An Education Cluster - Implementing the Minimum Standards in Pakistan

Introduction

On 8 October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale struck Pakistan. More than 73,000 people died and 3.3 million were made homeless. Heavy damage was inflicted on the educational system and infrastructure:

  • More than 18,000 school children and 900 teachers died
  • In some districts 96% of schools and colleges were destroyed or severely damaged.
  • In total, more than 6,000 school buildings needed to be reconstructed or renovated.
  • Many of those civil servants responsible for planning and managing the education system had themselves suffered the loss of relatives, colleagues, homes and offices.


There has been a strong focus on education in the Pakistan earthquake response and many INEE members have been involved in these emergency education efforts. The establishment of a Pakistan Education Cluster (later known as the education working group) and the appointment of a Focal Point for the INEE Minimum Standards in Pakistan facilitated a coordinated and holistic response to the crisis. The distribution of over 500 handbooks, the translation of key materials into Urdu, the provision of trainings and development of tools provides further contextualized examples of the value of the INEE Minimum Standards in crisis situations.

Page menu

 

The Pakistan Education Cluster

Since the first days after the earthquake, there has been a strong focus on education in the earthquake response in Pakistan. The scale and nature of devastation within the sector is part of the explanation: many of the 18,000 children who died perished as school buildings collapsed on their heads. That horrid image became an effective appeal for agencies with a child-focused mandate. At the same time, the Emergency Cell, later the Transitional Relief Cell and the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) set up by the Government to coordinate the response, identified education as a priority sector early on. Another important factor has been that, despite the devastation, prototypes for learning material, most human resources and a functional system of authority remained intact within the sector.

Most importantly, the cluster system set up in Pakistan to coordinate the international humanitarian response included a strong and well-represented education cluster. Although the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has not established a global education cluster, an education cluster in Pakistan maintained equal status to those of other sectors throughout the emergency response.

The education cluster headed by UNICEF, maintained equal status to those of other sectors throughout the emergency earthquake response.

The education cluster operated at the central level with meetings in Islamabad, while at the field level meetings at local hubs were organized. Headed by UNICEF, under the leadership of an effective Chair, and with the Ministry of Education playing a stronger role over time, the education cluster played a key role in the early promotion of the INEE Minimum Standards. Moreover, there was close collaboration between the education cluster and an education working group headed by UNESCO that was formed within the Early Recovery and Reconstruction cluster. This collaboration and coordination at field and programme level helped to promote educational responses in the early relief effort that incorporated a view to longer-term reconstruction and development. It also ensured that activities in the various phases were linked through holistic strategies, funding and coordination mechanisms.

As documented in the Pakistan Education Cluster Closure report, since October 2005, the cluster promoted and applied the INEE Minimum Standards as a guiding framework for coordinated efforts across different agencies and stakeholders working in the education sector at both the Islamabad and humanitarian hub levels. In the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority-UN Early Recovery Plan, the document guiding all government, UN and partner recovery interventions in the earthquake areas (2006-2007), the INEE Minimum Standards are named as the guiding framework for all educational interventions, from fundraising and programming to monitoring and evaluation of the projects in the plan.

The education cluster built upon the INEE Minimum Standards to develop common contextualized standards, and by providing a common framework, stakeholders were able to identify funding gaps and priorities. Perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the INEE Minimum Standards in the earthquake response was to enforce a holistic approach to emergencies and humanitarian aid, promoting educational responses in the early relief effort that incorporated a view to longer-term reconstruction and development. The institutionalization of the INEE Minimum Standards in the education cluster has been aided by the work of a focal point for the standards in the earthquake response, seconded by NRC and based at UNESCO Pakistan.

INEE is advocating with the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) on the establishment of a global education cluster. The creation of a global education cluster is crucial for giving INEE members the leverage and justification for advocating for the capacity and resources needed to provide education in emergencies.

Pakistan Focal Point for the INEE Minimum Standards

By chance, one week before the earthquake INEE members facilitated a pilot training on the standards in Islamabad. The training was held for programme managers and officers in agencies working with Afghan refugees. Many of the participants were not engaged with education specifically, but were heading emergency preparedness units or lager social service programmes in their respective organizations. Workshop feedback on relevance was lower from these managers than from their education colleagues, who had been trained in another Pakistan pilot training a week earlier. However, when the earthquake hit, 50 people in key positions working in affected areas became INEE’s strongest advocates for the standards. By crude irony, the earthquake illustrated to key stakeholders the relevance of the standards in a multitude of situations, from long-term refugee situations to natural disaster preparedness and response.

