ISLAMABAD: Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said on Monday the country has taken several steps to curb the spread of coronavirus and his department is willing to keep educational institutions open.
Mahmood, while addressing a press conference, said there is a difference between academic sessions in education centres and online versions of studies.
He reiterated that the final decision regarding the closure of the educational institutions will be taken on March 24.
The education ministry is willing to keep the education centres open as online education cannot be equated with regular classes. He added that students are not happy with the online classes and it is a difficult decision to decide on the closure of schools.
“NCOC believed that there’s a high risk of COVIS-19 spread in schools. 50 million children are linked with education and if someone got infected, the disease would spread.”
The minister said that we tried to keep schools open where things are better.
Regarding the March 24 meeting at the NCOC, Mehmood said we would implement the recommendations of the health and education ministers.
While commenting on the uniform education system, Mahmood said private and government schools are following their own curriculum which distributes the education standards of the whole country.
In the seminaries, students are being taught Dars-e-Nizami and their certification is also different, he added.
He urged that a curriculum should be designed that does not hurt the people’s religious values.
The federal government could not issue any notification in this regard, hence the matter was handed over to the provincial governments, said the minister. He said the provinces have been given authority to their textbook board.
Mahmood also said the education authorities were not attempting to end the publishing industry. He questioned the requirement of getting another permission after the federal government issues a no-objection certificate (NOC). He said with the passage of the 18th amendment, this authority lies with the provinces.
He said the federal government initiated a skill development programme under which many people are receiving training.
