SINDH EDUCATION: PROVINCE AUTONOMY AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM: A CASE STUDY OF POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN THE WAKE OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT

Abstract

This was due to the fact that the law (the 18th Constitutional Amendment) essentially restructured the way power was divided in Pakistan giving the provinces a substantial amount of both legislative and administrative power and increasing the responsibility of the provinces in the provision of education. This research paper explores the role of provincial autonomy in the development and adoption of education reforms in Sindh, Pakistan and how it affects the processes in the institutions, experiences of the stakeholders, and the difficulties in implementation processes. To develop the perspectives and experiences of major stakeholders on issues of educational governance and educational reform, a qualitative type of research design was used to study the attitudes of the key stakeholders comprising policymakers, education officials, school heads, teachers, parents, and community representatives. The data were analyzed thematically to find out the common patterns related to the process of policy formulation, implementation capacity, institutional coordination, resource availability, stakeholder participation, and accountability. The results show that provincial autonomy has opened up, more policy space to the Government of Sindh to develop and implement education reforms that reflect provincial priorities. Nevertheless, the decentralization of the formal power has not always been accompanied by the effective execution of the same decentralization on the district and school levels. The researchers cite institutional capacity limitations, poor and unequal distribution of resources, failure in administrative coordininated, a form of limited stakeholder input, disparity in policy enforcement, loophole in monitoring and accountability as factors that significantly hinder effective education reform. The results also indicate that teachers and school heads are vital to the translation of provincial policies to school level practices, but meaningful involvement of parents and communities should still be an essential ingredient in the context sensitive achieving of educational governance. The research finds that provincial autonomy is a condition in its own right that is both necessary and sufficient to improve education. Proper decentralization demands enhanced institutional capacity, appropriate resources, enhanced intergovernmental and administrative coordination, ongoing professional growth, participative policy-making and monitoring, evidence-based. The research paper suggests that the provincial educational governance in Sindh should be implemented in an implementation oriented action that focuses on shift of constitutional autonomy into sustainable institutional and educational deliverables.