Education ministry abolition to be counter productive: Aseff | LIVE GEO NEWS

Education ministry abolition to be counter productive: Aseff ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said that abolition of the Ministry of Education under 18th amendment will be counter productive. While addressing the opening session of the 7th meeting of Pakistan Educational Task Force (PETF) here, Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said that Ministry of Education is overseeing the affairs of more than 14 million students and 79,000 teachers of Islamabad Capital Territory, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJ&K. Apart from that Advanced Research Center and Area Study Centers working under federal government are part of Federal Legislative List and are therefore federal subjects which cannot be handed over to the provinces. 7th meeting of the Pakistan Education Task Force (PETF), co-chaired by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector, Shahnaz Wazir Ali and Sir Michael Barber, was held here on Saturday. Co-chair Shahnaz Wazir Ali affirmed that the Task Force forum will continue to serve as a convening agent for a national discourse on education. The purpose is to catalyze and give direction to the education reform debate in the provinces. The meeting was held to receive an update on the work which the Task Force Secretariat team has been undertaking: Reform Road Map for Punjab schools, Education Fund for Sindh and Balochistan Action Plan. DFID reaffirmed its commitment for providing 3 million for setting up an `Innovation Fund' for any creative ideas in improving the delivery of education and for taking them to scale. The Third Party review of Pakistan Education Task Force, undertaken by River Path Associates, was discussed at length. A candid discussion was undertaken on restructuring the operations and mandate of the Task Force. The meeting concluded on consensus that Task Force 2 will be poised to take the education discussion to a new level of engagement with the political leadership and other critical stakeholders in the society. The meeting was also attended by all provincial education secretaries, high officials of provincial educations departments, member of the PETF, Mian Ahsan Saleem (CEO, The Citizens Foundation) Mehnaz Aziz (CEO, Global Children Network) and Dr. M Memon (Director, AKU-IED).