October 19, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 6, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: The Senate Standing Committee on Education on Thursday called for complete revamping of public sector education aimed at preparing students for contemporary challenges nationally and globally.

It also directed the Ministry of Education to play a proactive role in teachers’ training and to introduce necessary changes in the system of examination, bringing it at par with international standards.

The committee also called upon the Ministry of Education as well as the provincial governments to ensure timely availability of textbooks. The ministry has been asked to examine the possibility of introducing a National Scholarship System on the pattern of UK.

The Committee meeting, which was presided over by Senator Mrs Razina Alam Khan, expressed its concern over the deteriorating standards of education in public schools and lacklustre performance of students, particularly those who took F Sc examination this year under new system of examination.

It directed that arrangements be made to familiarize the students with the new system, train the teachers and impart necessary training to teachers for achieving better results.

According to a press release, the Committee lauded the Government’s commitment to achieve the Universal Primary Education by 2015 as declared in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Earlier, the Senate Committee was given a detailed presentation on the performance of the Ministry of Education during 2004-07 by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry. He said that the existing curriculum was being reviewed and updated keeping in view future requirements.

The objective of the curriculum revision was to make it vibrant and progressive in order to meet the challenges of the modern world. It was also informed that the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) is one of the key programmes of the Ministry meant to improve the quality of education.

Similarly, a centralised examination system has been introduced in all the four provinces for secondary and higher secondary school certificate examinations. The distinguishing features of the new system include 20 per cent objective questions, 50 per cent questions for short answers, and 30 per cent questions for descriptive answers.

Moreover, the Ministry of Education has launched a project titled, “Establishment of 350 community schools in remote areas of Fata”. The committee was also informed that the Ecnec has already approved establishment and operation of 20,000 basic education community schools in the country.

Further, the Ministry of Education has launched a mega project at a cost of Rs5.7 billion to reform the madrassah education in Pakistan. A National Education Census (NEC) 2005-06 has also been conducted for reliable, accurate and comprehensive education database.

With regard to resource mobilisation it was told that the public sector expenditure on education as percentage of GDP, which was 2.20 per cent in 2003-04 has been increased to 2.43 per cent in 2006-07. Similarly, public sector budget on education as percentage of the National Public Budget also rose to twelve per cent in 2006-07.

Some members of the Committee demanded that the primary education must be imparted in national language for achieving better results and there should not be over emphasis on English.

They demanded that the ‘class-based’ system of education be done away with for promoting national integration and greater social harmony and best practices of the private schools be replicated in public schools.

They also observed that the marks for practical examination in Matric and F Sc be reduced further as many influential persons manage to secure these marks for their children by utilising unfair means, to the great disadvantage of deserving students.

They also called upon the Provincial Governments to encourage opening of new polytechnic institutes to impart marketable skills to youth, which would also help them combat unemployment.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Senators Mrs Tahira Latif, Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Mrs Rehana Yahya Baloch, S M Zafar, Syed Javed Ali Shah, Dr Mohammad Said, Sajid Mir, Prof Muhammad Ibrahim Khan besides the Minister of State for Education, Ms Anisa Zaib Tahir Kheli and senior officials of the Ministry of Education.