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Quality in
education was the theme at the Research and Policy Dialogue organised
by Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED)
in Lahore from March 4 to 5, 2003.
The dialogue explored and
debated issues of quality across the education sector in Pakistan, with particular
focus on quality at the different stages of schooling and the current system.
Participants included representatives of federal and provincial governments,
academic institutions and community, as well as policy think-tanks, NGOs, and
researchers from both public and private sectors.
In his address, chief guest,
Khushnood Lashari, Secretary Education, Government of Punjab, said the Government
of Punjab is focussing on raising the standard of education in the province.
Mr. Lashari said that the issues in education were known, but due to the paucity
of resources there were no easy answers. "But I hope that the dialogue will
certainly lead us to finding a way where we can achieve quality in education,
especially in the public sector while remaining within the resources that are
with the government," he assured. He warned that setting up unachievable targets
was meaningless, "rather it is through interaction between researchers and policy-makers
that solutions can be found and presented to the government," he added.
Baela
Jamil of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi Public Trust, speaking on quality through a
whole school dimension, said that the single most important criterion for the
introduction of any change into a school or education system should be its potential
for enhancing the learning and happiness of students. She said the characteristics
of failed schools were lack of vision, and absence of leadership, low parent
or community involvement, non-functional libraries and poor health and nutrition
of children.
Jamil Najam, Director
Community School, Monitoring and Evaluation Cell,
Government of Punjab, said teacher education was necessary for promoting quality
education at secondary level. He suggested establishment of quality assurance
advisory councils at the provincial level, empowerment of head teachers, as
well as called for a close liaison among textbook board, teacher trainers and
examination authorities.
Earlier in his welcome address,
Dr. Gordon Macleod, Director, AKU-IED, said, "The dialogue might not necessarily
achieve instant results, but it would at least initiate a process of further
interactions among researchers and policy-makers. "Working as collaborators,
researchers and policy-makers
will identify questions, find ways of doing research, and will work out how
those results might be used in the joint development of policies," he added.
He also conducted a workshop
on quality in teacher education, accentuating the importance of environment,
curricula, and the processes involved in teacher education.
Dr. Fauzia Shamim, Associate
Professor, AKU-IED, highlighted the need for developing national standards for
school education in Pakistan, and recommended that standards be appropriate
to the aims and objectives of education in society.
Dr. Iffat Farah, Head of
Research and Policy, AKU-IED, emphasised the need for improvement in policy
development and improvement of teacher education. The two days of deliberations,
presentation and question-and-answer sessions, encompassed issues ranging from
quality at different stages of schooling, to quality in teacher education and
its existence in the current educational system.
This programme concludes
the series of five dialogues on key issues in education held across Pakistan.
Earlier dialogues on Teacher Education, Decentralisation in Education and Effective
Resource Utilisation through Public-Private Partnership in Education, and Curriculum
Reforms, were held earlier in Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar in 2002
and early 2003.
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