Sindh, Centre agree to develop same curriculum for three subjects

karachi: Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain and Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah have agreed that the consultation process and coordination with the province will be continued for the preparation of a new curriculum that would be introduced as the National Curriculum of Pakistan instead of a “Single Nation Curriculum”.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the National Curriculum of Pakistan at a local hotel on Thursday, the federal minister said the attempts made during the last three to four years were not appropriate. He said that when he assumed charge of the education ministry he was surprised to hear the name of Single National Curriculum.

“I changed the name from the SNC to the NCP,” he said, adding that when the National Action Plan was made the matter of religious seminaries was also discussed. However, we have to work together to give opportunities to those who wanted to do something positive.

He said the Sindh government was cooperating with the federal government to develop a joint curriculum.

Shah said that Sindh has developed its curriculum for schoolchildren. The education department will be updating the textbooks when it required. The new curriculum for minorities is a wonderful effort. We need to teach our children real events. We have to tell our children about our culture. We have to involve other provinces as well.

Talking to the media after the event, Hussain said that the current education system in the country has now been implemented in consultation with all the provinces instead of dictating the SNC, and the concept of one book in the whole country was wrong.

Sardar Shah, while answering the questions, said that the federal government understood what the Sindh government said four years ago. Imran Khan wanted to implement a program without reading the Constitution of Pakistan and especially the eighteenth amendment after which education was made a provincial subject.

“Our stance on teaching mother tongues at school is the same as that of Balochistan,” he said, adding that it is important that we teach our children about our region and true events which happened in our history.

“We have agreed with the federation that English, Mathematics and Computer Science will be taught together under one syllabus while the provinces will set their own syllabus for other subjects.”