COVID-19 and the (Broken) promise of education for sustainable development – a case study from postcolonial Pakistan.
Wednesday 10 May 2023, 5.00pm – 6.00pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time), 7.00am – 8.00am UTC
On-line Zoom webinar and book launch.
Register here.
This webinar, and the book that frames it, charts the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact that it has had on the lives of young people and their communities, education systems, the teaching profession, governments and NGOs in postcolonial Pakistan. It is a case study of the ‘broken promise’ of education for sustainable development.
Drawing on theories of postcolonialism, feminism, and neo-liberal globalisation, the book explores the development of Pakistan as a postcolonial nation-state, and examines the legacies of colonialism in education systems and policies, teacher education and development.
COVID-19, the climate crisis, and the crisis of development in the globalising, neoliberal version of capitalism, present profound challenges for meeting the already limited aspirations of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Numerous UN report cards point to the qualified success in relation to many of the SDGs and their associated targets – in the ‘over-developed’ neoliberal democracies, and in the middle- and low-income economies. Indeed, these crises have amplified the challenges associated with the development aspirations, plans and policies of many postcolonial nation states, and in particular Pakistan.
The study will have significant impact in post COVID-19 Pakistan, South Asia more broadly, and in other postcolonial development contexts around the world.
Speakers and Discussants
Chair: Professor Peter Kelly, School of Education and REDI, Deakin University (Australia).
Introductions: Dr Farid Panjwani, Dean of the Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development (Pakistan).
Speakers: Dr Javed Anwar Shahwani, Dr Sher Rahmat Khan and Dr Mir Zaman Shah, RMIT University (Australia).
Discussants: Dr Hafeez Ahmed Jamali, Director General of Balochistan Civil Service Academy (Pakistan) and Mr Ghulam Nabi Marri, Economist with the UN-International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (Pakistan).
Details about the book can be found here.
