The fast pace of development in science and technology has left a strong impact on standard of life. Survival in such a rapid changing society has become dependent on socio-economic development which is only possible through quality education in educational institutions. Quality education is defined as academic excellence, social fineness and a behavior portraying national integrity. In this regard, efforts have been made to improve quality of education in public sector schools of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). For introducing improved quality in education, Government education department GB has been continuously putting its efforts. More than sufficient human and material resources are provided to schools on annual basis. There is no problem of infrastructure in the public sector schools. Other than education department GB, different educational supporting private sector institutions have also endeavored in the form of conducting training for teachers and school leaders. Many educational projects have been launched while focusing school improvement through professional development of staff, establishment of computer laboratories, enriching libraries, improving learning environment to be conducive and so on.
After continuous support, the government of Gigit-Baltistan particularly high level management of education department seems to expect some glimpses of quality of education in public sector schools. But it is observed that there are no indications of quality of education seen. The reason behind the gap between sincere efforts of education department of GB and negligible pace of productive results is the challenges or hindrances in effective operations of schools. There are some major challenges which need to be given mindful thought before being optimistic in achieving the objective of quality of education in public sector schools.
First of all, there are employees who have more length of service are given with key responsibility positions without considering their fitness for the position. There are people who just survive in the department to complete their remaining period of service and they do not have the teaching survival skills. They are ignorant of the concept of quality in education, ICT in education and other research based approaches of teaching and school operations. On the basis of seniority, they are assigned with key positions. Thus, they become hindrance for introducing quality of education within the organization. Such type of people should be given scales but not responsibilities.
The society demands productive citizens who can address the societal needs. Such type of productive citizens can be provided to society through a diversified curriculum in public sector schools. The practice of strictly textbook oriented teaching is the second challenge that may be considered for alternative option. Teachers and students aim to complete course given in the textbook rather than built students’ capacities to survive them in the competitive market. National curriculum needs to be implemented in true sense which can be ensured through introducing Students Learning Outcomes (SLO) based teaching in schools. There are documents of national curriculum in schools but nobody is aware of benefit the students from that.
There is no system of professional development of teachers on regular basis. Teachers’ training need to be conducted from time to time according to the changing trends of educational scenario in the world. With the rapid change in science and technology, students need to be directed towards learning through technology. For that purpose teachers need to be trained first and they will practice ICT integration in their daily life teaching. For example, mobile as an effective resource can easily be used in classroom for teaching. They way students are assessed looking at their knowledge, skills and attitude teachers need extensive training and refresher courses. Teachers need to be supported through training and workshops on important areas of teaching such as multiple intelligence, classroom management, assessment and evaluation, learning theories, lesson planning, preparing schemes of studies, and research studies.
Examinations system in public sector schools involves full of malpractices. The whole process from paper setting through selection of examiners on to paper checking and compiling results. In external examinations, competent and professional teachers are not encouraged to conduct the process. The people who have sources and contacts with influential people in the management are tried to be involved as examiners and in other tasks. Marking system is not up to the mark due to which students’ assessment can be meaningfully done. In internal examinations within schools, paper setting is only the discretion of teachers and no review and feedback system is practiced. The same person, who has taught, sets papers, administers examination and checks the paper and compiles the result. There is no any follow up and review system from the supervising staff at school or district management office. An examination cell should be established at each school district to carry out with this important task of examinations in public sector schools.
Regarding recruitment in upper scales, there is a ratio of 75 and 25 percent departmental and external candidates respectively. It is common that there is no departmental exams conducted for 75 percent internal staff members to be given with promotions. They are directly given promotion on the basis of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) which are mostly disclosed document. During the promotions, the employees who are expected to be promoted are asked to submit their ACRs. Then they come out to search for the responsible DDO to get their ACRs. How come they are confidential? On the other hand, those 25 percent posts which are to be filled by external candidate through public service commission, the process is too much slow. After decades, positions are advertised through public service commission and sometimes the vacant positions are rotten by slow pace of external recruitment process. There should be speed up the process for external recruitment through service commission so that competent professionals will join the department.
It seems that government of GB and top management of education secretariat expect some form of quality of education in public sector schools. Without addressing the above mentioned challenges, their expectation will be just a dream. If quality of education is expected to be seen in true sense within the education department, then, scrutiny needs to be started from top to down. Every employee at any position whether in management or academic needs to be quality friendly and he/she should be capable of understanding the concept of quality in his/her job description. Bringing about changes in the key position in educational management, administration, supervision as well as in curriculum will be helpful in introducing quality in public sector schools. Thus, these schools may produce productive citizens for the society.