Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal called for adopting major reforms to improve the country’s poor education management system.
The minister made these remarks, while addressing a two-day event titled "Decade of Learning" organized by the British High Commission in collaboration with UKaid on Tuesday. Our education management system is poor and it needs to be revamped by improving our teacher training, better curriculum and examination system, said the Minister while addressing the event. He said that he also had asked the education minister to hold a national summit to discuss and propose curriculum reforms, measures to improve the exams system, and teachers.
The Planning Minister recalled that he as a minister of planning had moved a Vision 2025 setting ambitious but achievable targets to be attained by 2025 but after a change of government, the new government threw the whole agenda out of the window.
He said lack of stability and continuity of policies was one of the major challenges in Pakistan's development process.
Prof Iqbal suggested that we need to develop a strong voice for our citizens. This would have great significance in case, if there is a change in government, the people would be able to force the new government to continue with the policies that are in the greater public interest. The changes which are in the interest of the country should not be thrown out of the window. This is the need of the hour to voice strongly in favor of reforms, remarked the minister, while highlighting the key initiatives taken by the government particularly in the education sector.
The minister said he was also in support of managing the education and health sectors at district level to promote professionalism in the sectors. For this he said each district should have a brilliant and highly professional person either from government or from the private sector as a chief executive of the respective sectors. He said this move would also develop a culture of competition among the districts.
"We are not poor in policy making but the real challenge is implementation", he said adding that lack of implementation of the policies and poor management system have led to the poor performance in the public sectors.
Meanwhile, the Minister said that the government has recently announced to award 10,000 scholarships for the youth of Balochistan and FATA. Besides 500 scholarships for the students of flood-affected areas. He was speaking at the event organized by Higher Education Commission HEC to mark the International Women Day. The event was attended by the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Chairman HEC, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority NDMA and a large number of students were also present at the occasion.
The Minister said that two-thirds of Pakistan's population consists of youth and it is important to provide education facilities to such a large number of youth. He appreciated USAID for collaborating with Pakistan to provide opportunities to the youth so that they can learn in respective fields.
The minister made these remarks, while addressing a two-day event titled "Decade of Learning" organized by the British High Commission in collaboration with UKaid on Tuesday. Our education management system is poor and it needs to be revamped by improving our teacher training, better curriculum and examination system, said the Minister while addressing the event. He said that he also had asked the education minister to hold a national summit to discuss and propose curriculum reforms, measures to improve the exams system, and teachers.
The Planning Minister recalled that he as a minister of planning had moved a Vision 2025 setting ambitious but achievable targets to be attained by 2025 but after a change of government, the new government threw the whole agenda out of the window.
He said lack of stability and continuity of policies was one of the major challenges in Pakistan's development process.
Prof Iqbal suggested that we need to develop a strong voice for our citizens. This would have great significance in case, if there is a change in government, the people would be able to force the new government to continue with the policies that are in the greater public interest. The changes which are in the interest of the country should not be thrown out of the window. This is the need of the hour to voice strongly in favor of reforms, remarked the minister, while highlighting the key initiatives taken by the government particularly in the education sector.
The minister said he was also in support of managing the education and health sectors at district level to promote professionalism in the sectors. For this he said each district should have a brilliant and highly professional person either from government or from the private sector as a chief executive of the respective sectors. He said this move would also develop a culture of competition among the districts.
"We are not poor in policy making but the real challenge is implementation", he said adding that lack of implementation of the policies and poor management system have led to the poor performance in the public sectors.
Meanwhile, the Minister said that the government has recently announced to award 10,000 scholarships for the youth of Balochistan and FATA. Besides 500 scholarships for the students of flood-affected areas. He was speaking at the event organized by Higher Education Commission HEC to mark the International Women Day. The event was attended by the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Chairman HEC, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority NDMA and a large number of students were also present at the occasion.
The Minister said that two-thirds of Pakistan's population consists of youth and it is important to provide education facilities to such a large number of youth. He appreciated USAID for collaborating with Pakistan to provide opportunities to the youth so that they can learn in respective fields.