The plenary discussion highlighted key opportunities and bottlenecks in Pakistan's state and non-state education systems, including the quality of teaching, standards, access, and inclusion, especially with regard to the most marginalized children, says a press release issued here on Thursday.
The distinguished panel of experts included Saima Anwer, Education Advisor, UK Department for International Development; Umbreen Arif, educationist; Khadija Shahper Bakhtiar, CEO and Founder of Teach for Pakistan; Aban Haq, Head of the Innovation Fund at Karandaaz Pakistan; the Hon. Murad Raas, Minister for School Education, government of Punjab; Mehnaz Akber Aziz, MNA; Sarah Sheikh, Executive Director of the Family Educational Services Foundation; and Soufia Siddiqi, a technical consultant with the government of Punjab.
Shafqat Mahmood, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, delivered the keynote address in which he conveyed the government's vision for improving education outcomes.
He emphasized increasing the use of technology, particularly mobile phones, to deliver education at scale to the most marginalised children in Pakistan. He underscored the importance of creating uniformity and equity in access and quality education for all. Sakil Malik, Senior Global Practice Leader for Education at DAI, stated that although access to education has improved, many marginalised children remain outside Pakistan's formal education system. A decade-long endeavour to improve the quality of education has made significant headway, he said, and this effort must be sustained and scaled.
The panel on education quality and access was attended by the Hon. Murad Raas, who stated that the three major issues to address in education are quality, access and governance. He added that the best textbooks cannot really improve education outcomes unless the content is delivered by good teachers.-PR
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