F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has made improvement in providing of physical facilities to schools, recruiting teachers, increasing attendance and instituting new development programs.
However, the province still needs to tackle significant challenges in the form of improved learning outcomes, retention, girls’ access to education, enrolment and increased and effective education spending.
This was highlighted in “2013-2018 Five years of education reforms: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wins, losses and challenges for the future 2018-2023”, a report published by education campaign Alif Ailaan on Tuesday.
Panellists at the report launch included Muhammad Atif Khan (Minister, KP Elementary and Secondary Education) Shandana Humayun (CEO, Rural Support Programmes Network), Dr Irum Mumtaz (Remedial Therapist, IDEAS), Mohsin Dawar (Central President, National Youth Organisation), Taimur Khan Jhagra (Head of Election Policy Unit, PTI), Saba Gul Khattak (Senior Gender Specialist, World Bank) and Mosharraf Zaidi (Campaign Director Alif Ailaan).
The event was also attended by prominent lawmakers and senior government officials from across the country, including Sardar Hussain Babak, Barrister Syed Masroor Shah, Senator Usman Khan Kakar, Waleed Bizenjo, Sanaullah Baloch, Shagufta Malik, Ahmad Iqbal Chaudhry, Amna Sardar, Malik Noor Saleem Khan, Raza Haroon, Faisal Subzwari, Dr Meraj ul Huda, Secretary Information Qaisar Alam, Secretary Education Abid Majeed, Director Education Farid Khattak and former Director Education Rafique Khattak.
Based on the education sector Plan from 2015-16 and 2019-20, the focus of the reform of KP government has largely remained on improving the existing school infrastructure and school facilities, in addition to increasing IT labs under science and technology initiatives in schools.
In an effort to provide quality instruction in classrooms, the Education Department also took significant steps to refine the recruitment and training process of teachers through NTS and multiple partners respectively, and introduced tests for 5th and 8th graders to assess learning outcomes. These efforts were largely guided by strengthening the data monitoring mechanism through Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU), and putting new management and evaluation systems in place to track progress.
During the last five years, KP is the only province that has regularly allocated budgets higher than 20% of its total budget to education, which is consistent with the guidelines given by UNESCO Global Monitoring Report. Increased allocation of education budget to districts is also a commendable step to make the education system more responsive.
To increase retention of girls at secondary school level, stipends are also being given to girls under a Rs.1.72 billion initiative, and community schools were set up in remote districts to drive primary enrolment of girls.
