Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Posted By Muhammad Shakeel Ahmad
Education is recognized as a fundamental right of all children and the same has been acknowledged in Sustainable Development Goals 2030 under goal 4 and in our constitution under Article 25-A. This means that by 2030, all children should receive quality education and have lifelong opportunities to have decent jobs so that they may earn with dignity and become a responsible global citizen. “Seek Knowledge even if you have to go to China” shows the importance of education not in recent times but from over 1400 years ago. Yet seeking knowledge and getting quality education has been nothing but a dream for many in the province of KP.
If we talk about challenges that we face in the provision of quality education, learning and access have become nothing short of a crisis. This is ironic since in this age of technological advancement, where it is presumed that learning and access to education cannot be hindered because of geographical reasons, a significant number of children are out of school in the province and those who are in-school, are not learning much. According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2018, 13.5% children (8 % Girls and 5 % boys) are out of school. Among the enrolled children 62% are boys and only 38% are girls which is a serious concern for girls’ education and shows that much more needs to be done in this regard.
Early year’s education, which is essential for readiness of children for enrollment in schools, is still an ignored aspect which needs to be considered by all stakeholders: only 29.8% children attend pre-schools. Research shows, that not attending preschool and only attending kindergarten, that there was a lack of social skills and lower testing in early math and literacy development. Attending preschool also showed that later through 3rd grade, the test scores increased, and there were positive effects on attitude, attention and discipline. Children (mostly poverty stricken) who do not attend preschool feel the negative effects in the later future.
This preschool experience helps a young child get comfortable with starting to grow up and get prepared to waking up and being on a schedule throughout their lives. The children should not be deprived of this early education because it starts off at the first level which is very basic and simple and starts to be more complicated as more skills are taught and learned. Missing this first year can be hard because when the children go into the next grade level, they have to catch up and most children in that class already know the material.
Structural reforms are necessary to make our learning processes and systems child friendly. Institutions are there with the purpose to oversee the progress and upgrade educational system for overcoming challenges but unfortunately results are not encouraging as supposed. We are still in a race to provide basic facilities even after 72 years since independence. School facilities can have a profound impact on both teacher and student outcomes. With respect to teachers, school facilities affect teacher recruitment, retention, commitment, and effort. With respect to students, school facilities affect health, behavior, engagement, learning, and growth in achievement. Thus, researchers generally conclude that without adequate facilities and resources, it is extremely difficult to serve large numbers of children with complex needs.
A large body of research over the past century has consistently found that school facilities impact teaching and learning in profound ways. Yet state and local policymakers often overlook the impact facilities can play in improving outcomes for both teachers and students. While improving facilities comes at a financial cost, the benefits of such investments often surpass the initial fiscal costs. Policymakers, thus, should focus greater attention on the impacts of facilities and adopt a long-term cost-benefit perspective on efforts to improve school facilities.
Data or information crisis is another challenge in actual policy making that supposed to deliver on the ground. Departments collect data and are merely aligned for up gradation in policies. There are unnecessary restrictions on data sharing. There seems to be a trust deficit among departments that demands excessive formalities before sharing of information. In this digital age, we suffered searching information in registers at shelves and wasted a lot of time and energies. This is what created an embarrassment as a Nation that we were unable to present our progress on SDG4 in a SDGs summit at UNGA in September 2019, because Federal Education Ministry has received no information from provincial education ministries on SDG4 which is a serious concern.
There was a need to take a step forward and work for alignment of all departments and stakeholders in education sector to put facts and figures on a platform to see and track our progress since 2015 and match this with our target by 2030 to set a way forward. This gap was indispensable and urgent to be filled.
To cope above data crisis, Civil Society and Non-government Organizations especially ITA Pakistan is supporting provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to collect and share data not only globally but to utilize that numbers in data for effective policy making and developing a real Education Sector Plan so that we are in a track of achieving our goals by 2030. ITA Pakistan in collaboration with E&SED, DCTE, EMIS, PITE, KPITB, KPTEVTA, SDC, and SDG Unit of P&D is working on Data collection on SDG4 and capacity building of all stakeholders to align efforts and energies for this national cause.
