IN line with his vision to end an educational disparity in the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the first phase of the Single National Curriculum (SNC) for students of Grade 1-v with a view to transforming the nation into a unified nation, rooted in common morals and ethos.
Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood and his entire team really deserves appreciation for achieving this milestone aimed at ending injustice and class- based education system from the country. Efforts to bring uniform syllabus were also made in the past but they remained futile.
Shafqat Mahmood really took all the stakeholders along to reach this point and we expect that Sindh will also adopt the uniform syllabus as has been done by all the other federating units.
The important aspect of this syllabus is that it is driven by key considerations such as teachings of the Holy Quran and Seerat-e-Nabwi, vision of the founding fathers and focuses on values and respect for diversity in cultures and religions.
This will help inculcate the spirit of tolerance and respect amongst our youths. Moreover, the curriculum focuses more on analytical, critical and creating thinking. Hitherto, our curriculum was promoting rote learning amongst the students. We understand that the new curriculum will take our students towards creativity which is need of the hour to make our mark in the field of science and technology.
Having said so there are certain issues in the new syllabus which need to be addressed. In our view, the science subject should be taught in English from the very beginning so that when the students proceed to the higher classes, they do not face any difficulty.
Secondly, the new textbooks are not available in the market and both the schools and students are in a state of confusion. The provincial governments must ensure timely availability of all the textbooks.
As also stated by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the uniform syllabus be implemented in higher classes as well in the minimum possible time but ensuring that it helps our youth excel in different fields.
