PTI govt committed to take head on national challenge of  illiteracy, poverty

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training, National History and Literary Heritage, Shafqat Mahmood here on Thursday shared a road map developed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to take head on the challenges related to illiteracy and poverty in the country.

In his detailed presentation on Education System of Pakistan : Challenges and Way Forward at the Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL), he lamented failure in the sphere of Education during  past several years consequently exposing country to a situation where currently 38% of the population is totally illiterate.

Regretting rampant stratification in educational sector due to inequitable system which in itself was counter productive -further aggravating the division within the society, he said PTI as per its  manifesto has in its first year of  governance at federal level  initiated a multi-pronged strategy to address the situation.

Federal Minister for Education said  that despite the fact that following the 18th constitutional amendment education has been devolved to the provinces, the federal government has made sincere efforts to take all provincial governments and other relevant stakeholders on board so as to develop an “Inter-Provincial Mechanism” and help address the education related challenges.

Under the strategy, he said measures were  being adopted to develop a curriculum that relates to the reality of the day and also create the notion of “One Nation – One System”.

Under the arrangement 12 regional offices were said to be in process of  being established across the country to register madressahs as well as private schools, including the elite institutions functional across the country.

Any madressah or English medium school failing to get itself registered with any of the mentioned regional offices or unable to fulfill the condition as per requirement of the government policy  will not be allowed to remain functional.

“No educational centre can be allowed to promote hatred or cultivate  discrimination in any form or manner among the people ,” he said.

Discussing in detail the measures adopted to take on board the religious schools as well as the elite schools, Shafqat Mahmood  said the fundamental exercise, already undertaken, is expected to produce desired results in  next seven to eight years.

“The objective to ensure Single National Certification would be achieved by establishing the concept of  One Nation- One  System and One Curriculum.

On the occasion he also talked about imparting quality education and while expressing his reservation about the quality of  degree and post degree level programs in the country, he said every student will now be required to complete  a 12 year school certificate program.

About the scheme to  introduce four year bachelor program, he said that this was  being discussed  for past several years and is being implemented by PTI government.

He said the trend to offer scholarships for post graduates program only is also being revised and Rs. Six million has been earmarked for students registered for undergraduate programs..

“The bright students must not be denied to pursue their educational ambitions due to lack of resources,” he said.

An important component of  government’s strategy to  address the challenges of illiteracy and poverty was said to strengthen skill development of the students  through the certification of the and accredition of the  training  programs.