Comments

Your say certainly matters and this is indeed a great initiative by you to speak publicly on this important subject. It is hoped this will not be just a one timer but a constant push from you which is indeed a dire need to streamline affairs of our country's education sector.

I want to draw your attention towards a very significant aspect visavis education for all i.e., the laws by our provincial governments for Right to Education (RTE).

Dear PM, its been over five years since insertion of Article 25-A in the Constitution of Pakistan which promises free and compulsory education to children of the age of five to sixteen years across Pakistan. Except the province Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), other provinces have introduced laws under the Article 25-A. However the rules of business are still missing owing to which the implementation of these laws is impossible. The need is to push the KP government to introduce the RTE law and others to introduce rules of business at the earliest.

Dear PM, we already missed most of the six EFA goals and now is the time to gear up for the post-2015 agenda and to ensure that we achieve as many goals as possible by the year 2030.

The rule of thumb: spending more is the solution to the education rut in Pakistan. Some recommendations which will bring betterment and save some money and time and bring good results. Frist of, education should be taken back from Provinces. As it has left them totally confused and given the excuse to the poorer provinces that a well off Punjab has the luxury of spending more which the remaining three provinces cannot afford. Secondly, education should be a national issue in Pakistan. It is high time that the Federal Government should take the responsibility of universalizing the education in Pakistan under the aegis of the United Nations and making it to the standard of OECD countries instead of regionalizing it in running the schools through different mediums, i-e Urdu, Balochi, Punjabi and other regional languages. The system is so different that students from Sindh learn from their curriculum the Constituent Assembly Address of Quaid which tells them their identity of religion vanished the day Pakistan came into being and they have to continue as Pakistanis onward. While in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the birthday cakes and triangle shaped trees are removed under the impression that it will help preach Christianity in the students.Read more

Mr PM, We have the second largest out fd school population in the world. What have you done? Your (party's) provincial government has used up unspent education funds for building roads and dodgy contracts for infrastructure. This is just a case of making the right noises before the summit. We Pakistanis know your commitment to the cause. Read more

The Prime Minister of Pakistan's bold oped ahead of Oslo Education Summit is a window of hope where a country leader acknowledges publicly that all is not well, boldly stating why he has decided to upgrade 'universal education' as an essential pillar for social change. He has committed to high quality learning for those in school and addressing with urgency the right of those 6 million out of school. A progressive pathway to doubling the education budget to 4% of GDP through progressive measures (raising tax to GDP ratio /new modes of domestic financing/transparent agreements/concessions on extractive industries) is also welcome as are comments on ending extremism and violence against children and youth - pushing for critical thinking ' questioning established wisdom..rising above prejudice, ..and restrictive historical legacies'. We hope that the PM and his capable teams will also support our suggestion for a Pak-China Education Corridor mirroring the Pak-China Economic Corridor as a strategy for sustainable human development for the next 50 years as a win-win program mobilizing both external and domestic financing; -where education clusters will sustain industry and growth clusters; there is no better way to offset education emergencies than working in unison across sectors - that is what the 2030 comprehensive SDGs demand meeting head on the fulfillment of education as a fundamental constitutional right; that is what the people of Pakistan want.. Very proud of our PM's bold statements on education - this is the boldest yet in 2 years! Baela Raza Jamil -a Concerned Citizen Activist ITA -ASER Pakistan - Vice Chair Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report- Member Advisory Boards Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Ed) and UIS email: itacec@gmail.com Read more

The Prime Minister's commitment to education is vital to overcome the serious challenges to Pakistan's education system that he rightly highlights. As my paper together with Rabea Malik for the Oslo Summit on Education and Development shows, Pakistan can only achieve its target of 4% GDP to education if it reforms the tax system: tax revenue only reaches around 9% of GDP currently. In addition, finances within provinces need to be redistributed to those districts facing the greatest disadvantages. These actions will go a long way to ensuring all children and young people are in school and learning. For more information, see our paper: ; http://www.osloeducationsummit.no/pop.cfm?FuseAction=Doc&pAction=View&pDocumentId=63340And a summary is available in our blog: http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/can-pakistan-afford-quality-education-all-its-children-and-young-people Read more

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