Re Education : Issue #21 - The Sleepless Educator : Making Educational Change in Pakistan
…but implementation is still far too slow, as is financing of education by the government. I mean, it doesn't bother them or make them sleepless. We are sleepless. We ask “Why is this happening?
Recently, I sat down with Dr. Baela Jamil, Founder and CEO of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), the Centre for Education and Consciousness, a Pakistani non-profit. She is the winner of the 2024 T4Asia Medal and a lifelong advocate of educational opportunity for all.
We met in the margins of the REAL Centre 10-year anniversary celebrations for a wide-ranging conversation that ranged from how foundational learning policy influence really works, to the impact of citizen-led data on education policy discourse in Pakistan, to the pressing need for educators to learn about new education financing models.
All things that keep Baela Jamil sleepless at night.
Andy Brock, July 2025
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You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckminster Fuller
Interview with Baela Jamil
Andy Brock : You've been an advocate for early years education for a long time. How do you see the current state of play in Pakistan?
Baela Jamil : So, if you look at the policy voices, it's all looking good, in the sense that almost every Secretary, every Minister is talking about early years, wanting to look at and have ownership of the foundational learning (FL) policies that have just come out – there are five of them, and in two of them early years is very prominent. For example, the boldest one is in Sindh titled “Sindh ECCE and Foundational Learning Policy 2024”, but others in Punjab, KP and Balochistan intend to cover ECE in policy implementation.
And, generally speaking, if you look at programmes that are coming - early years is there. So, if you look at the World Bank's project in Pakistan, the Human Capital Investment Project, which was in Khyber Paktunhwa (KP) and in Punjab, the next generation approved projects in Punjab, both early years/ECCE and FL, are well covered as critical areas of focus.
But, when you start looking at data for early years, it's very poor. ITA is undertaking a collaborative landscape analysis with the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE) on early years in terms of data which can be sub-sectorally separated. You need look in the data a little bit below the surface to see, in a typical school, how many grades of early years are present in a typical school. You’ll see the Kachi (traditional pre-primary grade), along with concurrent prep, kindergarten and ECE grades; you will always witness different names for ECCE; but the system/data and reports do not really make this complex reality visible to the public; even financing for ECE is not visible.
So, you have in the so-called ECE classroom typically being set up as a demo/showcase classroom where everything is looking very spiffy ; furniture, library, play equipment etc. But, in the same school, the other kids in other pre-primary grades are sitting as though they are the untouchables with very little facilities. Like the caste system, it is the Brahmins, exclusively, that are attended to, whilst ordinary mortals get enrolled, repeat grades and often drop out of pre-primary level without even transitioning to primary or Grade 1.
AB : What about the play element of ECE ?
BJ : So the play element is there by the way of design for pre-primary, particularly if it’s a well thought out version, embedded in ECE Policies wherever they are in place, though the practice of play may be very thin.
The packages of play-based early learning that are coming are not bad at all for ECE/ECCE, but the question is you don’t see as much evidence as you would like in the best use of the materials in routine classrooms practice or extending to parents too. Teachers also get bored / overwhelmed with the routines that they are supposed to practice when they're not supported.
So, the other important piece is the workforce and workforce preparation for early years.
If your workforce is going to be, at best, rotating from one grade to the next annually (as it does in current practice), it doesn’t work. Getting one teacher for a year, then another one the next ; investing in their training that is often hit or miss, delayed and not predictable.
The exception is Sindh which has a separate early childhood teaching cadre which Punjab and other provinces don’t have. But, even in Sindh it is so far only a few Early Childhood Teachers (ECT) in place, far fewer than is needed. In Punjab UNICEF under various initiatives started hiring local ECE assistants in early years - that worked well, albeit at very low salary/honorarium. So, the workforce piece, must be sorted out.
The question is, is there coherence within the system? If we look at early years, primary, middle and secondary, how does the government view the learning and access spectrum strategically ? Because the government itself, for example, has created, in Sindh, the Five Year multi-sectoral Roadmap. It seeks health, nutrition and social protection with education; it wants to have climate change preparedness too. And whilst the ambition is laudable, how prepared is government to work across ministries/departments, and arrange timely financial flows, to achieve this ?
