The government has decided to bring about radical changes in the curricula to remove material breeding, sectarianism and religious hatred, said Minister for Education Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi (Retd) here on Tuesday.
Speaking at the 21st annual medal and prize distribution ceremony at Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), the minister said that the existing curricula will be revised to ensure that it does not contain sectarian and hatred material.
Javed Ashraf Qazi said that the curricula should be revised after every five years to incorporate chapter on the latest global development but regretted that it was considered important after revision some 18 years back.
MAJOR HURDLES: He said: "The existing curricula, teaching methodology and examination system are the major hurdles in the way of quality education."
To remove these obstacles, he said, the government has decided to bring about massive changes in the education system and examination method.
Giving the details, he said these included the introduction of technology groups in SSC and HSSC and reduction in practical and grace marks, which often compensate the weaknesses of students.
He said: "It would be ensured that questions in the examination papers are included from every important chapter and marks for practical test are reduced to 15 from 25."
As the present examination system has failed to deliver, he said the proposal of one examination board for one province instead of many examination boards was under consideration, which he hoped to be finalised in the upcoming education ministers' meeting.
"Continuation with the present system of teaching would catapult us not only to the economic slavery but also to education slavery, which simply means that the west does not need a military attack to conquer us," he contended.
He said: "Urdu medium children were out rated when they have to compete with those studying in English medium schools whereas the students of English medium schools are completely ignorant of their religious, social and cultural values."
The government, he said, "wants to bridge this gap by making obligatory upon all the Urdu medium schools to teach subjects of Mathematics, English and Science in English and English medium schools to teach Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies in Urdu."
"We will not take examination from those private schools where subjects of Pakistan and Islamic Studies are not taught in Urdu," he warned.
Javed Ashraf Qazi said: "The Muslims are lagging behind in economic development only because education in their respective countries is given least priority."
He also underlined the need of more investment in the sector and realisation of its important role in the development.
Muslim world, the minister said, has to realise the situation and have to allocate more resources for the promotion of science and technical education in their respective countries.
Thirteen students were awarded medals in recognition of their outstanding performance at the SSC level, four of these being gold, four silver and four bronze besides the 33 of HSSC, which included 10 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze.
Secretary education Sajid Hassan and chairman FBISE, Commodore Muhammad Sharif Shamshad (Retd) were also present on the occasion.