Changing mindsets: Teaching human rights necessary to promote peace, SHC tells govt

Federal ministry says education has devolved to the provinces.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the provincial government to take steps to include human rights as a subject in the syllabus of the secondary level public schools from 2015.

The bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab, passed this order on a petition seeking the inclusion of human rights as a subject to the schools syllabi in the province. Referring to the Supreme Court’s observations in the Karachi suo motu case, the petitioner, Zubair Ali Khaskheli, said that the court had urged concrete efforts to enforce the principles mentioned in the Constitution.

He pleaded the court direct the federal and provincial governments to include the human rights articles of the Constitution in the syllabi across the country to promote peace. The SHC had issued notices to federal and provincial law officers in the last hearing to file their comments.

Federation’s stance

Earlier, the federal government had distanced itself from the matter, when its law officer, Muhammad Ashraf Mughal, informed the judges that after education was devolved to the provincial governments, the federal education ministry was not the relevant party.

City government

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had informed the court that the city government hardly plays a role in preparing the curriculum as only 22 schools fall under its jurisdiction where the syllabus prescribed by the Sindh government was being taught.

Verdict

While giving its verdict on Tuesday, the two-judges directed the government authorities to take steps to introduce human rights as a subject in the syllabus taught at the secondary level government schools from 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2013.