Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
185
Policies toaddressHealth
With the high incidence of stunting and malnutrition of children in Pakistan, it is imperative from
a health point of view to address this great challenge but also from an education perspective as
poor health affects significantly access to education and learning of students.
Policies toaddressQuality:Madaris
Efforts to modernize Madaris in Pakistan should be continued and the NHCD pilots evaluated and
scaled. It would improve the quality of education provided to the poorest and most marginalised
populations which are the main ones enrolled inMadaris. It would also, in the long run, potentially
reduce the radicalisation of those populations. Pakistan could be at the forefront of efforts on
prevention of radicalisation of elements in young, poor and marginalised groups.
Policies toaddress language
With medium of instruction being a hotly debated topic, provincial education sector plans need
to make a decision for public schools, based on local and international evidence, and back their
final strategic decisionwith financing and a thought-through implementation strategy. It may help
avoid setting a new strategy but then failing to implement it and reverse the decision (as it
happened in Sindh).
Policies toaddressPoverty
With child labour being such a strong barrier to education across Pakistan, especially for poor
households, it is imperative to conduct an updated detailed child labour survey (the last one is
dated from 1996) in order to design both demand and supply-side policies to address the issue
and provide evidence to support implementation and enforcement of policies. A framework for
cooperation and coordination between relevant agencies and the education entities should be put
in place in order to address the problemholistically. This is a complex and long-term problem that
will not be easily fixed but continued efforts and resources must be invested. Strengthening
existing non-formal education initiatives and expanding vocational training options would also
help further access to schooling by marginalized groups who would otherwise turn to child
labour.
Policies toaddress FailingSystems (Governance, Financing, Quality)
Governance and Devolution
A central supply side challenge highlighted in the report is the devolution transition and the need
to strengthen the government officials’ capacity to design and implement education reforms at
the provincial and district level. Weak governance structures in place need to be strengthened for
increased accountability, in terms of school-based management but also for the overall teachers’
training and management system as well as the budget process.
Fiscal reform
As seen earlier, the majority of the education budget goes into recurrent expenditures and the
already little resources left for capital expenditures are not even fully executed. The latter
expenditures are needed if the severe secondary schools supply challenge is to be addressed.
Current fiscal allocation rules do not necessarily support provinces and districts that require
additional support due to more challenging contexts such as difficult geography, being more