ISLAMABAD: A review committee has proposed amendments to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, recommending adding nine new chapters to it, which would also cover Deeni Madaris, information technology and use of information and communication technology in educational institutions and Libraries.

Joint Education Adviser of Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Rafiq Tahir, the coordinator for the NEP review committee, on Wednesday informed the participants of the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) that the revised policy will likely have 18 chapters.

The 7th edition of IPEMC held here at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) office with state minister for federal education and professional training Balighur Rehman in the chair.

The coordinator briefed the education ministers that existing NEP 2009 had nine chapters and it needed some major changes, particularly in the light of 18th Amendment, which had made education a provincial subject.

“The review committee has unanimously decided to add nine more chapters to the NEP besides making some amendments to the in existing chapters,” he said.

“Besides, we have rationalised education budget, which was 7pc of the GDP,” Mr Rafiq Tahir told Dawn.

He said that existing education policy was also silent on Article 25-A of the constitution, which guaranteed the right to free and compulsory education to all children of age 5 to 16.

He said that after holding further discussion on this important topic, the committee would present a draft policy before the next IPEMC and then, if approved, the document would be forwarded to the Cabinet for final approval.

Speaking to mediapersons, the state minister, Balighur Rehman, said that NEP was being reviewed to remove some deficiencies and add some new items to it. He said that the government was committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goals and bringing all children to schools.

So for the IPEMC has failed to make any significant contribution to the country’s education system as its meetings were mostly restricted to discussions.

However, an officer of the education ministry said various ‘projects’ were under way and in coming months everyone would see a significant change in the education sector.

Earlier, in the meeting, the education ministers of three provinces discussed various issues including Minimum National Curriculum, Minimum Standards of Education, Waseela-e-Taleem by BISP. The Sindh education minister did not turn up at the meeting.

The Punjab education minister, Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan, said his ministry was working on various issues to bring about improvement in education sector.

“We have identified 54,000 schools in Punjab where basic facilities are missing and we are trying to provide them. We have launched a teachers’ training programme,” he said and added that they believed in bringing change through innovation, E-learning and digital monitoring.

He said the Punjab government was working on Knowledge Park in collaboration with five world renowned universities.

The Khyber Paktunkhaw education minister, Atif Khan, spoke about various steps which were required to improve quality of education.

Federal Minister for CADD Dr. Tariq Fazal apprised the participants of the meeting about Prime Minister’s Education Transformation Plan for ICT and assured that his ministry will work with IPEMC.

The Balochistan education minister, Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, AJK minister Matloob Inqilabi and Gilgit Baltistan education minister Mohammad Ibrahim Sanai also spoke on the occasion.

Besides education ministers, the conference was also attended by the federal and provincial education secretaries, education advisers, experts and officials of relevant ministries.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016