AT long last, the National Education Policy (NEP) is out. But many education NGOs which were part of the reform process are not pleased as a number of their suggestions have not been included. It appears that the policymakers decided to adopt the political approach and worked out the draft in a way that satisfied the various partners in government rather than the professionals. The NEP can still be retrieved if it is placed before the National Assembly for an honest debate to elicit public opinion. The media should also be encouraged to take up the issue. There is no reason why changes cannot be made even now. The policy’s analysis of the education scene in Pakistan is fine. It identifies most of the ills that beset this sector – inaccessibility, disparity, quality and so on. But it is a pity that it fails to find the right solutions. Political expediency appears to have won the day.

Two aspects that will have profound implications are highlighted: one, the ideological undertones that have been injected into the NEP belatedly; two, the implementation mechanism. A new chapter titled ‘Islamic Education’ has been added to the draft that lauds the ‘infusion … of religious teachings in the curriculum’. Past experience has shown that we can expect the further spread of obscurantism in view of the NEP’s failure to adopt an enlightened approach. For instance, the stress is on memorisation and there is no mention of promoting understanding and debate on what is taught in the name of religion. Qaris will be training the teachers and there is no assurance that minorities and non-majority sects will be spared what this prescription of ideology imposes on them. The provision for Ethics as a subject for non-Muslim students in lieu of Islamiyat notwithstanding, they will have to submit to the ‘infusion’ of faith in the curricula for all subjects.

Another serious cause for concern is that no effective independent monitoring authority has been provided for. The policy speaks of the Inter Provincial Education Ministers Conference acting as the mechanism to oversee and guide implementation of this policy. In effect the task of monitoring will be left to the education departments in every province. Has that not been done since 1947? The NEP speaks in a low key of the corruption and ineptitude that characterise the education sector. Who will check this? Can those who siphon off funds to line their own pockets really check the misappropriation of the amounts involved? In view of this the seven per cent of GDP that the government hopes to inject in this sector could well enrich more people. Only inspectors – men and women of integrity – who are independent of the education department and can be held accountable should constitute a mechanism to ensure that education funds are well spent.