The crisis status of education and its consequences in Pakistan are finally catching the attention of the developed world. The World Bank, Great Britain and the US are recognising how important education, or in Pakistan’s case, the lack of it, is for the country and the world.

Long overdue financial assistance is expected to flow in, helping the poor infrastructure and quality of schools. Some modest private and governmental efforts, including the passionate and little known work of Greg Mortenson who is establishing schools for girls in remote areas of Pakistan, have been in place for some time. However, there is little collaboration, knowledge sharing or information when it comes to these programmes. While restructuring education in Pakistan is a gigantic task, as all tasks, it requires organisation, attention to detail and the collaboration of players. Such a mechanism is currently lacking.

Fairly new non-profit organisations are trying to register their sister organisations in a database (at no cost or sometimes for quite a hefty fee). Some offer training of staff, assistance in maintaining records and approaching donors in addition to making the information available to the public. These efforts are quite humble and not inclusive enough to make the difference they are aiming for. In the fragile state of affairs, a central organising agency is needed to coordinate the efforts of all players and stakeholders through public-private cooperation.

In any business affair or community service it is important to know who is doing what and the progress and end-result of their respective projects. It becomes even more crucial to collect this information and provide a platform for communication, collaboration and dispersion of knowledge and funds for long-term projects such as the improvement of education and schools.

Education projects are unique in that they require a long-term commitment. This commitment translates into a need for much larger funds, more time allotted for improvement, and a longer time for measurable results. In a crucial time like this when the future of education is being molded, there must also be an organisation/agency that supervises the actions and the progress of educational projects for the required time length commitment.

For this purpose, it is best to have an open and strong collaboration between the government and the private, including the non-profit sector. Since the majority of international financial assistance for education comes through governmental channels, the agency must have a strong governmental involvement. The agency should also be able to assess the situation and propose changes in legislation or federal and provincial procedures to benefit educational projects as needed.

One major aspect that may be easier to address by establishing a powerful, central agency on education is the lack of easy and financially facilitated access to schooling. By having a national central agency dedicated to putting financial resources in schools efficiently, undertaking public awareness campaigns on the importance and benefits of education, and giving incentives to teachers and students to attend school, Pakistan can finally overcome the severe problem of illiteracy. Currently, even for those children who make it to school, there are not enough incentives to continue. According to Unesco, a third of enrolled children drop out by fifth grade.

Simply building a school or reconstructing an existing building is not enough to guarantee enrolment and attendance. The benefits of education, especially higher education are well studied (see “Investing in Higher Education”, Dawn, Nov 11, 2007). Education brings private and public benefits. Not only is an individual’s well-being, health and economy improved by achieving a higher level of education, but an educated populace has a positive effect on a larger scale as well — bringing societal well being, social mobility and poverty alleviation.

Education is a great resource for individuals and the government to bring about progress and prosperity using the international market needs for qualified professionals (see “Cashing in on Education”, Dawn, March 1, 2009). Other benefits include promoting civic participation, moderation and tolerance in hopes of reducing violence and unlawful acts. To fully realise such benefits, it is crucial to get the message across where it is needed the most, in the rural, underdeveloped and remote areas as well as in the inner city.

Public awareness campaigns through media and community involvement are some of the tools to achieve this goal. In addition to raising awareness, it is important to make the education system accessible (through scholarships and financial assistance) to as many economically disadvantaged students as possible. These tasks will be better accomplished if a central agency would make it possible to evaluate students’ and institutions’ needs, and implement projects as needed. Pre-assessing the needs of specific communities, knowing who needs what, and being equipped with the knowledge of which organisation does what kind of education programme is necessary to most effectively harness the resources of donors, such as international and national financial aid agencies.

International financial resources to improve education are becoming available in efforts to put Pakistan back on the path of stability and prosperity. According to the World Bank Group, the World Bank has approved $950 million for Pakistan’s education sector reforms including $100 million earmarked for Higher Education Commission (HEC). Three hundred and fifty million dollars are earmarked for Punjab’s education sector reforms, out of which $100 million will be available within the current fiscal year.

Another $300 million has being planned for Sindh education sector reforms. In addition, since the September 11 attacks, the United States alone has given Pakistan a total of $680 million in nonmilitary aid.

