Themes, Structure and Approach
5.1. VISION AND MISSION 5.2. THEMES 5.3. APPROACH TO REFORM 5.4. KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION 5.5. APPROACH TO REFORM IN TVET
Themes, Structure and Approach
The Balochistan Education Sector Plan (BESP) has been developed on the basis of findings of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA). The final set of themes in the Sector Plan do not fully overlap with the ESA as some (as the girl child) have been merged into different chapters of the Plan.
For each chapter, the approach to reform has been explained, followed by a summary explanation of each of the causes that create the base problem. Goals have been developed by inversing the problem. Sub-themes, based on the similarity of their roles, have been collated into one or more programs. Each program is further divided into sub-programs structured under an overall goal, sub-goals and strategies. The explanation of the rationale of each strategy has been summarized. The area of Learning, with its multifarious themes, has the most complex break up with multiple programs and sub-programs. Access and Participation is the next area in terms of complexity with six programs – three each for formal and non-formal education.
Three sets of matrices have been developed for each program to elaborate on the Plan. These include:
I. Program Matrix
II. Implementation Matrix
III. Results Matrix
The Program Matrix lays out the overall goal, sub-programs and sub-goals. Each sub-goal has its set of strategies, activities and targets for implementation. The Implementation Matrix adds three further expansions to the program matrix: timelines for the activities, costs and organisation(s) responsible for implementation. It also explains the underlying assumptions for each strategy. The Results Matrix identifies indicators for measurement of progress against the overall goal and sub-goals. It not only provides the indicators for the end of five year period but also those in the intervening years. Indicators have been presented for “outcomes, intermediate outcomes, and outputs”. Program Matrices have been presented towards the end of each chapter. Implementation and Results Matrices have been inserted in the annexes.
Vision and Mission
5.1. Vision and Mission
BESP has been built on the following “vision” and “mission”:
Vision
To promote and ensure quality education and its effective delivery for all without any discrimination
Mission
To achieve quality education for all by provision of infrastructure, missing facilities, relevant curriculum & instructional material, trained teachers and standardised assessment through good governance
Themes
5.2. Themes
BESP 2020-25 has been constructed on the following themes:
1. Learning
2. Access and Participation
3. Data and Research
4. Governance and Management
5. Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the relevant chapters.
Table 5-1 Thematic Areas, Structure and Approach
Learning
5.2.1. Learning
Learning is a very wide term and can include many areas. BESP looks at three vaiables in Learning: reading ability, numeracy and thinking skills so that children are eventually prepared for life and livelihood. It is seen as a product of multiple inputs and processes: curriculum, textbooks, teachers, assessments and examinations. Each one of these inputs and processes has been separated out and strategies included to address the gaps. The basic premise is that all these factors (collectively) will impact teaching and learning along with the presence of a healthy child in the classroom. The latter include a child’s physical and psychological health that depend on both home and school conditions. Issues of children with special needs and their inclusiveness have also been covered.
Access and Participation
5.2.2. Access and Participation
Access and participation have been discussed in terms of schooling opportunities available and their utilisation by children. The latter includes enrolment and attendance. Strategies have been recommended for both the supply-side and demand side gaps. On the input side, availability of schooling opportunities has been the main issue of focus. Given the large gaps between males and females, gender-related issues of access and participation have been treated as a separate, special, subset.
In view of the large number of out of school children and low adult literacy, Non-Formal Education (NFE) has been emphasized as an important domain. The entire structure of non-formal education has been discussed as a parallel, but important, learning system that supports the overall goals of education.
