quality of education and setting high standards for the education sector.
He shared with the audience the establishment of National Curriculum Council, which has representation of all regions of the country and is aimed at setting minimum criteria for curricula from KG to Grade-12. He told the audience that an Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference was held recently in Islamabad which was attended by education ministers and secretaries from all provinces, FATA, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan. "The response from all regions of the country was very positive and the participants discussed performance of the education sector and discussed future plan of action for the promotion of the education sector."
The minister stressed the significance of academia’s linkage with the industry, SMEs as well as the government to make sure that our education institutions work as an engine for the socio-economic growth of the country.
The HEC chairman elaborated the role of erstwhile University Grants Commission and HEC, since its inception in 2002, for curriculum revision. He said that though HEC’s Curriculum Revision Committees in different disciplines have been meeting regularly to review curricula of respective subjects but a need was felt to gather experts and evaluate the review process itself.
“The basic concept of holding this symposium is to further develop the curriculum review process and seek guidance from experts on how current practices of curriculum review may be further improved and ensure that curricula taught at higher learning institutions fulfills the requirement of our society, industry as well as government’s policy making,” Dr. Mukhtar said.
It is expected that by end of this activity a white paper highlighting specific recommendations on the theme and the objective of this symposium will be developed by the core committee consisting of curriculum planning specialists. This white paper will serve as guidelines for Curriculum Division of HEC to set framework and standards of curriculum development in an appropriate way.