KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged that the Federal government’s Ministry of Education & Professional Training to provide necessary clarification whether it is an adoption of the whole national curriculum or only core subjects of Single National Curriculum. “The Sindh government may adopt Single National Curriculum containing only core curriculum subjects with the minimum standards and further enrich it followed by the development of the provincial curriculum of the remaining subjects such as languages, social studies, etc.”This he said while presiding over a meeting to discuss the Single National Curriculum Plan’ of the federal government here at the CM House. The meeting was attended by Minister Education Saeed Ghani, Advisor law Murtaza Wahab, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretaries, school education and colleges, law, Dr. Fauzia, and other concerned officers and experts. Minister of Education Saeed Ghani briefing the chief minister said that a meeting was held on Single National Curriculum (SNC) by the National Curriculum Council (NCC) under Federal Minister in September 2019. In order to implement the Single National Curriculum, it was decided that developed by the Ministry of Federal Education, should be taken into consideration with the provinces through holding review workshops at the provincial level. Once approved by the provinces, this SNC will be implemented nationally, Saeed Ghani told the CM. The chief minister said that in view of the 18thAmendment, the education portfolio was delegated as a provincial subject and since then the Sindh government has worked on curriculum as part of its provincial mandate and adapted the national curriculum 2006 and revised the curriculum on the international models. Saeed Ghani said that in 2015, the Sindh government enacted the landmark legislation Sindh School Education Standards and Curriculum Act’ passed by the Sindh Assembly. He added that under the law, the Sindh Curriculum Council was established and the Bureau of Curriculum was reconstituted as Directorate of Curriculum Assessment and Research (DCAR). The approach and strategies employed by the department for review, design, and development of standards, curriculum, textbooks, and resources are underpinned by the strict quality principles which are the cornerstone of its policy, the education minister said and added the Post 18thAmendment accomplishments in the field of Curriculum and Textbooks by education dept includes, reviewed and tailor the National Curriculum and develop assessment policy and procedures for examination. He said: the policy is Sindh Education Student Learning Outcome and Assessment Framework (SESLOAF) notified in 2015. Designed a curriculum for Social Studies for Class VI through VIII using an integrated approach for all four aspects – History, Civics, Economics, Geography. They are as follows: Development of ECCE Standards, Curriculum, and its resources Redesigned and revising of English Curriculum from Pre- School to Grade XII.
Revised and redesigned the language curriculum–Sindhi & Urdu from Grade-I to V. The province has successfully revised all the textbooks from grade I to VIII, National curriculum 2006 for all the subjects from class I to X has been reviewed and curriculum for grade XI & XII is under review. The Education dept has developed Packages A, B & C for non-formal education, which is equivalent to grade I – V. Chief Minister Murad Ali said that under the 18thconstitutional amendment, Education was the provincial subject and provinces could decide on their respective curriculums. In view of the above, a summary was moved to Honorable Chief Minister, Sindh for further directions. Sindh Curriculum Council (SCC): Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that he had held a ninth meeting of the Sindh Curriculum Council (SCC) in March 2020 in which a detailed discussion regarding the implementation of Single National Curriculum was made. The meeting observed that after the 18thConstitutional Amendment, the development of curriculum and syllabus has become the responsibility of the provinces. It necessitates seeking clarification for the adoption of Single National Curriculum in the backdrop of the 81the amendment in order to avoid any compromise on the provincial autonomy. The chief minister said that the Federal Ministry of Education & Professional Training may be asked to provide necessary clarification whether it was an adoption of the whole national curriculum or only core subjects of Single National Curriculum. “The Sindh province may adopt Single National Curriculum containing only core curriculum subjects with the minimum standards and further enrich it followed by the development of the provincial curriculum of the remaining subjects such as languages, social studies, etc,” he said. The chief minister directed the education department to study and compare the curriculum of the federal government with the curriculum of the Sindh government which has been designed under the guidelines of 21stCentury Learning Skills’ and send him their recommendations. “Yes, we can adopt the portion which might be missing from our newly designed curriculum but adoption or the introduction of a new curriculum would be notified by the provincial government,” he concluded
