“Although public education financing hovering below global benchmarks at 14% in 2024, is a persistent challenge, there is an urgent need to address the under-utilization of allocated funds as they undermine the efficiency and impact of the public education financing,” said Shakeel Ahmad Bhatti, Focal Person for the Chief Minister Punjab’s Advisory on Education. He was speaking at the “Provincial Conference on Education Transformation,” organized by the Society for Access to Quality Education (SAQE) and Ghazali Education Foundation (GEF).
Addressing the out-of-school crises, he emphasized that the current formal public school infrastructure lacks the capacity to accommodate them. Thus, a flexible, socially and culturally appropriate education system is key to ensuring every child has equitable access to education, particularly technical and vocational skills.
Organized by the Society for Access to Quality Education and Ghazali Education Foundation, the Provincial Conference aimed at driving systemic reform, bringing together education sector stakeholders from the School Education Department and its affiliated bodies, leading civil society organizations, and international development partners to commit and chart roadmap to advance the agenda of equitable, resilient, inclusive and skill-based education.
“Education policy and financing must ensure the right to education for every child – especially girls and children from underserved communities, transgenders, and persons with disabilities. The education system must be transformed, focusing on learning quality, 21st-century skills, AI, and digital literacy,” remarked Zehra Arshad, Executive Director, SAQE. “We need data-driven, gender-sensitive planning and sustained political will to ensure every rupee reaches where it matters most”, she added.
Speaking at the Conference, Syed Aamir Mehmood, Executive Director of Ghazali Education Foundation, urged for increasing public education financing with a particular focus on under-served communities, focusing on providing them with safe and inclusive learning environments.
Dr Subhan Yousaf, Project Director, Afternoon Schools Programme, emphasized efficient, flexible, and adaptative planning and resource management to ensure that OOSC returning to schools can be accommodated within the limited resources.
Saeed-ul-Hassan, Punjab Development Advisor, FCDO, stressed that long-term tenure of key bureaucratic positions is crucial for sustainable and consistent policy reforms and ensuring system transformation to address the education emergency.
Tahira Sheikh, Managing Director of the National Education Foundation, stressed revamping the outdated curriculum and prioritizing relevant skills-based accelerated learning to bring back and retain out-of-school children.
Recognizing the need for 21st-century skills and the shifting labor market demands, the second session focused on integrating socio-emotional, employable, market-relevant skills into the education system. Panelists emphasized mainstreaming age-appropriate skills and connecting formal and non-formal education streams to vocational training and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Imran Cheema, Program Specialist, (TVET)JICA-AQAL emphasized promoting skill-based education at the middle level in Accelerated learning centers to peak and retain the trust of OOSC. He added that several projects piloted have already established their effectiveness in building soft skills, entrepreneurship, digital skills enabling them to become ready and equipped for employment.
Asim Safeer Pasha, stressing the need for promoting skill-based education highlighted that remittances from skilled labor constitute 80% of total remittances while locally 45% employment is for skilled labor. However, despite this high market demand, public investment in skilled education is only 33 Billion rupees in Punjab and urged that it must be scaled up to promote employment-ready labor force.
The conference concluded with a Declaration on Education Transformation, signed by the stakeholders and participants. The Declaration aims to advance provincial education reforms that leave no child behind and build a more inclusive, equitable, and future-ready public education system in Punjab.
