Sindh opposes Islamabad’s move to adopt single national school curriculum
Minister says provinces have right to teach about regional history and culture
Karachi: The Sindh government has opposed the move of adopting a single national-level curriculum in the country while stating that Islamabad’s latest move has negated the right of the provinces, as enshrined in the Constitution, to exercise their own will to educate the children.
“This move of the federal government is tantamount to imposing martial law in the field of curriculum,” said Sindh Education and Culture Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah. He was talking to media persons a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan launched in Islamabad the first phase of the Single National Curriculum for Class 1 to 5 to end disparity in the education sector of Pakistan.
The Sindh Education Minister told media persons that education and curriculum were provincial subjects as per the Constitution of the country.
He said the federal government lacked the constitutional authority to adopt a curriculum and impose it in the provinces. “Taking such a step means denying a constitutional right to the provinces,” Shah said.
He said the provinces possessed the constitutional right of adopting curriculum for their students and also to make the decision to choose a language as the medium of instruction in the schools.
He said the provinces did have the right to teach the children about the regional history, culture, and notable personalities.
He said the province of Punjab shouldn’t have been deprived of the right to teach its children about well-known characters of the region like Baba Bulleh Shah.
The Education Minister said the intellectuals of other provinces should have protested that this vital right of the provincial governments shouldn’t have been negated.
“I met Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, who is truly a learned person, when I was the provincial Education Minister in the previous tenure as I advised him that he shouldn’t show haste in adopting the national-level curriculum,” he said.
He said the latest single national curriculum was not acceptable to the provincial government as it had been adopted without the consent of Sindh.
He said it was possible that the provinces after due deliberations could agree to adopt a uniform curriculum for Science subjects but for general knowledge subjects like the Social Studies and History the provinces should remain independent to adopt their own syllabus.
The Sindh Education Minister said he was open to hold discussions with the federal educational authorities on the need to adopt a single national-level curriculum.
“But everyone should keep in mind that Pakistan is a federation as it should be run like a federation by taking care of the rights of the provinces,” he added.