Scribbler's Corner! By Adeeba Ahmad

Today's special!

How often do we hear that education should be free for all, literacy rate must go up and that government is not doing enough, this is not only Pakistan's issue but also in almost all developing countries.

Interestingly enough, when we delve into the educational policies of these countries, we cannot be more impressed, then where lies the fault? Implementation and good              governance , that is what is lacking. Not just the will to deliver is required but also the means. Now you must be thinking, where there is a will there is a way, ahhh well yes,   how I wish we could get the job done with clich'es only!

Just do it!

Implementation has to be done meticulously  alongside checks and balances, otherwise corruption takes over and we are left with the current state of affairs. The good news for Pakistan is that after the 18th amendment,  provinces are autonomous in devising and   implementing their education policies. Why is this good, you may ask, well, this takes   away the tussle between federal and province units. The provinces can design the          appropriate curriculum according to their context and implement it too. They can         mobilize and train their manpower to implement it , the governance body must involve  federal and provincial representatives.

The Big Fish!

Having said this, there are so many issues in each province, for example, local bodies/   jirga elders/bureaucrats/religious leaders and political point scorers jump in and either   object to the curriculum/infrastructure decisions and then the process is halted or           delayed. Getting all these stakeholders on the same page is by far, no easy task, however it is not impossible. I believe that the policy makers must not only design a policy but   also provide the roadmap and which then needs to get approved and made into a law,     this would  bind the stake holders together and implementation can take place.

Go Global!

Apart from generating our own resources and manpower, there are various international agencies willing to help and provide support in different areas of education, namely     world bank, USAid programes etc. Although they are met with a lot of criticism too that they have their own ulterior motives, but who doesn't?

All too Private!

Think about the fact that our  very own Pakistani private school owners. What are they doing? Capitalizing on the  opportunity for business; the not- so- good state of               education is good enough chance for them in the name of filling the educational void!  Even if   we believe ourselves to be  naive enough, we can at least ask them to use their resources to adopt a school located   in the 'katchi abadi's', not just raising charity         money (read asking parents ) once a year!Most of these schools, specially in the affluent part of Karachi city, have total authority as they please, be it admission fee or monthly  tuition   fee raises or field trip/sports day/   annual concert/carnival charges or overheads, there is no stopping them, and any parent 'dare' question them, is met with dire             consequences! They can remove a child immediately in the middle of the term (and we  think they care about their students!)they can put a ban  on any parent such as  attending any of their  child's school function for years on end because that parent had the            courage to challenge their decision.Yet we rush to leave our kids in their hands even      though we rarely see a trained teacher in these schools the only criteria of getting a job   in a private school is, spoken English fluency(which is by the way again a rarity).

Seal the Deal!

Coming back to true and tangible benefits of the reformed educational policies, we can only reap the fruits if we include teacher training as a core ingredient of implementing, otherwise it's just as if you buy a latest sophisticated gadget without it's manual!

Trained teachers are real teachers, I do believe in born teachers but I also believe in       sharpening, upgrading and learning teaching, as opposed to relying on your innate           teaching ability and closing your eyes to the world around you!

Think it to ink it!

Implementation of Free Education for all, as the article 25-A states, is all the more         urgently required, as the world is changing rapidly and we need to keep up pace to         compete, if we want to succeed and provide a better enlightened future for our next       generation! But are we??