The Education Policies (1947 – 1998)
Prof Laeeq Ahmed Khan
A policy announced by the Government or any other organization is a
reflection of its vision and the course of activities which are to be
undertaken in the area for which the policy has been formulated. It is
surprising that in Pakistan a Government, whether Military or Civil, has
hastened to announce an Education Policy, which perhaps they considered
to be of least interest to the public at large. The only person who was
genuinely interested in introducing a new education system for a newly
independent country with a blend of Islamic values and secular
education, was the Father of the Nation. He had appointed an Education
Commission in 1946 to meet at Muslim University Aligarh and to draft an
educational agenda for the forthcoming independent country called
Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the Commission could not meet in Aligarh because of
Hindu-Muslim riots in Aligarh in 1946. However, within three months of
the independence of Pakistan, the first All Pakistan Education
Conference was held in Karachi on 30th November and 1st & 2nd December
1947. At that time, Mr. Fazul-ur-Rehman, a politician from East Pakistan
was the Federal Education Minister and his inaugural address to the
Conference was truly an agenda for the education system of a newly
independent Islamic country. Field Martial Muhammad Ayub Khan took over
the reigns of power in October 1958 and in March 1959 the National
Education Policy was announced as Sharif Commission’s Report. Mr S M
Sharif was the Federal Education Secretary under whose Chairmanship this
Commission was constituted by Field Martial Ayub Khan.
In 1969, Gen. Yahya Khan took over from President Ayub Khan and although
his tenure of office as President of Pakistan was very short but Air
Marshal Nur Khan who was his Education Minister announced the “Nur Khan
Education Policy” in 1969. Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was inducted into
power in December 1971, after the unfortunate dismemberment of Pakistan.
His Education Minister Mr. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada announced the “Peoples
Education Policy” in 1972. President Zia-ul-Haq dislodged Mr. Bhutto and
took over power in July 1977. He took about one year to constitute the
National Education Council which considered and approved his Education
Policy in 1979. A very interesting situation arose after 1987. President
Zia-ul-Haq called a meeting in his house in 1987 which was attended by a
number of Educationists and media people. In his address, he stated that
his 1979 Education Policy was going to complete 10 years in 1989 and he
would like the Ministry of Education to address itself to formulate an
extension of his Education Policy from 1989 onwards.
At the conclusion of the meeting, while we were leaving his drawing
room, he called me and said that he had already appointed a Commission
under the Chairmanship of Dr S M Zaman to make recommendations for the
“Islamization of Education” and he desired that I should keep in mind
the recommendations of the Commission while making recommendations for
the extension of his Education Policy. I was convener of the
three-member Committee to formulate the New Education Policy, and we
decided to keep the policy confined to five Chapters only, namely:
Islamization of Education.. Discipline in Educational Institutions.
Curriculum from Primary to Tertiary levels of Education. Student-Teacher
Welfare. Management and Financing of Education.
After due consideration we were able to identify Dr. N.A. Baloch, the
then Chairman of the National Commission for Historical and Cultural
Research to draft the first chapter of the Policy namely “Islamization
of Education”. I must say that Dr. N.A. Baloch justified his selection
as the Author of the first Chapter which was beautifully written by him.
We carried the draft of the Policy to the four Provincial Capitals. The
First Provincial Education Conference to discuss the “Zia-ul-Haq Draft
Education Policy” was held in Peshawar and was presided over by Gen.
Fazal Haq, the then Chief Minister of NWFP; the Second Conference was
held in Karachi and was presided over by Mr. Akhtar G. Kazi, the then
Chief Minister of Sindh; the Third Conference was held in Quetta and was
chaired by Mr. Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the then Chief Minister of
Balochistan. The Fourth Provincial Education Conference was held in the
Pitras Bukhari Auditorium at Government College Lahore and was presided
over by Mr. Muhammad Siddique Kanju, the senior most Minister in the
Punjab Cabinet. Unfortunately, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who was the
then Chief Minister of Punjab was not available to preside over the
Conference.
Unfortunately, on the same day, the plane of President Zia-ul-Haq
crashed in Bahawalpur and he expired. Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai who was
the Federal Minister for Education and myself rushed back to Islamabad.
The last of the chain of Conferences was held in Muzaffarabad and was
presided over by Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, the then President of Azad
Jammu & Kashmir.
In these Conferences, two representatives each (preferably one male and
one female), Primary Education, Secondary Education, Higher Secondary
Education, Graduate level Education, Post Graduate Education level,
District Education Officers, Sub-Divisional Education Officers, Vice
Chancellors, Dean of Faculties, Ministry of Education, Provincial
Education Departments etc. were invited to express their candid opinions
about the recommendations made in the Education Policy In the meantime,
elections were held and the Pakistan People’s Party formed the
Government at the Center. The then Minister of State for Education
called me to discuss the Draft Education policy. The Minister was not
very happy with the inclusion of Chapter on Islamization, which had to
be removed from the draft. The remaining four chapters of the Policy
were spread out into seventeen Chapters as per the manifesto of Pakistan
People’s Party. While we were drafting this policy, a new Government
under the leadership of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was formed at the
Center. The Federal Minister wanted the Chapter on Islamization to be
included in the Policy, which we readily complied with.
In the meantime elections were held again and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who
became the Prime Minister for the second time, presided over the
National Conference on Education and approved the recommendations of the
Policy. Before the recommendations of the Policy could be announced, the
Government again changed and Mian Nawaz Sharif took over as the Prime
Minister for the second time. In the 1998, “National Education Policy”,
announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Chapter on “Islamization
of Education” was at last included in the Policy
document.Non-implementation on previous Education Policies This question
has been repeatedly asked as to why the recommendations of some of the
previous Education Policies could not be implemented. The answer to this
question lies in the wrong procedures for the approval of various
projects by the Planning Commission.
The Five-Year Development Plans were introduced by the Planning
Commission in 1955 and every five years a Public Sector Development Plan
was announced by the Finance Minister at the time of his budget speech.
Only those Projects from various Ministries were approved by the Central
Development Working Party (CDWP)/Executive Committee of the National
Economic Council (ECNEC) which were included in the Five-Year Plans.
Unfortunately, the announcement of Education Policies did not
synchronize with the drafting of the Five-Year Plans, except in 1959
when the Sharif Commission’s Report was released at the time that the
Second Five-Year Plan was being drafted.
The 1965-70 (Fourth Five-Year Plan) could not be implemented because of
the turmoil in East Pakistan. From 1970 to 1978, no Five-Year Plan was
announced by the Government and Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced the
Rolling Plan which were announced every year from 1970 to 1978. That was
the reason why the recommendations made in the 1959 and 1972 Policies
only could be implemented and the recommendations made in the rest of
the Policies were left unimplemented. Ideological Differences. (To be
continued) |
