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Revised national education policy ready for approval: Lakha
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29, 2007: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Shamsh Kassim Lakha said
Wednesday the revised draft of national education policy had been finalised and
would be presented to cabinet for approval in days.
In an exclusive interview the minister said the guidelines in
the previous policy had been revised with consensus of all stakeholders with an
objective to make it more receptive to contemporary trends and address future
challenges.
Describing the
revision of the policy a crucial task on the part of of the education ministry,
the minister said the draft envisioned future line of action to raise the
standard of education to catch up with developed countries in terms of
socio-economic development.
"To me, the good
thing is, that all stakeholders including the provinces were taken on board
while giving a shape to the policy, outlining more clear route to progress and
prosperity through education", the minister observed.
When asked about
his top priorities being a caretaker minister for education, he said he would
continue the same existing policies and projects already initiated by the
previous government for raising standards of education in the
country.
Replying to an
other question, he said that he had suggested the Private Regulatory Authority
to shut down those educational institutions, if they failed to qualify for the
stipulated standards necessary for registration within specific time frame given
as deadline for them.
The minister said
that extensive programmes had been planned to train teachers and heads of
educational institutions in line with present day's requirements as he was of
the view that a best teacher was not necessarily a good administrator as head of
any school or college and vice versa.
The minister said
that provinces were being convinced to pump more financial resources into
education sector, as according to him allocation of inadequate budget for the
sector, is one of the main reasons for the present poor quality of
education.
He said education
sector, unfortunately, in the country, could not receive due attention in terms
of sufficient budgetary allocation for it, thus, he added, he would make efforts
to work on this front.
When his comments
were sought about the role of Deeni Madaris, the minister said, mostly, they
were contributing invaluable services for the healthy development of the
society, however, he added, there was always room for improvement.
Replying to a
question, he said that it had been decided in consultation with provinces that
number of examination boards should not narrowed down in the country, however,
these would be sharing responsibilities by conducting examination in one
subject, each. Regarding the provision of facilities to educational
institutions, the minister said that the project was successfully going ahead
with its concrete results and 70 per cent survey work had been completed, in
this regard.
To a question, he said whether it had good results or otherwise but it had been decided in
consensus with the provinces to hold separate examination for Class IX and
X.
He said that a wrong impression was being created that with introduction of English as a
compulsory subject from class I would overshadow the importance of Urdu.
As a matter of fact, the minister added, the Urdu was being given due importance, regarding as
a national language.
The minister said that the revised curriculum, addressing all contemporary and future challenges
would be implemented from next year as announced earlier, adding new quality
textbooks were being prepared to make full use of it.
Cognizant of the
fact that education played pivotal role in the country's development, he said,
the government was committed to vigorously carry forward its agenda for
improving the quality of education to achieve national prosperity. APP
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