UNESCO consultation

UNESCO

Area Consultation on SDG-4 held in Islamabad to sensitize stakeholders on SDG-4/ and its alignment with area policy imperatives 

Al-Bab Report

The two-day area consultation marked at building the understanding and knowledge of the key education sector stakeholders of Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Gilgit Baltistan and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Islamabad: After the successful organization of national and provincial consultations in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Multan, UNESCO, UNICEF and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training organized a two-day consultation workshop on Sustainable Development Goal – 4 (SDG-4) “the Education 2030 Agenda” for education officials  of AJK, FATA, GB and ICT in Islamabad.

More than 80 officials and representatives from the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Area Education Departments, development partners’ community, civil society organisations, academia and media participated in the consultation to deliberate upon the SDG-4.

On day 1, while welcoming the participants, Prof. Mohammad Rafique Tahir, Joint Educational Advisor, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFE&PT), Islamabad highlighted that Pakistan is the leading country not in the region but in the world in spearheading national and provincial consultations on the SDG-4. Secretary CADD and Directors Education from all four area education departments appreciated the effort of Federal Ministry for engaging them in the consultation process. Applauding the initiative, they stated the consultation will create awareness on SGD-4, which is essential for alignment of SDG-4 targets and indicators with the respective education sector plans and priorities.

Addressing the participants, Ms. Vibeke Jensen, UNESCO Representative to Pakistan highlighted that transformative and universal in nature, the new education agenda addresses the unfinished business of the EFA targets and the education related MDGs. She stated that SDG-4 is reflecting the world determination to ensure that all children, young people and adults gain the knowledge and skills they need to live in dignity, to fulfil their potential and contribute to their societies as responsible global citizens. All development partners including the United Nations in Pakistan stands committed to the SDG-4 and support the Government of Pakistan to achieve the SDG-4 targets.

In his key note address, the chief guest, Muhammad Humayun, Secretary Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training appreciated provinces for increasing their educational budgets and termed it a positive step towards achieving the educational goals. He highlighted that new education agenda is more focused on quality of education and lifelong learning opportunities, which demands all stakeholders including education departments, teachers and parents to play a positive and effective role. For achieving the SDG-4 targets, he stressed the need to improve the quality of both teaching and learning. He considered female education a strong contributor to achieve SDG-4 in particular and all other SDGs in general and suggested to establish secondary and higher secondary schools for girls to increase their access to education. He maintained merit based teacher selection a key to bring quality and promote accountability in the education system.   

On day 2, Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman, Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training was the chief guest. In his key note speech he highlighted that the Government of Pakistan has adapted the SDG-4 agenda as the agenda for Pakistan. He shared that the number of out of school children have been decreased in Pakistan during the last two years and there is a significant shift in students’ enrollment from private to public sector schools. He specifically invited media to highlight such positive improvement in education besides projecting the weaknesses.  He stated that the Government of Pakistan is giving special attention to the new education agenda and shared some of the important initiatives of the present government in this direction. He mentioned that an effective coordination mechanism has been established through institutionalizing the Inter Provincial Ministerial Conference (IPMC) where decisions are made through consensus of all provinces, establishment of national Curriculum Council (NCC), revival of National Education Assessment System (NEAS) and other important initiatives.

He shared that at the federal and provincial levels, the budget allocations are substantively increased, which is a reflection of the commitment of the Government towards the education sector of the country. At the moment almost more than 25% of total budget is being allocated for the education. There are different political governments at the federal and provincial levels but they stand together for education as a priority agenda.

Speaking at the closing session Ms. Angela Kearney, Country Representative UNICEF, highlighted the importance of new education agenda and appreciated the role of the MoFE&PT in spearheading the national and provincial consultations. She emphasized that education carries an important responsibility for the success of all SDGs. Therefore, the focus on the education sector is absolutely critical and it is a unique opportunity for Pakistan to tackle the unfinished business of EFA and MDGs so children have the foundation to realize their full potential to become productive citizens.    

During the two-day area consultation, interactive presentations and discussions were made highlighting the implications, opportunities and challenges of the new education agenda. The group work was more focused on in-depth analysis of the SDG-4 targets and indicators and concrete recommendations were made for the alignment of SDG-4 with the education sector plans of AJK, FATA, ICT and GB. The main outcome of the consultation will be a strategic document/ way forward for integration of the SDG-4 with the area education sector plan, which will feed into an overall national strategic document on implementation of SDG-4 in Pakistan.