US assistance to primary education and literacy in Pakistan has more than doubled — from $28 million in fiscal year 2004 to $66 million in fiscal year 2005. PresidentObama has already asked Congress to more than triple assistance to Pakistan for nonmilitary purposes, including education. On the other side of the Atlantic, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged £665 million spread over the next four years to help Pakistan with counter-terrorism operations, including£125m earmarked for supporting education projects in the border area “in an effort to stop the spread of extremism”.Unfortunately the government of Pakistan has done little to match international efforts to improve education. The government hasyet to raise the education budget to four per cent of GDP in line with United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation recommendations.

Even if and when the Pakistani government raises the much-needed budget for education, a central educational agency will be ideally positioned to channel funds from international and national resources in the most effective ways. Education costs occur every year and funding just one-year programmes locally without creating sustainable contingency funds is a waste of time, energy and money. The US and world commitment to help bring education to the masses and shift the attention from exclusively religious schools to public civil learning can be channeled in very useful ways. Expert recommendations from a central organising agency in the shape of a National Education Council (NEC) can help the effective distribution of funds over a long-term period as well as utilise the surplus money to create an endowment fund. NEC as a public-private partnership of key stakeholders of education in Pakistan can be more useful than a solely politicized governmental agency, or a purely private organisation.

The NEC may start as an independent education policy think tank, consisting of a body of educational experts. NEC would engage in evaluating, criticizing and suggesting guidelines for education policies undertaken by the government or other national and international agencies. The council would involve all stakeholders of education including schools, colleges, universities, and postgraduate programmes, both public and private, policy makers, businesses, research and not-for-profit organisations in a powerful network that would allow different perspectives towards effective policies to improve the status, quality and accessibility of education in Pakistan. The focus of this agency may include, but not be limited to, creating and establishing policy-impacting tools, i.e. proposing and/or revising timely and effective reforms, identifying models and approaches for developing curricula of learning that meet the continuously changing market needs, and evaluating education programmes and their sustainability.

By establishing a powerful think tank to strongly advocate and counsel the government through public media and publications, as well as play the role of a watchdog for governmental policies though its research assessment evaluations, all stakeholders of education in Pakistan benefit. Such an agency allows people with expertise to assess and evaluate the usefulness of programmes in an independent way, thus ensuring that funds for education are well spent and not wasted. It also provides background information for international aid agencies that wish to work with local organisations or schools by equipping them with useful information on existing programmes, need assessments and expertise.

NEC could be equipped with a national database of all public and private education institutions agencies, and players in education. This database could serve as a single source of information and a reliable reference for matching donors and non-profits in need, getting expert advice and consultation on long-term projects and proposing new policy areas for funding and improvement.

There is a dire need for independent education policy think tanks in Pakistan. While the status of education is in crisis and those funds distributed by governmental agencies such as HEC receive criticism for abuse and misuse of money, an independent agency such as the NEC can ensure better accountancy in terms of programme effectiveness and progress. Establishing NEC will be the fastest way to make a national impact in improving education programmes and ultimately the status, quality and accessibility of education in Pakistan.NEC, as an independent agency could receive funding from a broad range of donors includingthe Pakistan government, international agencies and local private donations, with no conflicts of interest involved.

With the pitiful current state of education and the world’s willingness and assistance to fix it, there is an urgent need to organise the many efforts currently going on in Pakistan, both governmental and private. There is currently a lack of information, accountability, resources, and no database at the national level that collects information from the local level. Lack of information hurts new programmes.

Not sharing information such as programme evaluation results in a lack of organised actions. It is important to have the programmes coordinated yet play as independent factors, and give them the attention they deserve to help governmental and international aid organisations to execute their policies and plans. Local knowledge on the problems at hand and local assessment of how to approach them can be great tools for market research and coordinated activities. Such information can help all the involved stakeholders to take advantage of the resources, avoiding duplicate or ineffective programmes. NEC can be the all-inclusive, grand-level organisation to fill this need and lead the way.

The writers work for the Promotion of Education in Pakistan Foundation, Inc., USA.

info@pepfoundation.org