Policymaking is certainly a multifarious procedure; however, its implementation is more complex. Education policy is far more difficult task to formulate especially for developing country like Pakistan with intricate challenges of poverty, low literacy rate and political instability.
Pakistan has a strong history for education development with the beginning of its first National Education Conference in 1947 right after the independence, under the convenorship of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who takes education as matter of life and death for the nation. Since than nine educational polices has been announced in the country. Review of various local literature on policy analysis indicate that these policies couldn’t come up with their proposed outcomes. Few of the indicators in failure to implement are less skilled workers, limited innovative initiatives, incompetent administration, low literacy rate, and highest rate of out of school children. Unfortunately, this failure is not limited to National commitments only, even Pakistan couldn’t meet international commitments i.e. EFA, MDGs. The major reasons reported are unrealistic planning, week inter-ministerial collaboration and changes in political scenario.
Without going into more details of enlisting these education policies, I will invite my readers to think over the current situation of educational challenges in the country and look forward for the upcoming Education Policy 2021 which is under formulation now a days. The present government is focusing more on the uniformity and nationalization in education system. After the successful launch of Single National Curriculum, the forthcoming effort is to formulate and enact new education policy. For this purpose, ministry of education is inviting all stakeholders to contribute through the provincial governments. The major focused areas of this forthcoming policy are to minimize out of school children, improve early child education, revamping vocational education, bringing E Education or Digital revolution, expanding opportunities in higher education, implementing inclusive education, continuous professional development of teachers and standardizing transition from school to college and university.
The University of Education being one of the unique institutes of teacher education in the country is at frontline to help ministry in formulating a comprehensive policy document with a major focus on national cohesion and harmony across religious and ethnic divides which is essential for the context of Pakistan. In this regard, Division of Education, University of Education is holding an E-Conference on Pakistan Education Policy 2021 from 19 to 22 January 2021.
Prof. Talat Naseer Pasha, the Vice Chancellor of the university has shown keen interest in embracing the government to come up with stakeholders’ opinions on this national cause. Eminent educationists from all over Pakistan representing various universities are participating in the conference as keynote speakers; highlighting education policy 2021 challenges and partaking in proposing recommendations. As a part of this prestigious institute and the intellectual brainstorming activity, I will share few of the suggestions to be considered for upcoming education policy. Firm and coherent education policy is direly needed in the country which can be bedrock for taking innovative steps in the system. Firstly, the recent move in education after launching of Sustainable Development Goals SDGs has provided a framework for revamping the education system. The framework elaborated in Goal 4 of the SDGs represents a triad approach in education to maintain sustainability in the education.
According to this education should be inclusive, equitable and with a focus on lifelong learning. This triad must be used as philosophical approach while addressing every focused area discussed above. As we can witness many developing countries who have integrated this approach in their educational system are progressing rapidly in combating the challenges. Secondly, to reduce number of out of school children in the country, there is a need of realistic statistics to target the left-over marginalized groups i.e. children with disabilities, child labour, girl child, nomads, war conflicted or migrants. There must be one door admission policy for all children to observe Right to Education Act in the country with equitable opportunities to address these groups of out of school children. The liaison among various ministries working on education should be improved to facilitate students in a better way.
Conducive environment at early education and intervention could also play its role in attracting more children at school. Less than 10% enrolment rate at higher education is another blemish on the education system of the country indicating limited opportunities for all. The consequences of COVID-19 empowered the universities for virtual learning systems. This may be used to extend educational opportunities for large number of students at higher education. Lessons learnt from these virtual experiences can be reflected in educational planning. And what if we talk about the implementation of inclusive education; it is to understand that inclusive education is not an alternative level or strategy to include all children in education, rather it is an approach or philosophy on which the whole education system is designed. However, a layout can be formulated to make it fit in indigenous structured system.
Finally, I will refer here to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development OECD2017 framework which recommends four workable areas across all policy determinants; smart policy design, inclusive stakeholder engagement, a conducive institutional, policy and social context and a coherent implementation strategy. Smart policy design is certainly a complex process; however, it offers logical and feasible solutions to policy problems. For example, it helps us to determine the availability of resources and its need. Like the recent shift of online classes due to COVID-19 pandemic requires technology equipment but it was not feasible for the students in remote areas of the country. Inclusive stakeholder engagement is another crucial aspect in designing and implementing educational polices.
There must be a room for engaging teachers, teacher unions and parent groups in educational process. Education Policy 2021 could be made more effective by recognizing local environment and governance, as it set layout not only for management of resources but determines financial powers too. The OECD also recommends policy makers to develop a coherent implementation strategy to reach educational institutions by ensuring all determinants are playing their positive role. In other words, it can be seen as translating policy into daily practices at institutions.
The writer is Assistant professor University of Education, Lahore. Can be reached at [email protected]