Q: What is your reaction to the opposition leader’s outburst on the floor of the house?
A: I think Mr Shah should have not protested before the house, because the Sindh education minister was present in the meeting where the decision to introduce a standardised national curriculum for Islamic Studies, Pakistan Studies and other important subjects in all educational institutions of the country, was taken and he agreed to the proposal. It seems the opposition leader and the education ministry of Sindh are contradicting each other. This shows a lack of coordination between them.
Q: What is your opinion about the new bodies constituted to deal with the curriculum issue?
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah, on Wednesday, registered his protest over Education Minister Balighur Rehman’s press conference in Quetta on Wednesday, where the latter had said that a standardised national curriculum for Islamic Studies, Pakistan Studies and other important subjects will be introduced in all educational institutions across the country.The state minister had said that the curriculum would be prepared in consultation with all four provinces, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Dawn spoke to noted educationist Abdul Hameed Nayyar to understand why the federal government was still developing curriculum, which is clearly a provincial subject.
A: I think that both the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference and the National Curriculum Council (NCC) are not backed up by the Constitution. These are counter-productive bodies; the government should set up a national regulatory body to regulate national curriculum. The federal government was actually worried about changes to the Islamic Studies curriculum because they are afraid that some provinces will make changes in this crucial subject on sectarian grounds. This is a serious issue which is why I suggest that there is a need for a national regulatory body that also has representation of the provinces as well.
Q: Can the federal government interfere in the provincial curriculum-making process?
A: After the 18th Amendment, curriculum is a provincial subject, but the federal government can regulate it. The issue of curriculum is a complicated one; I would rather say it’s a war of ideologies. What happened in KPK? The Awami National Party made some important changes to the curriculum, but successive governments have undone many of the changes made by them.
I think that after devolution, provincial governments have made progress in curriculum development, but certain elements are not ready to accept positive changes to the curriculum at the provincial level. Whatever reforms the ANP made when in power, were undone by the Jamaat-i-Islami.
Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2015
On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play
