ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: The education ministry is taking every possible measure to bring the curricula on a par with the international standards, focussing on skill development of the students, Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi said.

He was speaking as chief guest at the concluding session of a three-day meeting of the national expert group on "Development of Strategies for Addressing Gender Biases and Disparities in the Curricula and Primary and Secondary Text Books".

The meeting was jointly organised by the Centre of Excellence in Women's Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) here on Wednesday.

During the revision process, the ministry would also address the gender biases present in the curricula which reflect the feudal mindset and certain societal tendencies, said the minister.

"Fortunately, the ministry has a woman - Dr Haroona Jatoi - as head of its curriculum wing, hence women experts should not have any hesitation to talk to her and in making recommendations."

Primary level teachers, especially women, will also be engaged in the curricula revision because they are directly involved in teaching children and know their needs," Mr Qazi said. "Yes, no nation can think of progress without effectively using its women workforce that constitutes half of the country's population," the minister underlined.

As far as the education ministry was concerned, the minister said, it was open to any positive suggestions made by meetings like this. Unfortunately, as far as Education Sector Reforms (ESRs), Education for All (EFA) etc. programmes are concerned, the country has miserably failed and international organizations place Pakistan among non-achievers, Mr Qazi said.

International organizations are not even ready to accept the country's data on education, as in the past only lip-service was paid instead of doing something practical on ground, he said. About presence of foreign consultants in the ministry, the minister said: "I have asked my secretary to prepare a list of all these consultants and their progress.