Educational Dialogue Forum 2020 – ‘Uniform Education System: From Conception to Implementation’

Experts urge more transparent and inclusive development of single national curriculum

Analyzing the work done so far for the development of a single national curriculum, academics and education policy experts deliberating at a day-long seminar appreciated the government’s approach for the purpose, while advising it to make the consultation process more transparent and inclusive by engaging more stakeholders.

They also warned the government to be wary of certain elements who think a single national curriculum would strengthen local culture, history, values, and inhibit popularization of ‘secular’ thoughts; some of the elite who want their children to have an edge over children from other social classes; the people who want certain culture to dominate the social and political arena of Pakistan, as well as the commercial interest groups.

The deliberations were held during the Educational Dialogue Forum 2020 (EDF2020) themed ‘Uniform Education System: From Conception to Implementation’, which was organized by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad on February 15, 2020.

The seminar was addressed as chief guests by Sajid Hasan, former federal secretary for education, and Dr Anis Ahmad, vice chancellor, Riphah International University (RIU), whereas the main speakers included Muhammad Rafique Tahir, joint educational advisor, National Curriculum Council (NCC), EP-IPS Khalid Rahman, Dr Mian Muhammad Akram, Dr Waqar Masood, Prof Rao Jalil Ahmed, Dr Arshad Saeed Khan, Dr Muhammad Salim, Dr Ameer Nawaz Khan, Dr Muhammad Sharif Nizami and Dr Salma Nazar Khan, among others.

The speakers were unanimous that the government’s efforts for the development of a uniform national curriculum was a step in the right direction for the country. This however should be done with proper backing of the constitution, strengthening the legal foundations of the process, taking input from more stakeholders and addressing the processes and responsibilities with more clarity.

The panelists also viewed that any work in the development of a single national curriculum should be preceded by the development of a comprehensive educational policy, outlining the aims of objectives of the curriculum in line with needs and requirements of the nation, also incorporating the medium of instruction, textbooks, teacher training and teaching methodology at length.

The speakers stressed that it was a constitutional obligation that Urdu should be promoted as a primary teaching tool as it will be far more effective for the cognitive learning of children, giving them a better opportunity to understand and excel. Many developing countries have experimented with and applied curriculum in their national language, which has proved to be to their advantage, they said.

They however warned there would be certain elements who may put hurdles in the way of this good initiative, most prominently those who think national curriculum strengthens local culture, history, values, and inhibits popularization of ‘secular’ thoughts; the elite who want their children to have an edge over children from other social classes; the recipients of foreign funding who want the Western culture to dominate the social and political arena of Pakistan, as well as the commercial interest groups.

The speakers were of the view that private schools had a corporate nature and their interests were a major obstacle in the implementation of a single education system. They maintained that in the past many policies were formulated but never implemented due to a number of factors, including availability of funds. So powerful political commitment across the board was essential to implement a single national curriculum across the country.

They said good governance had always been a weak factor so the policymakers should consider what was desirable and what was doable while setting educational goals. However, they emphasized that there should be no compromise on the quality of single national curriculum, textbooks and teachers. It is pertinent to mention here that the draft recommendations for revision and further upgradation of the old curriculum were discussed and approved by all stakeholders during a national conference on Single National Curriculum (grade pre I-IV) organized from February 11-14 by National Curriculum Council, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, with a view to develop a single national curriculum.