Education sector has become weak in Balochistan due to nepotism, favouritism, violation of merits and a typical business-orientated approach.
These views were expressed by speakers at a consultative session of a seminar jointly organised by Action-Aid and Youth Educational Society (YES) at a local hotel on Friday.
Balochistan Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Syed Ruqayya Saeed Hashmi, Additional Chief Secretary Aslam Shakir Baloch, Senior MBR Sarwar Javed, Action-Aid Director Shahjahan, YES Director Ashraf Hasni, Government Teachers Association President Nawaz Jattak and Private Teachers Association President Nazar Baraich were prominent among those who spoke on the occasion.
The speakers said that the responsibility rested with all stockholders including the government, teachers, students and parents to play their constructive role in bringing reforms and betterment in society.
They were of the view that the prevailing multiple systems of education was not serving its purpose effectively and stressed the need for making one curriculum for the students in schools across the entire country.
They said efforts of the lawmakers and the community would help create amicable environment for knowledge seekers in the province.
Furthermore, they underlined the need for evolving concerted strategy to enhance the enrollment of children in primary level. “We have to go a long way to achieve the Millennium Development Goal set for the education sector till 2015 as due to the scattered population in Balochistan, a large chunk of the province’s area is still deprived of basic education facilities”, the speakers said.
The speakers also hailed the public-private partnership schemes for the uplift of the sector.
Commending some of the reforms put in place by the government for the promotion of education and enabling maximum enrollment at primary level, the speakers urged for the continuity and persistency of such policies.
“Drastic steps should be taken on war-footing to improve the rate of girls’ enrollment in schools as a large number of girls are still cut off from schools, thus aggravating the already grim situation in the province,” they added.
