Dear Participants,| The Government of AJK spends around 17 percent of its total budget i.e., an amount of Rs. 11 Billion per year on education sector which is the biggest department of the government. Nonetheless, the scenario of education sector is far from satisfactory. At present, the provision of school infrastructure is one of the key challenges to the Government. Over 1100 schools i.e., 31 percent of the total operating schools remain without a building, states Alif Ailaan Education fact sheet. The quantitative expansion of the education sector could not result in quality education, and the standard of both primary and secondary state education institutions is below average. Additionally, the higher education sector has seen rapid growth in recent years however, the improvement of the quality of education and struggle to meet the national education standards has not been a top priority. There is a strong and undeniable influence of politics on education where the education sector is used as an instrument for the distribution of political patronage. |
This not only mitigates the selection criteria but also deteriorates the procedure for the selection of teachers and it largely impacts the quality output of the education system at work. The resulting malaise is systematically destroying the potential of the young generation. Likewise, students getting degrees from universities and colleges are unable to find jobs locally and also remain impotent to create small businesses or local level employment by virtue of their education. Consequently, they prefer to go abroad to earn livelihood for their families which results in brain drain. Keeping this in backdrop, the “Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms” is organizing a daylong policy dialogue titled: Reviving Public Education System in AJK: A Citizens’ Perspective. The aim of the dialogue is to enable citizens to initiate an informed discourse on the state of education through an active engagement of the decision makers in the dialogue.It will also generate a voice and agency of concerned citizens, in order to hold to account the bureaucracy and political representatives responsible for the education service as well as the delivery structures. The details of the program are given below. We look forward to seeing you. Regards,
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