The Punjab Education Department on Thursday organized National Dialogue and Book-Launch Seminar on Education Policies in Pakistan; Politics, Projections, and Practices in Rawalpindi.
The seminar was organized in collaboration with Oxford University Press at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU).
Dean Faculty of Education Dr Malik GhulamBehlolshared major challenges on various aspects of educational policies in Pakistan from 1947-2022.
The debate included discussion on single national curriculum (SNC), HEC graduation and Ph.D. policy, literacy and primary education, madrassa education, language policy and medium of instruction, curricula and textbooks, and the sociopolitical context of the education policies and plans.
Concomitantly, the momentous problems of massive borrowing by ignoring the contextual realities, poor implementation mechanism, skimpy financing of the education sector, lacking clarity in the vision and direction of education, the conundrum of the medium of instruction, and lack of evidence-based decision making was also discussed in the national dialogue.
Dr Waqar Ali discussed the socio-political context of the education policy in Pakistan and highlighted the policies are lacking direction in context to the medium of instruction, vision about Pakistan as theoretical and liberal state.
IIUIPresident Dr Jumani emphasized that the problem of uniform curriculum provision could not be resolved by a single national curriculum without providing equal and justified human and material resources across Pakistan.
AIOU Acting VC Dr NasirMehmood suggested that HEC must include university faculty in the formulation of PHD and graduation policies.
“We need to provide space for institutional freedom and open dialogue among the academia,” he added.
FJWUVice-Chancellor Dr Saima Hamid highlighted that the discussion must reach to conclusions by working on the policy briefs for submission to HEC and the National Planning Commission of Pakistan for bridging the gaps in the adjustment in the given policy documents. She also admired the efforts of the department of education for organizing the national dialogue that is very much needed.
