeping the ground realities in mind.
They also felt the document talks about inclusion but certain areas denote exclusiveness. The participants were of the opinion that the dichotomy between policy formulation and implementation must be done away with and that the language issue must not be dealt with simplistically. They recommended that regional languages be promoted but English should not be sacrificed as it is an international language and key to employment and economic betterment.
Recruitment and politics
In the second session, moderated by Rana Hussain, Head of Programmes at AKU-IED, the participants came to the conclusion that improving the status of teachers and teacher recruitment was imperative, while the future aspirations of educators should not be neglected. They said politics and political appointments should be de-linked from the teachers’ recruitment process, while the quality of training and development should be improved.
Speakers also suggested that there should be an improvement in the teachers’ working conditions, as high salaries alone would not cut it if the working conditions were unsatisfactory. As for management of schools, it was felt that there needed to be a system across the primary and secondary sectors, while educational managers should be properly trained for their positions.
A speaker also suggested that a teachers’ service commission along the lines of the Public Service Commission be set up for recruitment, adding that the minimum number of school days in a year should be 180, while the countless holidays should be done away with.
Similar consultative meetings have been held in Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP and the combined feedback from the discussions will be sent to the federal education ministry and other stakeholders.
A copy of the draft policy is available on the ministry’s website and the ministry has invited comments.