Legislators form first-ever national caucus on education

Islamabad
Members of parliament and all provincial assemblies on Thursday formed the National Caucus on Education (NCE) to promote the cause of education in the country.
According to its founders, the caucus is to provide lawmakers with forum to share their experiences of working as education champions in their respective areas.“The NCE envisions engaging with political actors and a rigorous follow-up by citizens on their political commitments.”
During a meeting here, members of the caucus selected Mohsin Laghari as the first national convener of the NCE.They vowed to work collectively for making education a political priority and ensuring augmented efforts for the realisation of Article 25-A on the people’s right to quality education.
Raza Bareech, adviser to the chief minister of Balochistan, suggested that the NCE should identify different education issues and contribute towards their rectification at the provincial, district and constituency levels, by ensuring affirmative political and administrative actions leading to better planning and delivery of education services.
Raja Qamar-ul-Islam, chairman of the Standing Committee on Education, vowed to work on access and quality and ensured to work on Article 25-A.“It is crucial to come together for the cause of education reforms looking beyond our political affiliations,” said Senator Mohsin Leghari who was selected as the convener of the National Caucus on Education (NCE).
Dr. Murad Rass of PTI highlighted educational issues of the Punjab province and suggested that the NCE should work proactively to restore public confidence in the public education system by helping improve access and quality of education.
“For realistic and sustainable education reforms, it is imperative to create a political collective backed by technical support,” said PML-N MPA Amna Sardar.She said the NCE would help develop and implement non-partisan strategies for the oversight and scrutiny of education budgets which must ensure sustained and sufficient funding and financial accountability for annual development programs.
Lawmakers said the caucus was a living body which shall be a pivot for political action aligned with technical expertise by education experts.Members from Punjab agreed to the host the next session of the caucus in August so that the policy and constituency level engagements can be shared geared towards aggregating political voice for better results.
The legislators appreciated Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS) for facilitating and supporting this initiative which shall be providing technical and secretarial support to the NCE in future.