ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi on Monday said army men might be used as teachers in a bid to achieve Education for All (EFA) target by the year 2015.
He stated this while speaking at a forum organized jointly by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and Civil Society Forum in connection with the September 8 International Literacy Day.
For achieving maximum targets in the field of education within the limited time and meeting the challenge of universal primary education, the country needed an 'army-like campaign', he said.
Sri Lanka, he said, had already used army personnel as teachers for achieving its targets in the education sector, which 'may be' followed by Pakistan as well.
The minister said October 5 would now be observed as Teachers Day in Pakistan as well. He said the country had seen development in the fields of defence and economy, but "we left the education sector to grow by itself". That is why the country could not eradicate poverty and produce better citizens with more skills, who could earn foreign exchange.
He said it was the era of professionalism and skill-oriented job markets, for which we have failed to develop our human resources. "We are poor because, we are uneducated. And, we are uneducated because, we are poor," he said, and asked all stakeholders to play their due role in educating the masses.
Major changes were needed in the present examination system for making it capable to judge the talents of the students and to discourage and ultimately eliminate learning by rote, he maintained.
Mr Qazi said well-paid and well-trained teachers with improved social status were unavoidable to ameliorate the present scenario. He also stressed the need for producing students with efficiency in both English and Urdu languages. Because, he said English was not only an international language, but contained majority of the books on modern knowledge and skills.
The status of government schools, he said, would be improved, because, these schools were for the masses. Besides, there was also a need to establish career counselling in schools as well as schools in mosques.
NCHD chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf said education was a matter of life and death for Pakistan and if "we did not educate our nation we would be left behind and wiped out". Education developed human resources and human resource development was a matter of national security for Pakistan, he added.
"Implementing the Education Sector Reforms needed political will at the top, which was not available in the past, but, is now being provided by President Musharraf," he said.
He said we should provide primary education to one generation completely and then we would see the next generation comprised of Matriculates, FAs and BAs. The mission could be accomplished within a period of 10 years, even before the year 2015, deadline for the EFA, he said.
He also highlighted the need for media's critical role for the education sector development, besides, removing the mistrust between government and civil society for implementing policies and achieving targets.
Unesco's representative in Pakistan Jorge Sequeira said the literacy day was observed to reflect on "our progress, achievements and shortcomings". There was a greater need for developing partnership and collaboration among the civil society, government and the UN to attain the Millennium Development Goals.
The forum also presented a number of recommendations. Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Shaheen Attiqur Rehman, Dr Khawar Mehdi, Shabeela Rehmani and Dr Laeeq Ahmed.