121
Dakar Declaration/EFA Goals and MDGs (2000) were signed as global commitments by the
Government, on the one hand and 9/11 debacle led to grave challenges. The metaphor of
‘emergencies’ took root in the education discourse thereafter; this era represents a fusion of
complex global, national and sub-national narratives vis-a-vis the dimensions of access, quality,
equity and governance.
2009-2014 by contrast is a period of democratic dispensation and devolution. Two
successive general elections were held creating democratic deepening (2008 and 2013). The
National Education Policy (NEP) 2009 was launched (Sept) followed by a drastic shift in
assumptions and reality of governance arrangements in 2010 with the passage of the 18th
Amendment to the Constitution. The 18th amendment abolished the concurrent list for 37
subjects including education, devolving it as a completely provincial business (Policy, language
curriculum, budgets implementation etc.). This amendment added Article 25 A to the
constitution finally making education a fundamental constitutional right for all 5-16 year old
children as a state obligation for which federal/provincial laws were to be enacted as per
governments’ desired crafting. The Federal Education Ministry was abolished in 2010 soon to
be resurrected in its new clipped incarnation in 2011 July with curtailed scope and jurisdiction
focusing on standards, curriculum(common core), education policies/principles and data
consolidation. The Prime Minister gathered all provincial Governments in September 2011 to
commit to implementing the NEP 2009 and National Curriculum 2006/7 supplemented by
provincial education sector plans (ESPs) and new curriculum/textbooks production/standards
protocols as per devolved arrangements. In 2009 Early Learning Development Standards
(ELDS)/ECE and National Professional Teachers Standards were finalized. The devolution of
education provided an opportunity for political leadership in provinces to spearhead and scale
up education reforms and reach out to the most vulnerable. This era witnessed emergence of
provincial laws for 25 A in all but one province(KP), enactments on curriculum and textbooks
and ESPs embedded in access, quality, equity and governance (AQEG) as the framework for
domestic and international financing. PPP Acts were promulgated in Punjab and Sindh in 2010
and amended in 2014 to include services to offset the infrastructure bias through inclusion of
services to engage/procure non-state partners in improving service delivery. Learning from
MDGs and their unmet goals, stocktaking was systematically under taken at multiple levels
concurrently to a very inclusive global/local process for crafting the new post 15 agenda. 2010
marked the first citizen led Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report on learning
accountability on not just who went to school but the quality of learning of children’s aged 5-16
across Pakistan. This initiative was first of its kind and emerged to assist the government on
data provision which is open for the public to use. The Benazir Income Support Program (BISP)
and other initiatives were launched for social protection in Pakistan for conditional and
unconditional cash transfers including education (Waseela-e-Taleem/WET), amidst continued
natural disasters and displacements.
2015-2017 the most recent phase & Major National/Global/Provincial Landmarks: This
era unfolding has witnessed the launch of Govt. of Pakistan’s Vision 2025 in 2015,committed
to human and social capital formation, poverty eradication, sustained and inclusive growth.
2015 also marks the endorsement of 17 SDGs 2030 along with SDG 4 as a stand-alone goal for
education (7 targets and 3 means of implementation) through a sector wide lens. SDG 4 is
focused on quality, inclusion equity and ‘lifelong learning’ linked inextricably with all 16 SDGs.
The current period is one of deepening of sector reforms with accountability and action for
quality and equity aligned to SDG 4 , article 25 A /right to education, enhanced resources to
education at the provincial level (20-28%) but with persistent challenges of utilization and