The provincial cabinet recently approved the Single National Curriculum (SNC) for Punjab, following which Minister for Schools Education Dr Murad Raas announced that the new curriculum would be implemented in phases starting from school year 2021.
He also said that SNC implementation is a national responsibility and it was not designed to limit the number of organizations or stakeholders but to bring them under a framework. The federal government had announced to implement a uniform curriculum for public and private schools across the country.
It is worth mentioning that on October 29 the senate was informed that the National Curriculum Council (NCC) had initiated coordination with all provinces and other relevant stakeholders for SNC development. Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood had highlighted that the first SNC draft for Class I to V was developed and shared with all the provinces/areas and the Cambridge University for their input and feedback.
He had added that the input received from all federating units, FGEIs, Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development and Cambridge University were then collated and consolidated in the second draft of the SNC. This formed the basis for discussions and consensus building during the National Conference on SNC that led to the final draft of the curriculum. In view of the coronavirus pandemic and the second wave, the academic session was changed by the federal government.
At Punjab level, the academic session which would normally start from March 1, would now begin from August 1 and the SNC implemented from January 1 would be applicable from August 1. In this backdrop, the government has eight months to prepare for the effective implementation of the uniform curriculum; the preparation of textbooks by the province is expected start from January.
To add context, it is worth noting that 25 curricula were developed by the private education sector on its own which is not available in the market and only available in their respective schools. To address these concerns, Federal Minister Shafqat Mahmood had asserted that a separate policy is being formulated for Ordinary and Advance Levels schools. “This pattern is still into consideration as it consists entirely of foreign curriculum.
” On the other hand, an educationist, Qazi Muhammad Naeem, said that a uniform national curriculum is the best decision undertaken by the government. “It not only widen the knowledge base but also create a competitive atmosphere in the public and private education sector on an equal basis,” he hoped. Speaking to The Express Tribune students Mohsin, Mohammad, Athar, Hussain and others were concerned that the teachers did not receive the outline of SNC rendering them hesitant of the new curriculum.
The government has proposed to implement the curriculum in three phases starting from school year 2021. In 2022, SNC would be implemented for classes 6-8 and then the next year for classes 9-10. Thus by 2023, the latest curriculum would be fully in place for classes 1-10 resulting in education equality in the public and private educational institutes.
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