Govt urged to implement SC order to develop tolerant curriculum

ISLAMABAD: The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) organised a consultative meeting where the participants raised concerns on the government’s inaction to comply with the Supreme Court order that calls for developing curriculum to promote social and religious tolerance in the country.

Peter Jacob and Dr AH Nayyar joined as keynote speakers, while educationists, religious leaders, researchers, students, political workers and rights activists across the country including Bishop Kaleem John, Brig (retd) Samson Simon Sharaf, Asiya Nasir, Rev. Irfan, Sarophina Asghar and Prof Mehrdad Yousuf contributed their perspective to make the education inclusive and equitable in Pakistan.

CSJ Executive Director Peter Jacob lamented that the federal and provincial governments were publishing textbooks under the single national curriculum in violation of the SC orders, which oblige the government to ensure adherence to Article 22 (1) of the Constitution, and prevent forced teaching of religious content, particularly in textbooks of subjects such as languages, social sciences, etc. He remarked that nearly half of the church-run schools and colleges nationalised in 1972 were still under the control of the provincial governments; therefore, the government must expedite the process, and fully implement the policy for denationalisation of educational institutions, 1984 to prevent more damage to the quality of education, caused by nationalisation of education.

An educationist and researcher, Dr AH Nayyar observed that the new textbooks developed under single national curriculum rely on rote-learning, and fail to develop critical thinking and other basic learning skills among the students.

Bishop Kaleem John emphasised that the government should adopt an effective model of education, from those applied by independent education systems in Pakistan, to improve the literacy rate, the learning and teaching standards, and the mode of examination.

Brig (retd) Samson Sharaf emphasised that the government must invest more funds and efforts to improve the quality of education particularly in rural areas, and make the curricula and education policies as well as the environment of educational institutions more inclusive.

Asiya Nasir demanded that the government needs to make education a priority, and demonstrate its solid commitment by increasing the education sector budget to at least 4% of its GDP so that the enrolment and retention of over 25 million out of school children, and improving of infrastructure of educational institutions could be made possible.

The participants agreed that the government must not finalise education policy in haste, instead it must bring all stakeholders on board, and seriously solicit the civil society input, and the views of the teachers, parents, and educationists as an aid to their efforts towards improving the standards of education in Pakistan.