ISLAMABAD: Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mahmood has stressed the need for implementation of Single National Curriculum across the country.
Talking to media, Mahmood said a uniform education curriculum system would help in curbing the class division in Pakistan. The Minister said education is among the top priorities of present government and Single National Curriculum will unite 220 million people as a strong nation.
On August 17 this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan officially launched the Single National Curriculum (SNC) for primary level, saying the initiative will end disparity in society and provide equal chance to all students to excel.
He said SNC should have been launched soon after the country’s independence to avoid division in society. He said the students of elite education system had privilege and passed civic service exams because of their good command in English. The British rulers had introduced their educational system in the subcontinent for their own interest, but after the independence “we carried their legacy and culture”, he regretted.
The prime minister said mental slavery was worse than physical slavery, adding that no individual could make progress without innovation and critical and original thinking. He said the failure to introduce SNC earlier resulted into the growing division in society.
PM Khan said he came to know that 800,000 students were pursing education in English medium schools, while over 300 million were studying in public schools and around 2.5m in seminaries.
According to the education ministry, SNC will be introduced from classes 6 to 8 in 2022 and from classes 9 to 12 in 2023. However, PM Khan directed the education minister to take steps for launching SNC for classes six and above over the next six months, instead of next two years.
The prime minister said the new curriculum laid special emphasis on teachings of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
In an apparent reference to withdrawal of foreign troops and Taliban takeover of Kabul, PM Khan said the people of Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery.
Earlier, terming SNC a milestone to end disparity from education system of the country, Shafqat Mahmood said the new curriculum had been launched at primary schools and seminaries in the provinces, except Sindh. He said he was optimistic that Sindh too would adopt SNC.
