All educational institutions in Pakistan including the government and private schools as well as religious seminaries (madaris) will have uniform education system from primary to intermediate level by the year 2022 while the Ministry of Education and Professional Training would register seminaries.
Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced this here on Wednesday while addressing a press conference. He said that the government is in consultation with the stakeholders including the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) governments to introduce uniform education system from grade 1 to 12. Uniform academic syllabus would be introduced for grade 1 to 5 by the year 2022, he said. For grade 6 to 8, the implementation for uniform syllabus would start by the coming October whereas for the grade 9 to 12, uniform syllabus would be implemented by the year 2021.
"In the next three years or so, we will be able to achieve the target of uniform education system in the government and private schools and seminaries. We are actively pursuing this target," he said.
The minister said that the government would implement in letter and spirit the Supreme Court's directives for private schools wherein they have been directed not to increase their annual fee by more than 5 percent keeping in view the private schools' respective fee structure from the year 2017. "We will protect the interests of the parents and make sure that they are not overburdened by the private schools," he claimed.
He termed it a failure of the state for the last 70 years to provide quality education in the government schools and institutions that resulted in mushroom growth of private educational institutions. "Had the state taken the steps to improve educational standards, these private educational institutions should not have existed in the first place. These institutions are flourishing because the state has failed to improve the educational standards in the government-owned schools and impart quality education to the public."
Shafqat Mahmood said that he has taken serious notice of the reports that certain private school systems are forcing students to buy entire package of textbooks and notebooks at exorbitant prices from designated book sellers. "This is not acceptable particularly on top of a fee structure that most parents are barely able to afford. What is specially difficult for parents is being forced to buy textbooks that can easily be passed on from older brothers and sisters to their younger ones once they move on to a senior class. Forcing everyone to buy new textbooks is unfair to the parents and it adds to the already considerable financial burden on them. This practice must be stopped forthwith. Parents must be given the option to buy only those books that are required and no more," he said.
According to the minister, two agreements have been signed between the federal government and Ittehad-e-Tanzeemate-Madaris (ITMD), the body that oversees the running of seminaries. The agreements would allow the registration of religious seminaries on the same patterns the schools are registered. "The ITMD wants that the seminaries should be registered by the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training (and not by any other government department). So, on their request, the registration of the seminaries would be done by the ministry," Mahmood said.
Any seminary if not registered would not be allowed to function, he said. The Ministry of Education and Professional Training would assist the seminaries in the provision of trainings for seminaries' teachers, visa-related problems involving the seminaries, opening of bank accounts of seminaries and other related measures, Mahmood mentioned.
He said the seminaries would take exams from grades 10 to 12 of the subjects taught under Dars-e-Nizami syllabus while all other compulsory subjects taught in the seminaries would fall under the official syllabus of the Education Ministry which would take the related exams at matriculation and intermediate levels of the relevant subjects.
The education minister said the elementary level examination for grade 8 would be rationalised and proper certification would be issued to the students who pass grade 8 exam like matriculation and intermediate certifications.
According to Shafqat Mahmood, 11,000 out-of-school children were identified in the federal capital out of which 7,500 have been admitted in the schools through government programmes. "In his first speech after becoming the Prime Minister, Imran Khan had mentioned that 25 million children are out of school. The matter was raised in Inter-Provincial Educational Ministers Conference and a survey was launched by the provinces and the federal authorities to identify out-of-school children and steps are being taken to get them in schools."
At higher education level, the government has implemented 16-year education for graduation (bachelor of science-BS) whereas bachelor of arts (BA) degree based on 14-year education would be phased out, keeping in view the international education standards, he said, adding that the government has also implemented 18-year education for master of science (MS) degree.
Giving details of skilled education, Shafqat Mahmood said 55,000 students have been awarded skilled training by National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) in the present government's term, out of which, 60 per cent have been employed. "It means the training they have received is relevant to the demands of the job market."
In addition, a smart phone application would be launched by next week for the residents of Islamabad to help them access skilled labour in different technical areas using the said application, Mahmood said. Moreover, a host of programmes are being introduced by the federal government for promoting adult education, said the minister, adding that the federal government is in contact with the provinces, AJK and GB governments for promoting education of all types at different levels.