Recently, Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah said in an interview that the formulation of the Single National Curriculum (SNC) is a provincial subject but the federal government wants to impose it on the provinces unilaterally. The views of the Chief Minister are rarely authentic and I wish to express some divergent thoughts on this.
This is the third tenure of the PPP government in Sindh, and yet no improvements have been made in the overall education system of the province — copy culture is rampant, schools lack proper infrastructure and facilities, and there is a dearth of professional teachers. The system is deteriorating rapidly, going from bad to worse. While thousands of children remain out of school, many schools have been forced to shut down. Considering the deplorable situation, it would be much better for the Sindh government to implement the SNC in Sindh. Apart from making the overall education system of the country coherent, the SNC will provide all students with an equal chance to compete in society regardless of their social status. Students belonging to lower-income households will be uplifted. Unfortunately, the idea of imposing SNC across the board does not sit well with the privileged class, as they have the means of providing their children with quality private education. This allows them to get better job opportunities and higher pay scales while the poor continue to languish at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Unequal access to quality education has long been a distinguishing factor that separates the privileged class from the rest.
The Sindh government and the PPP have not pushed for educational reforms at all, and instead continue to indulge in corrupt practices. They send their children abroad for higher education while the education system of the country remains in a shambles. Even if the government is unwilling to invest in education, it must at least implement the SNC in order to bring about some semblance of equality in society.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2021.
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