Basically, the five-year roadmap has been more or less approved with costing being worked out for each district. So, all of that seems good, but what do you do in a province which has got 90% of all schools at the primary level? And, in those 90%, almost 85% are one or two teacher/or one or two room schools? The pipeline to middle and secondary is tiny and choked and so you have a long, long way to go for all children learning by grade three and all children eligible for 12 years of schooling from ECE to grade X.
You see a lot of good data, positive intentions, new plans which are at least better than before, but implementation is still far too slow, as is financing of education by the government. I mean, it doesn't bother them or make them sleepless.
We are sleepless. We ask “Why is this happening?” So we, at ITA and other organisations, are helping to do that analysis, hopefully pushing it into policy, hopefully putting it into the sector plans since we also wear those hats as non-state partners of the government. So, you see, for me it’s a glass half full, not empty, but there's still a long way to go.
AB : You've been very heavily involved in the ASER report for many years now – you were one of the founders. How is it helping education development in Pakistan ?
BJ : I've been a cheerleader at the forefront and founder, along with others. ASER work is patient capital. So, let's start from the big picture to the smaller one. The good news is that in March 2025 the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission’s 56th session. We need good data that is being collected by citizens and ASER is serving a very big purpose on moving the needle on many, many issues and policies, including the making of the FL Policies, where the government recognises that there is a basic learning crisis.
So, you know, globally, we stand vindicated as citizen data collectors for action and accountability. Nationally too, we stand vindicated, because the Planning Commission last year decided to come up with a District Education Performance Index (DEPix) for the first time. And they were looking at 5 pillars of education, one of them being quality in learning.
And, against all contending groups, they said we will pick up ASER because it’s a data set which covers children at the district level, there is no comparable data on learning by the public sector thus far. There is the National Achievement Test (NAT) pilot of 28,000 children by PIE but it did not cover children at district level.
So now, finally, the whole country is talking about the foundational learning crisis, and learning poverty is very much a part of that as well.
AB : And you think the ASER reports have been a big part of being able to move the needle on this ?
BJ : A huge, huge part. There is no other benchmark available. So, everybody is having to use this now. But, more than that, we had a scoping study done by FCDO on ASER in 2024 which was very positive, saying many things about the value of the ASER data and also pointing constructively to what more can ASER data achieve as a public good including having one national sample.
You know, a lot of the foundational learning story and the ongoing efforts of having one national tool for foundational learning assessment started when we came back from the immersive South-South Program visit to Sobral/Brazil. We had strategic senior government partners with us – and we proposed to have one foundational learning assessment tool for the entire country.
And that story, begun in 2023, is now yielding results ; PIE / Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFE&PT) are talking about having one FL assessment tool. Now, this doesn't just happen by itself. It's patient capital that is needed, and persistence - it requires a great deal of patience.
So, I think it’s fantastic to see that Citizen data is finally part of our official statistics; we see movement on indicators over time as ASER has captured trends since 2010-2024. What better story could there be? A great return on investment for pushing the needle on learning ! Five foundational learning policies in the Federation and rapid implementation taking place above all with ownership of the governments! I’m really proud of this collective national movement !
AB : Obviously, among international donors things are looking pretty bleak – USAID is gone, FCDO Education is being cut or may disappear completely. How do you think this will affect Pakistan and how do you think Pakistani educators will respond ?
BJ : First of all, you need to understand, of course, all the unnecessary spend will be gone including duplication of TA ; we will be focusing on essentials now with less to spend.
But, then obviously there are some very important people who do need to be there. So, that space becomes smaller. In terms of aid, the value of the money coming is small for Pakistan with almost 94% being domestic financing.
The question is why is government funding not innovative enough ? I’m on record complaining to the government : “What are you waiting for? Why do all your innovations come from projects/donors ? Why can't you invest in these initiatives yourself?” Now, they will have to go through a major course correction- it may be of value.
I always say look at the COVID story - the Federation stood as one for a great track and trace trajectory that kept COVID-19 in check with low mortality rates. Why can’t you do that in education, why, why? It can be done. The demand for education is high – the delivery lags behind. You know, our government and people have got to do better domestically and more intelligently. I know we can and must!
The government also needs to do things better internally and they really need to become sharper on what help is available from outside. The private/philanthropy foundations can be tapped for wiser and more impactful money. The government needs to understand blended financing in order to leverage domestic funds better. There's money for school nutrition, social impact bonds for education and TVET, IFFEd financing, debt swaps and so on. So, there will be a new equilibrium for education financing, more intelligent and intentional in terms of outcomes.
