KARACHI, Dec 27: The curriculum for undergraduate level medical education is not available to the majority of teachers associated with local public sector medical education centres, significantly compromising education quality at the cost of students. These views were expressed during a seminar on “Educational planning and evaluation of undergraduate students in basic medical sciences” held here on Monday.

They also observed with concern that the syllabus prepared a few years back, as per the directives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), was neither duly publicized nor made necessarily accessible to all medical teachers.

The speakers stressed the need for maintaining uniformity in the curriculum offered and syllabus taught at various institutions across the country.

The participants of the seminar were of the view that the non-availability of syllabus was detrimental to not only the planning phase but also the evaluation procedure.

They recommended that the syllabus and curriculum prepared by senior faculty members from different medical colleges must not only be provided to all the teachers but there also be made a provision for it’s regular assessment in accordance to the changing needs of the present era.

Earlier, serving as well as retired senior medical teachers, in their respective presentations suggested separate syllabus for undergraduate level medical education - with major focus on inculcating sound foundations of basic sciences among the students and enhancing their capacities to handle pertinent healthcare requirements of the country.

Speakers including Prof Shoaib Tauheed, Prof Shehnaz Javed, Prof Fida Jaffery, Prof Salma Akram, Prof Mazahir Iqbal, Prof Aal-i-Hasan observed with concern that teaching at different levels was largely devoid of proper planning.

Prof Mumtazuddin Ahmed, Prof Sirajud Daula, Prof Mohsin, Prof Javed Altaf, Prof Zubair Zaidi, Prof Shamim Siddiqui and Prof Tauseef Ahmed took part in a panel discussion.

In an interactive dialogue following the seminar in question, students and teachers of the DUHS, unanimously demanded for the depoliticization of all the affiliated institutions, to promote a strong culture of learning.

They attributed the constant decline in the quality of education to the unwarranted politicization of the once outstanding seats of medical education and training.

Students participating in the discussion pointed towards the lack of healthy extracurricular extracurricular activities at the Dow and Sindh medical colleges.

They were highly appreciative of Prof Shoaib Tauheed for his efforts to develop rapport and communication with the students.

Teachers present on the occasion agreed with most of the complaints forwarded by the students.

The teachers, however, deplored that a large number of students come to them for the cancellation of lecture owing to a picnic or musical show, but a very few students approached them for conducting an extra class or lecture.—APP