Data and Research
5.2.3. Data and Research
The purpose of inclusion of data and research as a separate theme is to assess and provide a way forward for building a more robust empirical basis for education policy, planning and implementation. Both these areas have been discussed in terms of their current state of availability, limitations and demand. The culture of use of empirical evidence has been targeted and strategies for improvement of information have been included for both data and research.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
5.2.4. Governance and Management
The area of governance and management covers the themes of capacity, planning, operations, political interference, community involvement, human resource development and management, decentralisation and accountability. Strategies have been proposed to cover the entire organisational structure of the formal education system and the environment in which the system functions.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
5.2.5. Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been included as a specialised area of education. All relevant elements of TVET have been discussed and the strategies provided. These include governance and management, access and participation and quality and relevance. The entire domain of relevance to the market and subsequent improvement in employment outcomes have been emphasized as the key outcome.
Costing and Impact
5.2.6. Costing and Impact
The Plan provides cost estimates over the next five years with an annual break up and expected impact on key indicators identified. These costs have been divided into those impacted by increased enrolment (the scale factors) and others that have no direct relationship with enrolments (non-scale factors).
Approach to Reform
5.3. Approach to Reform
It is difficult to identify a limited approach to an education system that requires major improvements in all sub-sectors. An effort has been made to structure the approach as per priorities assessed. For school education, the Sector Plan presents recommendations for multiple areas for change. However, the eventual success can be narrowed to three absolutely essential approaches that would require prioritisation:
1. A greater, and more well spread, focus on learning as compared to the past
2. Increased efficiency in the use of resources through rationalised deployment
3. Reduction of gender gaps through a holistic approach that goes beyond access and participation.
While the above are the keys to change, overall, the Plan’s three main strands (that also cover the above) consist of:
Core Target Areas
I. Core Target Areas: In school education, the two core target areas of the Sector Plan consist of ‘learning’ and ‘access and participation’ with a strong focus on equity. These represent the dual crises in education: firstly, learning in schools ends right in the early grades when children fail to become readers and secondly, the large proportion of out of school children that reveals a participation crisis. Within the latter, girls are disproportionately excluded from education as compared to boys. Given the situation, implementation of these two strands cannot be sequenced. It must be a simultaneous effort. However, the contours and processes of learning have been dealt with in greater detail because of limited comprehension, and attention to it, in the past.
Enablers of effectiveness
II. Enablers of effectiveness: This consists of issues of governance necessary to be addressed to enable effective implementation, and most critically, efficient use of resources. The other critical enabler of effective, and realistic, policy and implementation, is improved availability of information through strengthened processes of research and data accumulation, analysis and usage.
Child Focused Approach
III. Child Focused Approach: The overall life path of the child and issues of the girl child as a separate sub-set have been discussed and consequent strategies developed to ensure that all policies, plans and implementation practices place the child’s benefit at the core.
An analysis of the problem and approach to change for each sub-area has been explained in the respective chapters. Strategies can be divided into those that are specific to the targeted theme, cross-cutting ones applicable to multiple themes and implicit assumptions on the approach. These assumptions have been highlighted in the Implementation Matrices attached in the annexes. Figure 5-1 on the next page shows the overall theory of change for BESP 2020-25:
Figure 5-1 Theory of Change Balochistan Education Sector Plan 2020-2025
Key Considerations for Implementation
5.4. Key Considerations for Implementation
Implementers of BESP 2020-25 will need to consider the key considerations in this section when they convert strategies into operational plans. These including cross-cutting, and repetitive themes for a number of areas. In connection with the fundamentals of approach to reform, these considerations define the overall design of the sector plan (see Figure 5-2).
Figure 5-2 Reform Design of BESP 2020-25
Standards
5.4.1. Standards
Review of all standards, and inclusion of new ones where needed, has been recommended at at number of places. All inputs, processes and outputs for each respective area will have to be standards based. The starting point for revision of standards will be the National Minimum Standards for Quality Education (NMSQE) 2017. These cover a vast ground and focus on the child. The standards given in NMSQE include all learning inputs (textbooks, curriculum, assessments, teachers, etc.) in addition to standards for learners and others. The standards outlined for every aspect of education (curriculum, textbooks, teacher, assessment etc.) provide the view of the end product through output level standards for each. For example what should a good textbook contain? The standards provide a direction for the province but standards at the endpoint level do not suffice. The path to achievement of these standards cannot be operationalised with the current capacity and processes of the relevant organisations. Additional standards will need to be developed at the input and process level to ensure that requirements of NMSQE 2017 are met (See Box 5.1).
