The brain behind the PM’s Education Reforms

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle’s quote “the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet” can best be judged in the land of pure – Pakistan - where education for children has been made an extremely tough ask. Aristotle might have wanted to point out the difficulties involved in academic process of learning, especially educating a child, but when it comes to Pakistan, with absence of facilities, physical process of seeking education takes a great toll on the physical and mental health of children. Education institutions lack basic infrastructure mandatory for an institution: proper building & furniture, playground, washroom, state of the art science laboratories, proper transportation facility, trained & qualified faculty. 

Thinking of Islamabad - the federal capital - one might get the illusion that things would be exemplary here with regards to education. Yes, the situation might be ideal in the privately owned institutions imparting education to the tiny elite but in public sector; both urban and rural Islamabad, education institutions needed government attention. 

‘Nearer the church, farther from God’ can best define what has unfortunately, in the past, happened to education in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). From very little to completely ignoring, this is what the past-government had had on offer for education in Islamabad. This damaged already deteriorating standards of education institutions in public sector. The farther you go from the posh areas to the rural areas in the outskirts, the more low-standard education and plethora of problems you find in the education institutions of ICT. 

Things for the inhabitants of the ICT might not have changed, had the lady not appeared on the scene. Surely, not exaggerating to say is, she came, prioritized the education, took the problem from the scruff of the neck and changed the whole scenario. Yes, it was Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the first daughter of the nation, who is the brain behind the Prime Minister’s Education Initiative 2015. In October 2015, prime minister expressed his displeasure over the non-implementation of Free and Compulsory Education Act 2012. He asked Maryam to look into the reasons as to why the Free and Compulsory Education Act 2012 is not implemented in totality. Maryam devised the plan with the coordination and cooperation of Mr. Ali Raza – the Advisor on Prime Minister's Education Reforms Programme- and executed it smartly.

Maryam Nawaz, initially, came up with a list of twenty-two public schools located in the rural suburbs of the federal capital and expressed her resolve to revamp them in the first phase. The honorable prime minister extended her full support. Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary - Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development- left no stone unturned to extend his full support to Maryam Nawaz make her dream come true. A school in the suburbs (pungran, Islamabad) was revamped and modeled to be later replicated in more than four hundred schools of the Islamabad Capital Territory. The physical and academic revamp included repair of the school furniture, decorating class rooms, installation of water filtration and biometric attendance systems, establishing a library, extension of the boundary wall with barbed wired installed to beef up the security, building new toilets for the school, improving the school ground, establishing and upgrading the science and IT labs and building a multi-purpose hall. On Dec 11, 2015, Maryam Nawaz posted photographs of the revamped school on social media and everyone from friends to foes has to appreciate her effort to bring about a remarkable change to a previously poor condition school and her aspiration to do the same with more than four hundred schools of the ICT. 

Later, in the first phase, twenty one more schools were academically and physically revamped replicating the changes made in the Pungran School. In second phase, two hundred more schools are being upgraded and revamped in the rural and urban Islamabad. While the third and the final phase to be completed by the end of 2017, would include the physical and academic upgradation of all the remaining schools of the ICT. The teachers of twenty two schools have been imparted modern training while twenty one hundred more would be provided training in phase two and ten thousand in phase three. One billion repuees has already been spent on the first phase while Rs3 billion more is expected to be released by the federal government during the next month. 

As part of the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Program, in second week of January 2017, the prime minister handed over 70 school buses to the schools in Islamabad while 130 more buses have been ordered by the PM to procure on priority basis. The brain behind this initiative-Maryam Nawaz- accompanied the PM in the ceremony to hand over buses to the schools. Probably this is Maryam, who convinced the PM to say “preference should be given to girl schools and rural areas to help resolve transportation problem of girl students”.

As Deputy Mayor of Islamabad, I have happened to be in almost every sector or union council of the Islamabad Capital Territory. The people are appreciating the PM initiative from the core of their hearts. Myself being an inhabitant of Shah Allah Ditta, located in the outskirts of the federal capital, I can better gauge the people sentiment regarding the PM’s education reforms. The people from the rural Islamabad pay their special homage to the Prime Minister Muhammed Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary for paying special attention to the neglected areas located in the outskirts of the federal capital. 

The great Chinese philosopher Confucius said, “If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children.” The honorable PM and his daughter Maryam Nawaz seem to have fully grasped this quote of Confucius and have set their line of action accordingly. Indeed, investing in the education of our children will not only change the game but the fate of the people.

The writer is the Deputy Mayor of Islamabad Capital Territory and can be reached at shanishah1979@gmail.com