LAHORE: The speakers of Afkar-i-Taza ThinkFest session on “One Nation, One Curriculum: Aspirations and Challenges” were of the view that state had failed to efficiently run the public schools and the parents should be provided with financing to send their children to any school of their choice rather.

Mosharraf Zaidi and Yaqoob Bangash moderated the online session while SZABIST president Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Lightstone Publishers Managing Director Ameena Saiyid, Cambridge Assessment Country Director Uzma Yousaf, and Federal Education Ministry Joint Educational Advisor Rafique Tahir were participants.

Ms Saiyid said initially they were thinking that the government wanted to upgrade the 2006 curriculum across Pakistan and around 400 experts were being contacted to include their suggestions.

“The government claims that all the stakeholders were involved in drafting the curriculum and its approval but it is not true.”

She said the experts were called to give their suggestion but what they had opposed and approved was not taken into account while drafting the curriculum.

She said she had found the curriculum as prescriptive and narrow because there is no art, drama, music, design and humanities included in it.

“The curriculum will increase rote learning and focus is on cramming and teaching children the official narrative,” Saiyid added.

She further said the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) was directing the publishers to get a no objection certificate (NOC) from them for printing a book while also imposing charges of Rs100,000 as fee for a book.

“My publishing firm publishes around 100 syllabus books and how could we pay around Rs10m for getting the NOC,” she asked.

Ms Ali said under the single national curriculum, a basic standard of education was being maintained.

“The main difference of the new curriculum is that they have added some substantive content in Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies and proposed Urdu to be the language of instruction for primary classes. There would be introduction of English in elementary classes.”

She said the state was claiming to give religious education and content but it should be parents’ responsibility.

She said the Islamiyat is included from primary to BS classes, students would have to study it for the entire 16 years of education and the government should revisit it.

“We have to focus on science, technology, Maths, natural science and computers to compete in the world,” she said.

Shahnaz Wazir Ali said the students should be taught in their mother language and most of the teachers would deliver lectures in native language for better understanding of students.

While commenting on language issues, she said the government should form a national commission on the matter as different assessment surveys had shown the learning outcome of the students had badly affected due to lack of understanding.

She further said the state has failed to provide education to the masses and it should change its direction from investing in education to financing education.

“The state should evaluate the cost of a unit and provide yearly stipend to parents with a direction that they should decide where to send their children for education,” she added.

Ms Yousaf termed the curriculum a part of improving education with the objective to improve equity and standard of education. Establishing a national curriculum does not mean going back to central control. “Basically we are working on the 2006 curriculum with some minor changes and major upgrade of the existing standards.”

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2021