ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Education is yet to introduce an updated national education policy as the current one is in need of changes.

“A lot of work has already been done and revision of the Education Policy 2009 would not be a big deal for the education ministry,” said an official of the ministry. However, he said, announcements to change it had also been made in the past but no proper work was done.

During the PML-N government’s tenure (2013-18) it had announced on many occasions that it was going to amend the national education policy and a draft was prepared but it was never finalised.

Similarly, during PTI’s tenure, a proper policy was not finalised and only a national education policy framework was issued.

Officials of the education ministry, while referring to the draft policy, said in 2016, it was decided that nine more chapters would be added to the national policy and it would be made into a comprehensive national document.

This matter was highlighted on Friday by Member of National Assembly (MNA) Shahida Rehmani, to whom Minister of Education Rana Tanveer Hussain in a written response informed that the National Education Policy of 2009 was still intact and work on development of a new policy had been initiated.

“Yes, National Education Policy [of 2009] is still intact. Work on development of new educational policy has already been initiated.

“In this regard, a National Education Policy Framework was also issued in 2018 where uniform education system was one of the priority areas,” the minister stated in his response.

Responding to a question related to the single national curriculum (SNC), he said the SNC was being developed, keeping in view the “prevailing apartheid” in society.

The SNC is being implemented in three phases: the first phase for grades one to five has been implemented in Islamabad Capital Territory, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan from academic year 2021. In Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), it will be enforced from academic year 2022.

In the next phases, SNC for grades six till eight will be implemented from academic year 2022, starting from August. SNC for class nine till 12 has been planned for 2023, the minister said, adding that the curriculum was always an active document which changed with fast-paced changes in the world.

“These changes are made by experts with input from all stakeholders. Relevant stakeholders were taken on board on all steps of curriculum development.

“Recent curriculum reforms are being carried out with intensive consultations with the six stakeholders including policymakers, academics, practitioners, parents and students from across the country.

“For this purpose, not only policy dialogues are being conducted across Pakistan, a number of curriculum workshops were also held to take feedback from everyone,” Mr Hussain added.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2022