New Education Policy finalised after consultations

New Education Policy likely soon
Islamabad, Sep 4: The National Education Policy, which has been informally tabled before Cabinet on August 5, is likely to be approved in the next couple of days, sources said.

According to the sources, the Education Policy, after facing many hiccups, is now planned to be formally presented before the Cabinet as a one-item agenda in its upcoming meeting.

"It is for the first time that it would be presented as a one-item agenda unlike last time where it was presented along 32 other items which also included the bill regarding the changes in standard time," the source said.

They denied the rumours regarding the disapproval of the draft saying that the draft largely received a nod from the relevant quarters and would be approved in the next couple of days.

The draft of the policy is said to be finalised after taking consultations with four provinces, their chief ministers and the educationalists. According to the information, before the finalisation of the policy draft, a series of 23 green papers were prepared on different topics by the National Education Policy Review (NEPR) teams that were widely disseminated to stimulate discussion and get feedback.

The process included field visits to 31 representative districts, one national and seven provincial/area education conferences, 10 issue-based focused group discussions and extensive consultations with educationists from all over the country.

Previously Wafaq-ul-Madaris expressed its reservation over the draft saying that no prominent religious organisation had been taken into confidence while compiling the draft after which the ministry has included a chapter of Islamic Education after consultation with the religious stakeholders.

"We have tried our level best to satisfy all the relevant quarters but it would not be realistic to expect each and every one to be satisfied," he said.

While talking about the controversies on the proposal regarding the Madrassah Regularity Authority to be handed over to the Ministry of Interior, he said that it was the decision by the prime minister and the ministry could not do anything in this regard.

"Obviously we can't force the prime minister to take his decision back," he said while adding that the ministry would be happier if the authority was handed over to it.

He further said that the policy document was termed as "Living and adaptable" hence prone to changes at every stage and at every moment as it is clearly stated in its chapter 11 that "Implementation is conceived as a continuous process of review, implementation, monitoring, feedback and adjustments as considered and agreed necessary during the course of implementation," he said.

Ministry of Education Planning and Policy Wing Deputy Educational Advisor (DEA) T M Qureshi conceded that they were expecting the approval of policy within a week. "It is something good to hear that the draft would be presented as a one-item agenda as it never happened before," he said.

Talking about the controversy regarding Madrassah Regularity Authority he said that it was a decision taken on higher level and ministry has nothing to do with it. The news

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Transfers raise concern among teachers
Rawalpindi: Transfers by the district education department in recent days have raised concerns among the teachers who deem the move in violation of the provincial government's policy.

Punjab government lifted ban on the transfers of teachers in the same district and from one district to the other on August 10. At this, during summer vacations the teachers started visiting office of the executive district officer (EDO) education to get transferred to the place of their choice.

So far about 200 teachers have been transferred from one school to the other in Rawalpindi or accommodated in the district from other districts.

Chaudhry Saghir Alam, an office-bearer of the Punjab Teachers Association said that most of the transfer cases were being approved in violation of the policy keeping into account, he alleged, only political affiliation of the teachers.

He said a teacher could only be transferred in three cases. Firstly, he said, if he has served in one school for at least for three years, adding that many transfers had been made ignoring this rule. Secondly, the department can only change a senior teacher making presence of his substitute sure. Thirdly, teachers - both men and women - could be transferred when they are posted in any school near to the workplace of his or her spouse.

"There are examples when many teachers have been transferred to Rawalpindi city from other districts of Punjab as their spouses are working in the federal capital. In this way, seats have been occupied leaving no room for genuine cases of many teachers," he said.

In one case, a teacher has been posted on a vacant seat as the concerned teacher was on leave, Mr Alam said, terming it against the prescribed policy.

Some 300 senior school teachers have been brought to Rawalpindi depriving the local people of their right of applying for the vacant posts at their home stations, he claimed. Despite repeated attempts, EDO education Malik Muhammad Asharaf could not be contacted for his comments on the issue. Dawn

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Calligraphy show at JAG to promote Islamic art
Islamabad: The Jharoka Art Gallery (JAG) has arranged an exhibition of calligraphy coinciding with the holy month of Ramazan.

The JAG has displayed a collection of 30 calligraphic paintings by five artists featuring the medium of oil on canvas, oil on lather and constructive art. The artists include Arif Khan, Saima Ishfaq, Raheela, Hanif Khan and Qadiri.

The exquisite calligraphic works by Arif Khan reflect true Islamic spirit and his artistic ability. The artist has a unique distinction of writing the Quranic verses on leather by giving numerical shapes and geometrical motifs to his works.

Khan using the medium of leather for calligraphy has adopted the medium of oil on canvas and Wasli (handmade paper) by bringing changes in his style.

Created on Wasli, which is commonly used for miniatures, the artist has contributed his own style of carving and painting blended with calligraphic designs to give the art piece an antique touch.

Inspired by spirituality, the artist has gone a long way in developing his own style over the years.

Khan, who has used pure Islamic colours like turquoise, blue and gold, has tremendous flow of rhythm and movements in his works.

His unique style of carving on Wasli paper makes his work distinctive, and inspires people by his natural flow of Quranic script.

The fabulous art pieces of Islamic Constructive Art by Hanif Khan explore the technique of constructive art from decades.

The technique is based on the Russian idea to blend the painting and sculpture in an art form.

His work is an amalgamation of architecture, painting and carvings by using wood, paint and teracotta as a medium.

He has used geometrical motifs in paintings to give a pure Islamic look in the constructive techniques that also depict deep earth tones.

Such kind of art started in 20th century in Russia, while Hanif brought this art to Pakistan in 1988 to create the motifs in an Islamic spirit.

Besides making a blend of sculpture and painting, Hanif has also portrayed exquisite Calligraphy in his art pieces with a unique distinction.

The artist has contributed his own style of carving and oil paint on wood blended with calligraphic designs to give the art piece an antique touch.

This exhibition is the regular feature of the Jharoka Art Gallery during the holy month of Ramazan every year to project Islamic traditional arts and Muslim heritage.

It covers the aspects of reviving Islamic traditions, acknowledgement of traditional calligraphic techniques and encouraging contemporary experimentation with calligraphy. APP

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