ISLAMABAD: Interim Education Minister Madad Ali Sindhi on Friday directed the relevant wing of his ministry to look into causes that delayed preparation of the country’s education policy.

The education ministry has not introduced a new policy since 2009.

Speaking to a group of journalists, the education minister said a new education policy should be formulated.

He said after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the province also had due role in formulating national education policy, therefore, he would also take up this issue with provincial ministries.

He directed the concerned wing of the ministry to get input from provincial authorities in this regard.

“We have inter-provincial education ministries conference forum; such things should be taken up on this forum,” he said.

It is relevant to note here that the federal education ministry had not introduced a new education policy since 2009, however, a draft policy was prepared in 2016 and a national education policy framework was introduced in 2018.

After 2018 efforts were made to finalise a new policy but that could not bear fruit. Sources said there was a need to make changes to the existing policy to make it relevant and rationale.

The policy of 2009 stated that the education budget should be 7pc of the GDP, which was irrational, adding that the economic survey, which was released in June this year, had stated that the country’s education sector got only 1.7pc of the GDP last year.

Ministry officials said in the new policy the education budget should be 4pc of the GDP and there should be binding on the government to release this fund. Similarly, they said the policy should focus on sustainable development goals (SDGs), information technology, e-learning and blended learning, etc. Whereas, there should be special focus on out-of-school children (OSC) as Pakistan had over 25 million OSC – the world’s largest figure.

Earlier, the PML-N government in its tenure (2013-18) had announced on several 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.

The issue of new education policy was also highlighted in the National Assembly last year.

In reply to a question asked by MNA Shahida Rehmani, the assembly was informed by the then education minister, Rana Tanveer Hussain, that the National Education Policy 2009 was still intact and work on development of a new policy had been initiated.

“Yes, the National Education Policy [of 2009] is still intact. Work on development of a new education 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 had stated in his response, but during his tenure, the new policy could not be issued.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023