Skip to main content

Minister wants to know causes behind delay in education policy formulation

ISLAMABAD: Interim Education Minister Madad Ali Sindhi on Friday directed the relevant wing of his ministry to look into causes that delayed preparation of the country’s education policy.



The education ministry has not introduced a new policy since 2009.



Speaking to a group of journalists, the education minister said a new education policy should be formulated.



He said after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the province also had due role in formulating national education policy, therefore, he would also take up this issue with provincial ministries.



He directed the concerned wing of the ministry to get input from provincial authorities in this regard.



“We have inter-provincial education ministries conference forum; such things should be taken up on this forum,” he said.



It is relevant to note here that the federal education ministry had not introduced a new education policy since 2009, however, a draft policy was prepared in 2016 and a national education policy framework was introduced in 2018.



After 2018 efforts were made to finalise a new policy but that could not bear fruit. Sources said there was a need to make changes to the existing policy to make it relevant and rationale.



The policy of 2009 stated that the education budget should be 7pc of the GDP, which was irrational, adding that the economic survey, which was released in June this year, had stated that the country’s education sector got only 1.7pc of the GDP last year.



Ministry officials said in the new policy the education budget should be 4pc of the GDP and there should be binding on the government to release this fund. Similarly, they said the policy should focus on sustainable development goals (SDGs), information technology, e-learning and blended learning, etc. Whereas, there should be special focus on out-of-school children (OSC) as Pakistan had over 25 million OSC – the world’s largest figure.



Earlier, the PML-N government in its tenure (2013-18) had announced on several occasions that it was going to amend the national education policy and a draft was prepared but it was never finalised.



Similarly, during PTI’s tenure, a proper policy was not finalised and only a national education policy framework was issued.



Officials of the education ministry, while referring to the draft policy, said in 2016 it was decided that nine more chapters would be added to the national policy and it would be made into a comprehensive national document.



The issue of new education policy was also highlighted in the National Assembly last year.



In reply to a question asked by MNA Shahida Rehmani, the assembly was informed by the then education minister, Rana Tanveer Hussain, that the National Education Policy 2009 was still intact and work on development of a new policy had been initiated.



“Yes, the National Education Policy [of 2009] is still intact. Work on development of a new education policy has already been initiated. In this regard, a National Education Policy Framework was also issued in 2018 where uniform education system was one of the priority areas,” the minister had stated in his response, but during his tenure, the new policy could not be issued.



Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023


http://dlvr.it/SxQjC0

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pragmatic steps taken to implement Axle Load Control regime on NH&MP

Islamabad: Ministry of Communications has taken pragmatic steps to implement the Axle Load Control regime on Motorways & National Highways in the country. Sole objective of this move is to control travelling of overloaded vehicles which lead to fatal accidents besides damaging the national asset of road network of billions of rupees.Prior to implementation of axle load control regime, a technical committee was formed, consisting of officers from Ministry of Communications and National Highway Authority which remained in constant contacts with transport community, Members of the Chambers of Commerce and stakeholders hailing from all the provinces. This technical committee visited their offices and held detailed discussions in series of meetings and took them into confidence to facilitate implementation of Axle Load Control regime. The stakeholders assured of their full cooperation and subsequently, implementation of Axle Load Control was realized which is in progress.It is worth to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

CJP questions how ‘clarification order’ made it to website

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has raised nine questions in a letter to the Supreme Court’s registrar, seeking clarification on how a Sept 14 clarification order was uploaded to the top court’s website. The Sept 14 order, issued by eight judges led by senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to implement the Supreme Court’s July 12 judgement, which declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats in parliament. In his letter dated Sept 21, the CJP wondered who directed the uploading of the Sept 14 clarification order on the Supreme Court’s website. His inquiry followed a note from the Deputy Registrar (Judicial), who flagged the issue of the order’s appearance on the website. The note questioned how the order was uploaded when no cause list had been issued, no notices had been sent to the parties, and the order had not been received by the deputy registrar’s office until 8pm on the...
Post a Comment
Read more

UN awards 2 Pakistani female peacekeepers for gender advocacy

The United Nations has awarded two Pakistani female peacekeepers with the Gender Advocacy Award for their “outstanding performance”, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. In a statement issued on Thursday, the ISPR said the awards were presented to Major Sania Safdar, part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus, and Major Komal Masood, who served in the Central African Republic, “for their outstanding performance and commitment in promoting the ideals of UN”. The accolades were presented by the under-secretary general in the UN’s Department for Peace Operations at its New York headquarters. “While serving in [an] international environment, both officers demonstrated exceptional professionalism [and] dedication,” the ISPR noted. It added that the two peacekeepers “made [a] significant contribution to Mission’s Peace and Stability efforts, especially with regards to advancing women’s meaningful participation in Peacekeeping Operations within the ...
Post a Comment
Read more