In January 2006, INEE and UNESCO Islamabad jointly submitted a request to the Norwegian Refugee Council for a six-month secondment of a Minimum Standards expert to Pakistan. Two weeks later, a staff person who had been part of the INEE pilot trainings in September and October 2005 began work within the UNESCO Earthquake Response Programme (ERP). The post’s duties were twofold: to coordinate UNESCO’s ERP, including ensuring that the application of the standards in all aspects of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and to act as a focal point for the INEE Minimum Standards in the earthquake response in Pakistan and the region, promoting their use and application amongst key actors.

The Implementation of the INEE Minimum Standards in Pakistan

At the outset, the education cluster prioritized the establishment of common standards. The document that was produced with contextualized standards addressed specific issues like the size of temporary learning spaces, teacher-pupil ratios, teacher registration and salaries, and waivers for admission and examination procedures. Some participants from the pilot trainings who were promoting the INEE Minimum Standards in the education cluster feared that the development of these contextualised standards was a duplication, or worse, that contextualization would result in a narrow focus on hardware and logistics (education kits, tent supplies or reconstruction of schools), thus neglecting the holistic nature of the INEE Minimum Standards. While striking a balance between immediate practical guidance and the ensuring that the broader and more holistic INEE standards were adopted was a challenge, the local standards that were developed were used consistently by a large group of actors and reinforce the INEE Minimum Standards. As such, they represent an important example of contextualization of this tool.

In collaboration with the cluster lead and UNICEF’s education manager for the earthquake response, the focal point promoted the standards with the Pakistan ERRA and other government counterparts involved in the emergency and recovery response. In such meetings, the focal point highlighted the fact that people from Pakistan participated in the development of the INEE Minimum Standards handbook, and that the training materials were piloted there just before the earthquake. These links proved very useful with the national authorities. Access to ERRA for the focal point was also facilitated by UNESCO’s strong links to the Government in Pakistan and reputation in the education sector for focusing on government capacity building.

Through the promotion of the focal point and that of INEE members in other organizations, including those who participated in early pilots and training, word of the INEE Minimum Standards spread throughout NWFP and AJK. Requests for the handbooks have been constant, and over 500 handbooks were distributed within the first nine months after the earthquake to key stakeholders, including the Directorate of Education Extension in AJK, the Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education in NWFP, ERRA, ISCOS, UNICEF and members of the Education Cluster (and later the education working group that was formed after closure of the cluster).

With UNESCOs financial support, the INEE handbook and training materials have been translated into Urdu and UNESCO’s ERP has supported training on the INEE Minimum Standards for over 100 educational personnel in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Lahore. Training workshops have brought together managers and partners from government departments in Bagh and Muzaffarabad (AJK) and Abbottabad, Battagram, Manshera and Balakot (NWFP); government representatives from teacher training institutions in AJK and NWFP; and national and international NGOs and UN agencies, including Care International, Save the Children-UK, Save the Children-US, BEFARe, Catholic Relief Services, Norwegian Refugee Council, UNICEF and UNHCR.
In addition, formal relations also have been established between the focal point on the INEE Minimum Standards and the Sphere project’s focal point there. Various joint preparedness and advocacy activities are being discussed and a Sphere Training of Trainers course held in Islamabad from 15-19 August 2006 included a session on education and the INEE standards. All of the 20 participants, drawn from all four provinces of Pakistan, had experience of working in disaster areas and initial feedback was very positive, with participants reiterating that education must be an integral part of humanitarian response. This continued collaboration is critical in order to raise awareness among key emergency actors about the life-saving function of education.
With key stakeholders within the cluster knowledgeable about and promoting the use of the standards, the handbook was used actively in the planning, implementing and monitoring programmes and as a tool to ensure coordination and consistency in the intervention. Preliminary assessments indicate that awareness and use of the standards amongst national and international actors working in education in Pakistan is high. Rapid adoption and translation of the handbook, and preparation of country-specific standards, further suggest high level of national ownership and use.

The most apparent evidence of the standards’ institutionalization within the earthquake response is found in cluster and government strategy documents. As documented in the Pakistan Education Cluster Closure report, since October 2005, the cluster promoted and applied the INEE Minimum Standards as a guiding framework for coordinated efforts across different agencies and stakeholders working in the education sector at both the Islamabad and humanitarian hub levels. Moreover, in the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority-UN Early Recovery Plan (the document guiding all government, UN and partner recovery interventions in the earthquake areas (2006-2007)), the INEE Minimum Standards are named as the guiding framework for all educational interventions, from fundraising and programming to monitoring and evaluation of the projects in the plan.

Translations, Training, Tools and Links

With the financial support of UNESCO, the INEE Handbook and training materials have been translated into Urdu. To download a copy click here.

Training materials for senior and middle managers as well as Teacher Training resources for Earthquake Affected Areas are available from the UNESCO Earthquake Response Programme website.

The INEE Minimum Standards Working Group has also developed an adoption strategy checklist for education clusters, elaborating on how they can utilize the standards in their work. Download Checklist

Relevant Links