‘Govt to make education system more inclusive, equitable’

Islamabad: Independent education policy experts and government representatives stressed on religious inclusion and equitable education policy for national cohesion while speaking at a policy dialogue on religious inclusion and respect for diversity in education system organized by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in collaboration with Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE).

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said that government has benefitted from the best education systems of the world for developing the single national curriculum, and has incorporated input given by relevant stakeholders, including the private sector institutions, and the provinces. He noted that existing system perpetuate class division among citizens, and government is determined to give due regard to inclusion and diversity, and eliminate derogatory and hate material from textbooks.

Peter Jacob, Executive Director of Centre for Social Justice, lauded the federal government for recognizing linguistic diversity and giving consideration to the right of students to receive an objective and unbiased education.

Dr. Qibla Ayaz, Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, said that curriculum plays a vital role in promoting inclusion and contribute to build an inclusive society. Dr. Sughra Chaudhry Khan stressed on teaching in classroom without biases, prejudice, discrimination or any ideology, could contribute to make the school environment conducive and inclusive. Dr. Zia ul Haq underlined that not curriculum or textbooks, but teachers are the most relevant source to promote social cohesion and diversity.

Dr. Baela Raza Jamil and Mosharraf Zaidi underlined that the education system presents a lack of coherence, therefore a shift in the approach and method of education in schools was required to allow educational freedom, life skills and learning needs of the children. They urged the government to address these challenges, and invest energies and resources towards improving access, teachers training, and incentives for enhanced enrolment, and consider collecting fresh data and improving capacity of stakeholders involved to make the single national curriculum effectively implementable.

Dr. Nighat Lone and Sohail Bin Aziz said that the government has engaged diverse group of experts as members of National Curriculum Council (NCC), however the matter of medium of instruction in regional, national and international languages is indecisive yet.

Dr. Riaz Ahmed Shaikh said that the government need to include more objective and factual content relating to our history in order to acknowledge diversity existing in our country and the region. Tahira Abdullah and Prof. Anjum James Paul stressed that the reforms in education policy, curriculum and textbooks are needed to address the issues of intolerance, radicalization and division along religious, ethnic and sectarian lines. They urged the government to dispel confusion around uniform education, as the implementation of single national curriculum in diverse context might cause furthering deprivation and disparity.