LAHORE: Participants in a workshop held for promoting social cohesion and resilience in education demanded implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) in school education to promote equality among students.

The School Education Department (SED) in collaboration with the Society for Advancement of Education (SAHE) and Unicef Punjab under the Provincial Girls Education Initiative (PGEI) held a workshop at a local hotel on Thursday for promoting social cohesion and resilience in education.

A five-year programme was implemented in Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.

It was aimed at building a positive mindset, social cohesion, citizenship values and greater tolerance among the school-going children at the primary and middle level.

Additional Secretary (Education Reforms) of School Education Department Abdul Rehman Shah, Unicef Punjab Education Officer Sehr Qizilbash, SAHE Executive Director Abbas Rashid, representatives of Special Education, Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, Punjab Education Foundation and Non-Formal Basic Education and Literacy were present.

Ms Qizilbash while presenting the overview said they had taken measures for peace building including covering in-depth research in social cohesion, capacity building of teachers and developed learning materials in the province. She said they had developed the policy of how to integrate social cohesion into the curriculum, textbooks, training materials and self learning materials.

SAHE Executive Director Abbas Rashid said the key learning material was developed under the SC&R project – Humsafar (travel story books) and associated interactive flashcards. All the project material and reach was disseminated among the students by holding radio talk shows and dramatisation.

He said they had produced 12 programmes -- six talk shows with the children and parents, and six others in dramatisation form. He said youth groups, city district government officials, school counsel, community members, teachers and students had participated in these programmes.

During discussion session, Non Formal Education Deputy Secretary Qaiser Rasheed said the teachers were being recruited through the National Testing Service (NTS) exam but there should also be a system to check the interest of the candidate. He said those aspirants for the job of teaching who had leaning towards militancy should not be given jobs because they enforce their religious sentiments on their students.

Some other participants were of the view that the environment of the school should be developed to end discrimination. They said the content of the education syllabus should be developed in such a way that it fulfilled the criteria of NAP.

Mr Shah said they were including topics on health, hygiene, civic education and peace in the syllabus of the children. He said they would also improve coordination with the stakeholders and also work on how to improve the syllabus.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017