Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training Egr Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman chaired the 7th IPEMC at HEC, Islamabad. Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan (Minister for education, Punjab), Muhammad Atif Khan (Education Minister, KPK), Muhammad Ibrahim Sanai (Education Minister, Gilgit Baltistan), Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal (Education Minister, Balochistan), Muhammad Matloobi Inqilabi (Education Minister, AJK), Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry (Federal Minister, CADD) also participated in the conference.
Minister of State welcomed all the provincial educational ministers, secretaries and participants of the conference. He said that it is quite heartening to see the participation from all the provinces here for the common cause of education. As we know that panacea of all evils lie in the education and we all should work together for the betterment of education.
Education Minister KPK talked about the quality education and Education Minister Balochistan said that it is high time that we should start working on the recommendations of these conferences as we are answerable to our people. Talking on the occasion Education Minister Gilgit Baltistan said that it would be great if federal government help GB through technical and thematic support. Education Minister Punjab said that we are working on various things eg we have identified 54000 schools in Punjab where basic facilities are missing and we are working on them. Moreover we have launched a teachers' training program Parrho Punjab Barrho Punjab. We believe in bringing change through innovation, learning and digital monitoring. We have started geo tagging mostly schools in Punjab. And we would like to share our experience with other provinces as well. Further he added that we are working on Knowledge Park with the collaboration 5 world renowned universities. Federal Minister CADD Dr Tariq Fazal told about the Prime Minister's Education Transformational Plan and said that we all are willing to work together. Education Minister AJK also talked about the development and achievements in education and said that first women university has been opened in AJK along with the 3 other universities.
Sustainable Development Goals, Minimum National Curriculum, Minimum Standards of Education, Revised National Education Policy 2016, Waseela e Taleem by BISP, Use of ICT, and Advanced Quality Learning Program etc were part of the agenda.
3 National level meetings plus 7 provincial consultative workshops were held to debate the development of minimum standards of education. An Inter-Provincial Technical Working Group on 'Quality' was formed in the national level meeting held in Lahore, Punjab. The TWG was comprised of representatives from curriculum bureaus, textbook boards, teacher training institutes, assessment/examination boards and administration from each province/area. 5 meetings of the IPTWGs were held, hosted by CA&DD, Sindh, AJK and KP Education Departments, respectively (2013 - 14) to draft the standards document. The document was presented to the 4th IPEMC in January 2015 and as per the decision of the IPEMC, It was handed over to the NCC (National Curriculum Council) for further review. The Minimum National Standards were reviewed and updated by the NCC after consultations with each province (2014 - 15). In December 2015, 2-day workshop hosted by the MoFEPT was organised with participation of all members of the NCC plus high level education experts from across the country to carry out the final review of the document. The standards document was revised in the light of feedback from the workshop and sent to all provinces for any final comment. Comments were received from AEPAM and Balochistan which were incorporated and the document finalised and being presented to IPEMC for approval
Four meetings of NCC held, two days National Consultative meeting was organized, to finalise minimum standards for quality education. Minimum standards for quality education developed in consultation with all federating units. The outlines for National Curriculum Framework (NCF) have been finalised.
Four days Workshop will be held in the 2nd week of March to finalise NCF document for approval of IPEMC. NCC Secretariat Project has been approved by CDWP at the cost of Rs 100 million on 27.10.2015. Rs 35 million has been allocated during current financial year 2015-16.
Recruitment of technical and professional staff is under process and will be completed by April 2016. Renovation work of NCC Secretariat is expected to complete by June 2016. Revision of National Education Policy 2009 was decided in 2nd meeting; Review Committee of NEP 2009 was approved in 3rd meeting of IPEMC and notified on 27.01.2015. Three meetings of National Review Committee have been held so far, and it has unanimously approved 18 chapters for revised policy.
6th IPEMC meeting unanimously decided to constitute a National Committee to formulate a policy on use of ICT in education. The national Committee on ICT was notified on 9th October, 2015 (designation wise) and on 5th January 2016 (by name). First meeting of the committee was held on 28.01.2016. Relevant materials like ICT strategy Qangdao and Incheon declarations were provided to all members. The Provinces will constitute Committee of IT experts comprising 5 to 10 members. The committee will decide and propose chapters for ICT policy along with contents in line with ICT Strategy. The committee will review the final document in consultation with all stakeholders to start chapter writing by end of May, 2016. Third meeting of Committee on ICT will be held before or after Ramadan to review the 1st draft. -PR