PHOTO; FILE
The panel was further told that the new education policy of the government is expected in three months.
This was stated during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training at the Parliament House with Senator Rahila Magsi in the chair.
During the meeting, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood said that the framework for the new National Education Policy Framework had been designed, adding that the government had taken all provinces on board in this regard through an Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference.
He added that the policy will focus on three main areas, including enrolling the 25 million out-of-school children in educational institutions, making a uniform education system across the country and to ensure the quality of education.
Senate committee hails govt’s work on education policy
Mehmood further said that the new education policy will provide guidelines for achieving the desired goals.
The new education policy is likely to be available within the next three months.
He added that improvement in the literacy rate was also included the new policy framework. The literacy rate will be increased from the current level of 58 per cent.
The committee lauded the government’s initiatives to launch the new policy framework which is aimed at achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) goals on education over the next four years.
Higher education
Mehmood said that a total of 376 foreign scholarships for Masters of Sciences or Masters in Philosophy (MPhil) and doctorates of philosophy (PhD) were awarded to students from Balochistan since 2012. Of these, 172 were for PhD and 204 for MPhil.
Mahmood said that "having more number of PhD's is good but we should improve the quality of education."
The committee’s chairperson stressed on improving the quality of research and its applicability and connection with socio-economic issues of Pakistan, especially Balochistan. Senator Magsi said that education was critical for the socio-growth and prosperity of the country and efforts must be made to ensure its quality.
Islamabad National University
Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director Lt Gen (retired) Muhammad Asghar said that the research university — Islamabad National University (INU) — to be built at the Prime Minister House would provide education in four key sectors, including climate change, governance, technology and development.
The university will also be focused on emerging trends in Pakistan, he said.
Area study centre
The committee also discussed the agenda on the Area Study Centre (Amendment Bill 2017”. Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah said that the centres were established to conduct research, especially relating to foreign affairs. He suggested transferring the administrative control of area study centre from the education ministry to the foreign affairs ministry.
The centre is the need of the hour keeping in view regional as well as global circumstances, he said, as he presented a document listing the contributions of the centre in formulating foreign policy.
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Other senators endorsed Shah’s suggestions to make the centres autonomous. The education minister responded by stating, "We agree with the aims and objectives of the centre." Such area centres are also working in different provinces and are linked with universities, he said. He added that the HEC had increased their budget tenfold over the past 16 years.
He expressed his disagreement with the senator’s view, arguing that after transferring administration control to the education ministry, the performance of these centres had improved
The committee adjourned this matter till their next meeting.
Kohat varsity
Senator Shamim Afridi proposed the establishment of a separate campus for women at Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST).
The committee directed the KUST vice chancellor in this regard and sought a detailed report.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2019.
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