According to the Washington Post, the US is all set to spend $200m on education in Pakistan this year. This is United States Agency for International Education’s (USAID) largest education programme worldwide. There is a realisation on America’s part that its war strategy has been misdirected and that a military approach alone will not lead to a conclusive victory. There is a need to change the thinking of those who sympathise with the militants waging jihad.

Mercifully, it is becoming clear to the US that reforming the madressahs will not suffice. These institutions cater to merely five per cent of all school-going youngsters in the country. It is the mainstream schooling system that needs to be reformed. But do the powers that be really want such a change?

There are many who feel that their privileged status would be at risk if education were to be transformed to reach out to all children and give them values such as tolerance, respect for all religions, and goodwill towards all states, besides stressing the rights of all to equal opportunities. After all history shows that it is the vested interest groups in Pakistan that have resisted the development and expansion of education. This barrier has to be breached. The joint task force on education co-chaired by the British educationist Sir Michael Barber and Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali, special assistant to the prime minister on the social sector, is expected to set the ball rolling. The task force will support the federal and provincial education ministries and identify goals mainly in the context of accessibility and quality of education. But this is possible only if an education policy with a clearly defined strategy and goals is in place.

The education policy 2009 has left many questions unanswered such as those pertaining to the language of instruction. The ideological leanings of the policy do not deviate too much from what had been spelt out previously by earlier policies. The latter, like the current one, were not too progressive. With many ambiguities in the government’s approach to education, it is not clear how the massive US aid meant to change mindsets is to be spent.