‘Pandemic has threatened education systems’

Islamabad : The education systems and educational institutions are under serious threat after the outbreak of COVID-19, so there's a need to review their relevant policies and rebuild the role of academic institutions and teachers to be better equipped in the new virtual world, improved learning process through innovative capacity building programmes and leadership development mechanisms.

This was the crux of the thoughts shared by experts in a webinar on 'Role of institutions and teachers in shaping youth' jointly organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Iqra University, Islamabad.

Vice-Chancellor of the AIOU Islamabad Prof Ziaul Qayyum, while covering various dynamics of the topic, said that the point to ponder for us should be why we are unable to produce global citizens that may have a complete comprehension of the world they lived in.

He said after the COVID-19 scenario, a holistic view was needed to analyse that what could be done beyond the teachers training as alternate to face to face teaching was not available in every aspect of learning.

Dr Nadia Tahir, former managing director (QAA) at the Higher Education Commission, said the standard of education in Pakistan was far below the par even before the arrival of COVID-19.

"We are spending less than 2% of GDP on education which is quite reflective of our priorities. Therefore, we need to change our priorities and the access to quality education must be ensured.

“Our youth is aware, but we are not imparting them informed education,” she said.

Dr Nadia said the quality of higher education in the country was dismal.

Dr Fatima Dar, director at the Centre for Teaching Excellence and Learning Innovation, Iqra University, said the education sector had been affected globally due to pandemic, so global cooperation should be enhanced to respond to emerging challenges, especially the challenges that are resulted by COVID-19.

Dr Shafqat Munir, director of the SDPI Resilient Development Programme, said education was no more a development issue and instead, it had become a humanitarian issue as well.

He said educational institutions had a critical role to play in developing new concept and shaping up youth in line with the new world that had emerged after the pandemic.