Pakistan facing critical challenge of sending 26.21m children back to school, moot told

Pakistan faces a critical challenge with approximately 26.21 million out-of-school children (OOSC). In response to this crisis, the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), organised a two-day National Conference for Education Foundations at Karachi.

The conference aimed to foster collaboration and knowledge- sharing among education foundations across Pakistan. The foundations participating in the conference identified key challenges within the education sector, share best practices, and explore innovative approaches to enhance support for education sector more effectively.

A ‘Foundations’ Action Plan’ developed to address the needs of out-of-school children by way of evolving a synergy amongst the education foundations to amplify collective impact and facilitate mutual learning.

In the opening remarks, Managing Director SEF Abdul Kabir Kazi emphasized the collaborative effort to educate every child. He acknowledged that all stakeholders are striving to retain out-of-school children. However, the primary purpose of this conference is to develop an action plan as Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah wants to seriously respond to the education emergency declared by the prime minister.

Then, Abid Gill provided an overview around JICA’s efforts in response to the out-of-school-children issues in Pakistan. He added that JICA’s AQAL project has developed ALPs for primary and middle-tech as well as literacy & skill programmes to teach youth and adults. He shared that these learning models are synching extremely well to build a stronger educational ecosystem in the country.

Chairman Planning and Development Department, GoS, Najam Shah lauded the efforts of the conference organizers for establishing a consortium of education foundations to respond to the educational emergency in the country.

The momentum of the conference was driven by representatives from the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF)-KP, Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), Merged Areas Education Foundation (MaEF), Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF), National Education Foundation (NEF), and the SEF.

These representatives presented existing educational models that education foundations are employing to include, retain and teach out-of-school children. They added that prevailing challenges of budgetary constraints, geographical dynamics, and political instabilities are among the major bottlenecks towards addressing the out-of-school crises. The discussion provided valuable insights into governance models, policy priorities, access issues, quality & relevance, accountability, and the monitoring & research frameworks of these education foundations.

The conference agenda was made more effective through interactive discussions with panellists, who addressed a wide range of issues, including teacher retention, resource allocation, school infrastructure, poverty, lack of coordination between partners and foundations, and shortages of books and other educational resources.

Minister for Education Gilgit-Baltistan Ghulam Shehzad Agha commended the role of the SEF in inspiring regional foundations to work towards a common goal. He said that he will establish an education foundation in GB using the SEF model.

Renowned economist and educationist Kaiser Bengali stated that while individual parents are eager to send their children to school; however, communities often fail to make the necessary efforts to ensure access to education through their elected representatives.

He added Karachi’s Orangi Town presents notably high literacy because the community has taken ownership of the issue. He pointed out that no member of the provincial assembly (MPA) or member of the national assembly (MNA) has ever lost their constituency for failing to secure the right to education.

Bengali further criticised the state’s failure to provide education, attributing it to several factors, including the politicisation of teacher recruitment. He explained that teacher appointments are often influenced by political considerations, with the aim of gaining electoral support. “I have proposed to the government that teachers should not be engaged in election duties,” he added.