Box 5-1 Operationalising Standards
National Minimum Standards for Quality Education (NMSQE) establish the standards for all education inputs, processes and outputs at the systemic level. For each of the inputs, the standards target high level objectives. There are no details on standards that would operationalise their achievement. One example is the standards for the curriculum. One of the standards for curriculum is that it:
“Promotes higher order thinking skills that develop the capacity for self-directed learning, a spirit of inquiry, critical thinking, reasoning and teamwork;”
MNSQE does not describe the processes and inputs through which the above will be ensured. Given the low capacity of the system, the above cannot be expected to be achieved without clarity on standards for inputs and processes that will help attain the above standards. The provincial government will need to define these and ensure their operationalisation. Strategies on standardisation cutting across various areas of the Plan will have to follow this principle.
The strategies for standard development begin with a situation analysis of the existing ones that are currently available in bits and pieces without a coherent direction, and often, neither focused on the child nor grounded in local needs. The following steps will be required:
I. Analyses of the situation as an important consideration must be the current capacity of the system. Standards cannot be too far from existing reality. The first step will be to review the standards for each area given in the NMSQE and assess the timeframe required for meeting them. If required, intermediate output standards may be developed for the next five years with the aim to reach the ones in NMSQE eventually. Expections should be realistic and limited to gradual, and not radical, changes over time.
II. Identify input and process standards, based on Balochistan’s endowments, needed to achieve the above. Once finalized, the standards must be notified.
III. Ensure inclusive in all standards. All standards, in addition to the above, will need to cover inclusiveness. Parameters of inclusiveness will, among others, cover:
a. Gender
b. Children with special needs
c. Socio-economic differences
Inclusiveness will be implemented in the classroom through the standards notified for teaching to ensure it is part of the teaching-learning process in the classroom.
Capacity
5.4.2. Capacity
Capacity development has also been recommended in strategies for different areas. These will also have to follow a gradual change approach in terms of organisational shifts and a critical mass approach to human resource development. The sector analysis showed a huge deficit of qualified human resource both within and outside the government. These include specialists in curriculum, assessments, education planning, andragogy and other areas of education. In all relevant areas, the need for the development of specialised human resource has been identified in the strategies.
Sustainable Development Goals
5.4.3. Sustainable Development Goals
There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together they cover all environmental, health, economic and sociological issues in Balochistan. These Goals should be incorporated in the learning processes through curricula, textbooks, teachers and co-curricular activities.
SDGs will be included in the guidelines for the development of all of these products for implementation.
Gender inclusiveness
5.4.4. Gender inclusiveness
Gender will always require special attention in all implementation processes in view of wide gaps in Balochistan, not only in terms of enrolment but also in other aspects of female inclusiveness. Reform in all areas requires a special focus on redressal of gender imbalance. Some of the areas where gender has been, especially, focused are governance, quality and standards for both school education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
Exploration of External Resources
5.4.5. Exploration of External Resources
The Government’s approach to date has been only to consider internal capacity. In some exceptional cases, external support has been solicited though often such support is resented within the permanent human resource. Implementation of BESP 2020-25 will consider resources in the private sector (in the market) and academia for both the short term and the longer term. For an area such as research, which has been treated as a high priority issue in this Plan, it has been recommended that the academia gets a prominent and permanent role.
Approach to Reform in TVET
5.5. Approach to Reform in TVET
For Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the desired outcome is increased employment through the development of relevant skills that will require interventions in quality, governance and access and participation. Increased relevance has been targeted in conjunction with stronger market engagement and
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