Guest Speaker Session - Sajid Ali
On April 18, 2024, Dr. Sajid Ali, Director of Research at Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development was invited as a guest speaker to talk to the students of the course “Economics of Education” taught by Ms. Shagufta Shabbar. The main topic was ‘A Brief History of Education Policies in Pakistan’.
The talk discussed that out of 3 lakh schools in Pakistan, 1/3 are public and 2/3 are private schools. 26 million kids are missing out on education. It was discussed why schools aren't performing well—mainly due to not enough budget allocation from the government which is less than 3% of GDP. Even though Article 25A says education should be free and mandatory for 5 to 16-year-olds, it's not happening as it should.
The guest speaker discussed the different education policies and their salient features from the past till now. Despite many good policies, putting them into action has been tough. The reason has been the conflict of interest between educational institutes and politics. Education is managed differently in different parts of Pakistan. Single National Curriculum and Education has become a provincial subject, which has its pros and cons discussed. The PPP’s (Public-Private Partnership) pros and cons were also discussed. Various types of PPPs have increased cooperation between government and private companies to improve education. In the question-answer session, the students raised some good questions which were answered in detail.
