A Qualitative Inquiry into School Reforms in Balochistan (2013 to 2020): Parents’ and Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to highlight parents’ and teachers’ perspectives on school reforms during 2013-2020 in Balochistan. This study is informed by the epistemological cannons of interpretivists’ tradition. In this research, qualitative research design is used, and exploratory research method is employed. A sample size of 20 participants was interviewed through In-depth interview schedule that includes ten parents and teachers each working in public schools. Moreover, purposive sampling technique was employed to interview the Teachers and parents whose children are studying in public schools. Thus, the data were recorded, transcribed, and interpreted through thematic analysis. The study found that free text provision, teacher training, teachers capacity building, the medium of instruction, infrastructure provision, curriculum development, monitoring, and evaluation system still require great attention of the concerned authority to properly implement the reforms and promote literacy in the area. The study suggests that the education sector plan should be seriously implemented with the provision of required resources to observe the prosperous future of Balochistan public schools.

School Education in Post-18th Amendment Balochistan: A Political Economy Perspective

“…THE POST-DEVOLUTION PERIOD In the post-18 th amendment period, the Government of Balochistan (GoB) implemented a number of reforms in the legal, institutional, and governance framework of school education. These reforms included the enactment of the Compulsory Education Act 2014, the development of five-year sectoral plans, the devolution of certain financial and administrative powers to the district (District Education Authority and District Education Authority) and sub-district tier (clusters), and the introduction of a data-driven monitoring system (Real-Time School Monitoring System and Complaint Management System) (Kakar & Naveed, 2018;Secondary Education Department, 2021a). Additionally, to promote social accountability and engage parents and communities in school affairs, various stakeholder forums were established, including the Local Education Group (LEG), District Education Group (DEG), Local Education Council (LEC), and Parent Teacher School Management Committee (PTSMC) at the provincial, district, cluster, and school levels, respectively (Secondary Education Department, 2021a).…”

“…However, this attention too is driven mainly by ideological motives of nation-building rather than a genuine recognition of the importance of language policy in enhancing learning outcomes. In 2014, the Government of Balochistan enacted a legislation to introduce mother languages as compulsory additional subjects at the primary level (Kakar & Naveed, 2018). While the Act itself was adopted swiftly without much due diligence, the policy attention and resources that were subsequently required for effective implementation were not made available.…”

“…Approximately 9,000 teaching positions remained vacant in 2022. The most recent large-scale teacher recruitment occurred in 2014-15 when 5,000 teachers were hired through a merit-based system (Kakar & Naveed, 2018). Since then, very few new teacher appointments have taken place, even as the construction and upgradation of schools has continued alongside teacher retirements during the same period.…”

School Education in Post-18th Amendment Balochistan: A Political Economy Perspective

“…The Government of Balochistan too enacted a number of reforms in education management. These reforms encompassed various aspects of education delivery, ranging from strategic planning to the provision of basic inputs and monitoring of education outcomes (Kakar & Naveed, 2018;Secondary Education Department, 2020;Zaka, 2018). Furthermore, the public spending on education also witnessed a significant rise in the post-devolution period.…”

A Critical Appraisal of the Balochistan Conundrum

“…al 2018;Shehbaz 2016). Similarly, it has the lowest literacy rates, enrollment, gender disparity, access, and learning outcomes (Kakar & Khan, 2018). More than 1 million (39) kids are still not attending school.…”