Youth Parliament of Pakistan (YPP)stance on basic education

 M. Atique Khokhar (YP11 -ICT01)  Yasir Riaz (YP12-ICT02)

Article 25a of the amended Constitution of Pakistan guarantees the right to education Millennium Development Goals  To ensure access of free and compulsory primary education to all children  To eliminate gender disparity in in primary and secondary education

In party manifesto of five largest parties (PPP, PML-N,PML-Q, MQM and ANP) in 2008 election  All mention their commitment to ‘education for all’.  Only two mention girls’ education as a specific area needing attention.  Just two mention their commitment to increased funding for education.  Only one addresses the issue of language of instruction.

 One-third of primary age children, are not in school at all.  Around 35 percent of those children who do attend school and make it to grade 3 cannot do single digit subtraction.  Drop out rate is very high  Each day around a quarter of the country’s teachers do not turn up to school

Source: National Education Census

 Lack of commitment by Government  Lack of transparency in whole system  Poor school facilities  Accessibility issues  Gender disparity  Poor experience  Issue of medium of instruction

 A sustained political will  A Narrative of Reform in whole system

 National public advocacy campaign to create awareness in community and in parents  High level political commitment  Clear understanding about medium of instruction  Strong monitoring system

 Consensus among political parties to make the constitutional right to an education a reality  each province needs a core group that will get under the hood of education issues, exploring the technical aspects of what needs fixing and how

 The entire system should then turn its attention to the biggest challenge of all which – to hammer home the point – is implementation, implementation, implementation.

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