Neglected national goals
By Inayatullah

Pakistan’s new Minister for Planning and Development, Mr Ahsan Iqbal, has acknowledged that it was not appropriate to provincialise the subject of education under the 18th Amendment. In a speech the other day, in Islamabad, he emphasised the crucial importance of a national curriculum.
While the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been saved and a large sum of Rs 57 billion allocated to it in Budget 2013-14 presented by the Finance Minister to the National Assembly, the budget speech made no reference to the Education For All (EFA) goals set in Dakar in the year 2000 to which the Government of Pakistan is committed, or was there any mention of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Global Monitoring Report released in 2012 paints an unsatisfactory picture of Pakistan in regard to the six EFA goals. According to it, most of the targets would not be achieved by the year 2015 by Pakistan. The position about the MDGs is, more or less, similar.
A promising development incorporated in the 18th Amendment was the addition of Article 25(A), which made it obligatory on the state to provide education to all boys and girls in the age bracket of 5 to 16 years. This provision, however, can be enforced only after an enabling law has been passed. The centre and the Sindh governments have enacted the required legislation, while the remaining three provinces have yet to pass such a law. Yet, no steps have been taken for its implementation in the federal territories or Sindh province. (A similar law passed in India is under implementation.)
So, what are the EFA goals and where does Pakistan stand in achieving the targets? These are:
Goal1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education.
Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met.
Goal 4: Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015.
Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015.
Goal 6: Improving all aspects of the quality of education.
Of these EFA goals, the most important relate to primary education and literacy. More than 7 million children are reported to be out of school today. The net primary schools enrolment rate is less than 70 percent. As for quality, less said the better. Literacy-wise, Pakistan is to achieve a rate of 86 percent by 2015. The present rate, however, is estimated to be around 58 percent.
The main reason for this poor performance is lack of political will that translates itself into inadequate financial allocations. Musharraf’s government abolished the National Literacy Commission. Later, a new Commission for Human Development - a semi-government enterprise - was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr Nasim Ashraf. With education no longer remaining a federal subject, the Commission has barely managed to survive and is presently struggling to partially carry out its mission.
With no national direction, no national leadership, support and monitoring, literacy is currently a low priority in the provinces. There is hardly a sustained literacy programme in Balochistan, Sindh and KPK.
Punjab, which had taken a lead in the early years of the last decade, too has done little to launch programmes to meet the targets. The last decade saw more than half a dozen officials occupying one after the other the post of literracy secretary. They spent most of their time planning, re-planning and printing beautiful booklets on glossy and highly-expensive paper - JICA readily providing funds for such items. These plans remain unimplemented. The result is that during the entire 2012-2013 financial year, a very small number of literacy centres were opened despite advocacy efforts on the part of Unesco and civil society organisations. No one in the government - neither the Departments of Education and Literacy, nor the Planning and Development Board - bothered to examine this dire state of affairs, while knowing well that the province is fully committed to the achievement of set goals by 2015.
Will there be, after the 2013 elections, a change of attitude and policy in regard to literacy and basic education in the provinces? Punjab and Sindh continue to be ruled by PML-N and PPP. Hopefully, Punjab will turn a new leaf. One may, well, look forward to a definite move forward in KPK. The PTI manifesto commits the party to initiate effective steps to accelerate the process of achieving ambitious literacy goals. It has commissioned a master literacy plan. The party has also pledged to increase spending on education “from 2 percent of GDP to 5 percent of GDP in five years.”
According to its manifesto, the PML-N is “determined to bring about an educational revolution in the country by taking the following steps:
n National education emergency will be declared to eradicate illiteracy on a war footing.
n A national literacy movement will be launched in which volunteers from all segments of society will be motivated to participate in it.
n In consultation with the provinces, legislation will be initiated to provide a roadmap for achieving 100 percent enrolment up to the middle level and 80 percent universal literacy and strive to meet the target of EFA and MDGs related to education within the given timeframe.
n The dropout rate at primary level will be reduced by providing missing facilities in schools and free textbooks, offering incentives, especially for girls.
n Facilities for teacher training will be expanded at a rapid pace in collaboration with the provincial governments to improve the quality of education and a quality teacher will be available for every classroom.
n Teaching at all levels will be made an attractive profession. Efforts will be made to bring in high calibre teachers by offering better salary, improved service structure and other benefits. Training and refresher courses will be conducted at all levels and their promotion will be linked with their qualifications and performance.
n Increased resources will be allocated for the Education Sector, ensuring proper and timely utilisation of funds to reach the Unesco target of 4 percent of GDP by 2018.
The story about the achievement of MDGs is equally disappointing. One may, in particular, refer to the maternal mortality rate and under-five mortality ratios. These still are far above the targets. According to a recent “Countdown to 2015” report launched in Kuala Lumpur, “in Pakistan the demand for 44 percent antenatal care is 28 percent and postnatal care is 39 percent. Around 32 percent children below five years of age are under weight and 44 percent are stunted.”
Already the UN, Unesco, Unicef and other related agencies are seized of post-2015 planning exercises to ensure that the EFA and MDGs are not only expeditiously achieved all over the world, but also more ambitious programmes are launched to provide adequate education and healthcare services to one and all. It is time the new governments, both federal and provincial, in Pakistan move fast to make up for the lost time to achieve the unmet goals.
The writer is an ex-federal secretary and ambassador, and a political and international relations analyst.

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