on 22nd Ocotber 2011

Seminar on "Curbing Corruption in the Education Sector"

A seminar on “Curbing Corruption in the Education Sector” was organized by Transparency International-Pakistan on 22nd October, 2011 at Hotel Marriott, Karachi. About 135 people attended the seminar.
The seminar started with the recitation from the Holy Quran. The panel of speakers consisted of scholars and professors from different educational institutions. The first speaker was Mr. Adil Gilani, Advisor, Transparency International-Pakistan. He spoke on the achievements of the two Committees established to work on issues relating to corruption.


Next speaker was Prof. Dr. Syed Abdul Aziz, Director Hamdard Institute of Education and Social Sciences (HIESS). In his presentation he discussed global issues due to corruption. He was of the opinion that corruption in the education sector in Pakistan is on a high level. He further added that millions of rupees are spent to elevate the level of teachers in Pakistan through trainings but in vain.


The next speaker was Prof. Dr. Syed Arif Kamal, Dept. of Mathematics, and University of Karachi. In his speech he said that, theories of Mathematics and Physics can be adopted in combating many problems including corruption. Since inception these subjects have been able to help man in achieving success in many areas and for which the speaker shared certain examples as well.


The third speaker of the seminar was Mr. Haroon Rashid, Former Director Education, Director Vision World Publication and a regular columnist of JANG on education. He was of the opinion that education system today is at its worst, where a school going child whose parents are not able to pay a certain amount will not be able to go to school. He also shared some of his personal experiences in this regard. He further added that due to corruption in education sector foreign donors are sending their agents in Pakistan for looking after their projects because there is misuse of donations which is disastrous.
The Chief Guest Ms. Mehtab Akbar Rashdi was the last speaker; she spoke at length about some of her experiences regarding the education sector and the causes of corruption. She also gave a suggestion that all government officials should get their children admitted in regular schools, so that they may know the hurdles a common man faces while getting his children educated.

Chief Justice (R) Mr. Haziq-ul-Khairi, Chair of the seminar and Head of the Education Committee concluded the seminar by advising the people who are willing to pay anything, to get their children admitted in grammar schools, are not doing any good to the country but introducing new ways of doing corruption.
 Prof. Kafil Ahmed, Member Education Committee of TI-P expressed a vote of thanks on behalf of TI-P as well as on behalf of Ms. Fatima Suriya Bajia, a well known writer and philanthropist.


At the end Mr. Saad Rashid, Executive Director of Transparency International- Pakistan informed the audience that in response to a letter written to the education department about exorbitant increase in tuition fees by the private schools, TI-P has been informed that letters have been written to the concerned officers for their immediate comments in this regard order to take further necessary action on the subject.