And you know, it's the political economy of education financing that we need to focus on now. I'm begging people “please come forward to pick up the challenge”. We need economists/innovative financing experts who will sit down and train teams across Ministries/Departments so we can come up with new ways of looking at education, beyond human capital, to social and economic transformation of a society still trapped in colonial straitjackets and dependency.
News
In the last month there has been a lot of protest and activity related to the cuts to education and gender signalled by Baroness Chapman. Aside from the letter I organised, there was a letter to the Prime Minister (signed by Malala and Annie Lennox…and me !), a private letter from 80 academics, a letter and meeting organised by Send My Friend to School, and a letter from MPs.
The one group who has not said anything publicly, and it pains me to say this as it was the group I used to belong to, is large contractors. British Expertise which represents many of those organisations has said precisely nothing publicly. Frankly, very disappointing.
Is the letter writing and social media having any impact ? Well, possibly. There are rumours that the public noise has caused discomfort in FCDO. Will it translate into protection for education budgets - we’ll find out soon.
The REAL Centre celebrated its 10th anniversary on 12th June. Julia Gillard, a long-standing supporter of the Centre gave the keynote. There were many great contributions from panellists and audience members alike. A synopsis of the REAL Centre’s work in the last ten years can be found here. Under Pauline Rose’s guidance, the Centre has made a real and substantial contribution to the research and debate on education issues. Will there be ten more years to come ? Hope so.
USAID finally closed it’s doors on 30th June. Less than six months to eviscerate the largest aid agency in the world. An article in The Lancet estimates that 14 million lives will be lost as a result. Destruction is simple, construction is complex.
Development
The African Union has published its new “Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2026-2035: A Framework for Action” – this is the Year of Education for the African Union. For the first time the strategy includes foundational learning. See also Ben Piper’s review and other comments here.
Jens-Peter Kamanga Drybak has published a piece called : “The Role of Development Finance in Africa” arguing that de-risking private sector investment can be done locally for social impact projects. Immediately invites thoughts of privatised education – for how else is an investor to make a return ? Anthony Bugg-Levine has a post which makes the distinction between financing and funding clear – well-worth reading.
David Archer of Action Aid is a well-known critic of the current aid architecture and is especially vocal on the need for tax reform to generate money for public services. In this one-minute video he has some pithy reflections on the UN Financing for Development conference in Seville and the separation of state and non-state actors, when they should both be in the room solving issues.
If you believe Baroness Chapman, only 18% of the British public support international aid, but she couldn’t cite a source. This post by Lee Crawfurd reveals another view – that support for aid is consistently high, (at around 45% in the UK) even if declining. The underlying report from The SDG Communicator is even more interesting as it breaks these numbers down finding that “..the number of negatively engaged citizens in the four countries studied is surprisingly small: between 3-9% of national populations”. Should we be focusing on this tiny minority or on the much larger majority who remain silent, possibly agnostic, on this issue ?
For two other related takes on this see Duncan Green’s post “What does the UK public really think about aid? From someone who knows” and Jess Crombie’s post on Ethical Storytelling. In all these cases you get the sense of some desperate floundering to make sense of a senseless situation, to make a path in an uncharted land. Like being Alice in Alice in Wonderland.
Voices from the front
Interesting decision by Education.org to stop using images and only use illustrations in their publications. They say “Too often, images meant to evoke urgency around global education challenges unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or strip dignity from the people they aim to support.” I can see the reasoning, but, is deliberately disconnecting from emotional responses the right approach ?
This post from Miral Askar on Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl who became famous for this single photograph, raises the same question. Worth reading her story - the conclusion aligns with the Education.org position. But, though it can’t be proved either way, it’s possible that photo had a more positive than negative influence on attitudes to women’s education and position in Afghanistan.
Voices from the rear
(Gray and Published Research)
This post from OECD Education and Skills is a fascinating reflection of the struggle the teaching profession faces trying to attract new teachers. Both the national differences in attitudes to teaching and the gender differences. Spain the intriguing European outlier |(for boys) and I wonder where China would rank ?
And finally
With thanks to Alex Turrall for posting this on X here.
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