All stakeholders should play their due role to improve education system in country: Federal Minister

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood said that all stakeholders should play their due role for improving the declining education system in the country.

He expressed such views while addressing 2nd National Education Summit organized by Pakistan Academic Consortium (PAC) here on Wednesday.

“Schools are lacking the basic facilities because no investment was made since last 70 years which should have been for improvement of education sector”, he said adding moreover different education systems was for different people and there is not uniformity which was promoting fragmentation within society.

So, we have started consultation to bring uniformity in the education system which can eradicate the fragmentation within society, he said adding it can be possible by introducing uniform curriculum in the country.

For this, the consultation process on uniform curriculum was initiated where main issues were discussed, the federal minister said.

Majority of academicians suggested that the language of teaching should be mother tongue or common language (Urdu) in which child or student could learn easily, Shafqat Mahmood said.

There was the resistance from some private schools and parents over language of teaching in the schools, he said adding they suggested that English should be language of teaching.

English was considered as class not language within our society, he said adding however, the educationists suggested for common language or mother tongue.

In addition, the issue of quality education was also discussed in the consultation sessions, he said adding the work on text book preparation was also in the process.

Additionally, it was debated whether new curriculum should be introduced in the primary schools or other classes, the federal minister said.

Another issue was assessment whether new curriculum was being taught or not, he said adding the voluntary organizations or individuals have to assess this.

The Vice Chancellor of the Sindh Madressatual Islam University, Dr. Muhammad Ali Shaikh said that there were four education systems in the country which was promoting fragmentation within society.

One is elite education system, private education system of B-category, government-run education system and Madarssa education systems, he said adding the uniformity in curriculum can bring resolution of all issues.