KLF session launches book on educational system of Pakistan

Speaking at an online book launch at the 12th Karachi Literature Festival on its last day on Sunday, Amjad Noorani, the lead author of the book, said reforming education was a gradual process and it required political and social advocacy.

The book, ‘Agents of Change’, has been published by the Oxford University Press and is dedicated to the late Abdul Sattar Edhi. During the session, educationists Rahila Fatima Shakil and Dr Anjum Altaf highlighted several issues about Pakistan’s education system, curriculum and medium of education. The talk was moderated by Nadeem Hussain, co-author of the book.

“Agents of Change suggests actions for change in the K-12 education system in Pakistan. It validates how good schooling can alleviate poverty and advance societal development through equitable opportunity for quality education,” said Noorani.

He said analyses in the book were based on research, conversations with professionals in the education sector, interviews with experts and first-hand knowledge of many challenges in the education system.

Commenting on the book, Masood Ahmed, the president of the Center for Global Development, Washington DC, said that in the broader context of education policy and reforms in Pakistan, the book told how much more was needed to be done to provide equitable and quality education to the millions of children still being deprived of it.

Dr Irfan Muzaffar, an educator who has also contributed a chapter in the book, said: “A good school is never an island of good practice. It is nested in and supported by a complex system.” He added that there could not be any good schools without effective institutions that delivered curriculum, teaching and learning materials, teachers and school leaders. There will be none of the above without a vibrant public sphere, including both civil and political actors, he stated

Dr Muzaffar was of the view that in the absence of such elements, a high demand for education would only promote private, not public good. He said the authors had gone beyond serving us with a jolting reminder of the dysfunction of our civil and political spheres and what were the viable remedies to revitalise them.

Nadia Naviwala of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars said discussions about education in Pakistan typically focussed on the very top-down role of the government and international actors. “The Agents of Change provides a rare window into Pakistan’s vibrant civil society, their efforts to provide quality education in the country that has the world’s second-largest out-of-school population.”

Habib University President Wasif A Rizvi said: “Amjad Noorani and Nadeem Hussain, authors of the book, cohesively bring forward the scale of TCF’s 25 years of intervention, which provides both qualitative and quantitative basis to decisively shape the direction of primary and secondary education in Pakistan, laying the foundation for the development of individuals with civic responsibility and consciousness to address challenges humanity is globally facing.