Pakistani PM rolls out ‘single national curriculum’ despite educationists’ concerns

Students attend their class at a school in Rawalpindi on June 7, 2021. (AFP)

• PM Khan has vowed to recast education system so private and public schools and religious seminaries follow uniform curriculum
• Critics question if new curriculum will boost learning, worry about increase in religious education at mainstream schools

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday rolled out its single national curriculum (SNC), paving the way for what his government says will be a “uniform” system of education in the country.
Since coming to power in 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he would recast the education system to ensure that private and public schools and religious seminaries followed a uniform curriculum. The aim, as the education ministry has argued, was a system under which “all children have a fair and equal opportunity to receive high quality education.”
But educationists and critics of the policy have questioned whether it would boost learning practices and outcomes and raised concerns about an increase in religious education at mainstream schools.
“It was my vision for the past 25 years that one day our core syllabus in Pakistan would be the same,” Khan said at the launch ceremony in Islamabad, adding that the task had seemed “impossible” because privileged segments of society did not want the status quo to change.
The 0.8 million children at Pakistan’s English medium schools, 30.25 million at Urdu medium schools and 2.5 million at religious seminaries, Khan said, had an entirely different culture and way of thinking, almost as if they lived in “different countries.”
Education minister Shafqat Mahmood said the government had now developed a national curriculum and modern text books but would, with an “open heart” look into criticism and comments of the new policy.
A day earlier, the minister had said action would be taken against schools that did not implement the national curriculum.
On March 20, 2021, 140 human rights activists, parents and educationalists signed an open letter to PM Khan, saying choosing the kind of education parents wanted for their children was a “fundamental human right.”
Many education experts also fear the new curriculum will perpetuate rote learning and crush creativity in a country where access to education is a huge problem — 22.8 million of Pakistan’s over 70 million children are out of school, according to UNICEF.
Experts say a big part of the problem is the quality of teaching at Pakistani schools, rather than the curriculum or a dearth of finances.