Normal
0





false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
AR-SA













MicrosoftInternetExplorer4





























































































































































table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Whether a government terms it the Single National Curriculum (SNC) or the National Curriculum of Pakistan (NCP), both the new coalition government and the outgoing PTI regime have failed in reforming this problematic attempt at restructuring education in Pakistan. With the news that six to eight graders of schools in Islamabad were rolled into the new syllabus yesterday at the start of the new term, the government should be reconsidering its decision to implement a problematic solution.

The problem stems from the lack of groundwork in setting the curriculum—which is a complicated exercise with far-reaching consequences. In the case of the SNC (or now NPC), academics, educationists and experts alike have pointed toward the many flaws that have persisted. The quality of the new curriculum might not be poorer than the existing one in public schools, but in the past decades, private schools have certainly proven that they can do it better. Enforcing a curriculum that stands to roll back the good standards of education in the attempt to make it more equitable is an ill-thought-out approach. The goal should be to bring our standards up in public schools to be competitive with the private options, not roll back all schools so that they are similarly poor.

The new government has undoubtedly renamed the project in a bid to take ownership away from the outgoing PTI administration, but the better decision, in this case, would have been to go back to the drawing board. There is still time to make changes. The government must listen to the experts and make constructive changes before the education of more students in the new levels to be included is put into jeopardy. We will not be able to calculate the far-reaching effects of a poor educational system until much later.