—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to expedite efforts to formulate a uniform syllabus and its implementation as ending educational apartheid in the country is the top priority of his government.

He gave these directions while chairing a meeting in Islamabad today (Thursday) to review progress on reforms in the education system and taking forward government's agenda in this regard.

The Prime Minister also ordered to augment efforts to implement the plan of action as decided with the seminaries to mainstream madrassahs, especially imparting modern education to their students and making them skillful.

In view of Coronavirus pandemic, Imran Khan advised to evolve a joint future strategy in consultation with the provincial education ministers regarding education and teaching process. Besides, a strategy should also be evolved to address financial difficulties of educational institutions and reservations of parents regarding fees.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the progress made so far on efforts for introducing uniform syllabus, reforms in seminaries and the higher education sector, and promoting the initiative of skillful Pakistan. It was told that a consensus curriculum has been formulated from class one to class five, which will be implemented from April next year. In addition, relevant stakeholders are being consulted to formulate the syllabus for sixth to eighth grade.

Briefing the Prime Minister on various initiatives such as tele-schooling to continue the education system despite the closure of educational institutions due to Coronavirus pandemic, Imran Khan was informed that an estimated seven to eight million students are benefiting from this facility. Besides, an e-learning portal is also being launched, while services of Radio Pakistan will be hired to educate students in remote areas of the country.

The Prime Minister directed that distance education and especially in the current situation, easy access to the teaching process from various sources should be ensured and all available means should be utilized in this regard.

The meeting was also given a detailed briefing on various initiatives to improve the education system in the country with the cooperation of international organizations.

Speaking on the issue of sub-campuses of federal universities in different provinces, the Prime Minister directed that a detailed strategy be formulated in this regard to ensure quality education and there should be no hindrance in the education of the students studying in these campuses.

Imran Khan said it is top most priority of the government and need of the hour to equip the youth with modern knowledge and prepare them to face the present and future challenges. He said the education sector is facing extraordinary challenges due to COVID-19 outbreak; however, every effort should be made to ensure that the teaching process is not affected in any way.

The Prime Minister directed to propose out of the box solutions to address the challenges being faced by the education sector so that the mission of promoting quality education and easy access to education can be taken forward while tackling these challenges.

Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mahmood, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed Shibli Faraz, Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Lt. General retired Asim Saleem Bajwa, Punjab Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun, Chairman Higher Education Commission Tariq Banuri and senior officials attended the meeting.