Ensuring uniform school education system

Addressing the prize distribution ceremony for position holders of 2006, at the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education in Islamabad the other day, Minister for Education, Javed Ashraf Qazi, gave the happy tidings of adoption of a uniform syllabus for private and public sector institutions, besides creation of one single board for one province, in order to improve the education standard.
While saying so, he made a pointed reference to the Rs 10 billion project the government had initiated to provide facilities in schools. At the same time, lamenting deterioration of standard of education during the last 30 years, despite mushroom growth of institutions established on commercial lines, he asserted that the government was determined to enforce a uniform education system in the country.
His observation that this approach would need implementation of a uniform syllabus covering for the private and public sector schools should appeal to reason. The declining standard of education is a grim reality, which though tormenting the people for decades together, has gone unnoticed by the changing government of every description.
In this regard, the minister did well to refer to the World Bank report on a survey of 4th class students among the Saarc countries, which found Pakistan enlisted at the bottom even in primary education.
In so far as primary education is concerned, it will be noted efforts hurriedly made for removing short comings and distortions, from time to time, continued leaving a great deal to be desired at the primary level of education. In this regard, reference may, especially, be made to linking primary education to plans for eradication of illiteracy, in one way or the other.
This approach, though resulting in perfunctory setting up of primary schools in increasing numbers, in both the urban and rural areas, eventually defeated its purpose. To what else would one attribute too many cases of schools in existence without teachers or insufficient number of them, or instances of schools opened in well-built and well-equipped buildings but without students or teachers, or both, in required numbers? Needless to point out, these contradictions and deficiencies, will leave little to doubt about the haphazard nature of primary education planning.
For one thing, education, essentially, implies imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school. Improving education necessarily requires policy changes at the national level, as what actually happens in the classrooms is most important.
Taking into consideration all that goes makes for enhancing the spread of education, at primary level in particular, there can be no disputing the fact that changes in the classroom can help, among other things, increase enrolment levels and reduce the drop-out rates, the combination of problems presently thwarting the effort for expanding primary education in the country.
The project the Minister was elaborating upon relates to Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC). Hence the decision to establish one "central" educational board in every province that will supervise examinations for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) in the whole province to bring about uniformity and raise the standard of education.
The existing examination boards should only assist the proposed central board in conducting the exams. Similarly, the "central" board will prepare papers and supervise their checking, besides compilation and announcement of results. As for the existing boards, they would help conduct examination in their respective jurisdictions.
As such, it is encouraging to learn that Punjab has already accepted the idea and has started working on the establishment of the new central board which will, hopefully, become operational by next year. One hopes that the provinces lagging behind would do their utmost to catch up with Punjab, thereby ensuring a uniform school education system all over the country.