Officials say government first needs to employ qualified teachers. PHOTO: ONLINE
PESHAWAR:
Imran Khan’s dream of introducing a uniform curriculum for all schools remains a distant reality.
Officials of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education department say working group meetings were held in Lahore and group members have been trying to formulise a system, but it is difficult to introduce a uniform syllabus in all schools. This may only remain Imran’s dream, said an official familiar with the matter.
“The problem is the lack of qualified teachers. If the PTI still intends to bring the syllabus taught in private schools to government institutes, they first need to have qualified teaching staff,” said a department official.
A uniform education system is part of the PTI’s six-point education policy. The policy also envisages an increase in the education budget, increasing adult literacy and teacher training.
“The government also needs to provide students attending a public school the same environment being offered to students in a private school,” he added.
In addition to recruiting better teachers, it is equally important to ensure they are showing up at work and are not found absent from duty, he said. Improving the quality of the education system is a good initiative being undertaken by the government, but they should also consult the private sector, he added.
Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Muhammad Atif said this is a long process that will be implemented gradually and sequentially. “The process will start from teachers who will be trained at separate training centres.”
Atif pointed out both government and private schools follow the same syllabus for class 9 and 10. “Why can’t it be the same for 5th and 8th,” he said. “Things will gradually start improving and we will achieve our target once they start teaching the syllabus private schools are following in government schools as well,” he claimed.
The minister disclosed the government is planning to put in place an assessment system and set up a separate department to assess students from grade 5 to 8. “The government admits the standard of education in public schools is lower than private ones, but with sincere efforts, the quality can be brought up to par,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2013.
COMMENTS (19)
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ET’s biased criticism but good for PTI to remember their key objectives in KP.
the biggest threat to changing a system is our mindset. if we cant change our mindset, we start criticizing people who have changed their mindset.
@Fiz Shocked at your lack of knowledge. Both the public schools (funded by the govt) and the private schools in UK teach the same syllabus. GCSE's and A-Levels are EXACTLY the same in both types of schools. The only differences are the level of facilities and general panache ( I my self went abroad for my GCSE's, A-Level and then UNI). I saw their systems very closely. Students in both sorts are given equal opportunity in university and later on in professional life. Just to bring it to your knowledge since the past 3 years the results of public sector schools have been much better then those of private schools leading to a debate in the parliament that the examinations have become easy (govt's reply to that is that the level of teaching in public schools have been increased dramitacally since the past 10years). Mis conceptions in this country be it just this topic or anything else have basically flawed our minds and we tend to accept what we hear from others. My suggestion to IK: already govt employed teachers are being paid to much. Kick them out, replace them with trained teachers. Gather help and resources from Mr Kasuri / beacon house. Yet at the same time setup training centers for teachers acquiring help locally and from the likes of British council and with 5-10 years you'll have same syllabi in both forms of schools competing with each other at par,
The School text books published under 2006 text book policy have numerous mistakes and in some topics of science subjects the contents have no relevance with the topics.Moreover, in the assignment parts of English reading books for class IX and X Literary Forms have been introduced instead of ordinary vocabulary items. Likewise, some material from master level course of Applied Linguistics and Stylistics has been included instead of traditional grammer. Senior faculty members of schools and colleges and representatives of KP Publishers Association have held a number of meetings with the Provincial Education Minister to carry out the necessary corrections in the existing syllabus but he showed no seriousness in this regard. Then how can one expect the introduction of uniform syllabus from the incompetent ruling class and disinterested bureaucracy of KP
if some private schools can do it why not our govt schools please just hires the good teachers based on merit every thing will be allright.
@Lubna: Yes. The difference comes in implementation. My point is when they can't ensure it here how can they do it in Pakistan. Hence the gap will always remain.
@ET Please stop this biased reporting. Put your editorial agenda aside & start doing your job objectively. How many similar stories have you guys published about performance of other provinces & center?
The idea of having same curriculum is practical, I think. But we need resources and the most important thing the decision makers and authorities have to be visionary and educationist. We can do it gradually in phases. Intensive teacher training and language development will be required initially. A lot has to be done in this field in fact.
@Fiz: Ever heard of the National Curriculum in the UK? It is the basic standard that EVERY school has to follow here by law.
Reality now sets in after the ELECTIONS. Promises made during elections now find stumbling blocks. Feeding the masses with promises is just an election ploy. Once in power a whole lot of excuses arise. Mr. Khan the clock is ticking and three months after elections is nearing it's targeted date. It is time for the PTI to account to the public truthfully.
@fiz;
Dear brother/sister; in Ireland/UK, though cost,sports,extracurricular activities and social environment is different, but academic standard/curriculum is same in private and national schools
To materialize IK dream of uniforming the school syllabus, KPK govt. needs to conduct intensive testing to spot the incompetent and inapt teachers and show home them. Recruit fresh, able and young teaching staff purely on merit basis to replace them and continue teachers-testing system once a year.
@Fiz: But UK is not an example to follow my dear.
now make it happent PTI. hahahaha. did they really thought that it will happent without all the preconditions which they have not thought of obviously?. May Allah save us from leaders like him.
LOL.. I mean seriously.. A Minister is insisting that they 'll implement uniform Education system in KPK but ET sees it as a distant dream.. Ya ALLAH!
When you keep trying, nothing is far from reality. ET please be moderate.
One thing I don't understand. From where IK has got this idea of uniform curriculum for all schools. Even in UK there are two parallel systems. Public school system- for common man which is run and funded by the Gov. The other one is private school system- for elite and rich. Its a commom knowledge here that private school students fair much better in GCSE & A Levels and hence stand a better chance of being accepted in the Universities. As in everywhere,students of private school look down upon the students of gov. school. Class difference is very much evident here also.
the public sector teachers are drawing heavy salaries as compared to private school teachers who even don't get salaries during vacations and they don't have job security. But since the private school teachers have no job security, they work harder. One reason public sector teachers can't teach the private schools' syllabus despite their higher salaries is that no merit is followed in hiring public sector teachers.
It will take some time but if ET can stop its biased reporting than a lot will be better