Beside the provision of compulsory education to children between 5-16 years, the government is also responsible to provide equitable, accessible education to all, said Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training Engineer Baligh-ur-Rehman.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of Pakistan Education Statistics by Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) report – ‘2014-2015.
The minister reiterated his government’s commitment about its eagerness to reach the peak of excellence in the field of education. He said this is possible only if quality data is available to the researchers and educators.
The minister stressed the need to disseminate educational data to different stakeholders and praised the role of Pakistan Education Statistics in providing such an opportunity to the educationists and policymakers. “Time series data provided in the report will be useful in determining the progress in education sector within the country over the period of time. The report is quite useful for the researchers, planners and policymakers,” he added.
The Ministry of Education and Professional Training has timely realised the importance of quality data and gave a task to the National Education Management Information Systems (NEMIS) to publish its data within the shortest possible time, he said. They took it seriously and now reports like ‘Pakistan Education Statistics’ are getting published on time, he added. The minister also hoped that next report i.e. 2015-2016 will be published no later than the end of this year.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan spends less than three percent of its GDP on education. The education provided by government through state-run institutes has long failed to cater to the needs of the growing populace in both quantity and quality. The curriculum taught and the examination system devised is out-dated and archaic. The private sector has ventured in to fill in the void and the fees structure of these private enterprises is even beyond the affordability of proverbial common man.
The minister congratulated AEPAM Director General Muhammad Khan Khichi and his team for processing data and producing this document in his concluding address. “We wish to see this report as another milestone on the way to quality education,” said the Minister hopefully.
