decisions relating to health, nutrition, marriage,
family size, and child rearing; the relationship to an increasingly exploited natural environment; the preservation and enhancement of local cultures, values and languages; and participation in a changing political environment must be considered as facets of educational processes.
There are also an ever-increasing number of parents and communities, in both rural and urban settings, who believe that formal schooling is irrelevant to the amelioration of the often harsh conditions of poverty struck households and community existence. They see the school as a way to escape the community rather than transforming it. However, as markets and communication systems expand into all parts of society, schooling is expected to make a positive contribution to the transformation of poverty within rural as well as urban areas. But clearly, to fulfill these expectations, a major change will be required in the way that schooling is conducted and quality is understood. Again, ‘more of the same’ even with greater resources, will not suffice.
The symposium and conference on understanding and re-envisioning quality in education is a humble step by the Sindh Education Foundation (supported by Department of Education & Literacy, Government of Sindh) to explore the possibilities to rethink education and concretize dimensions of what is meant by educational quality.
