Single national curriculum and policy implementation
- Sheikh Abdur Rehman 23100194
- Aug 7, 2021
- 2 min read
For the past few days, my mother and I were looking for schools for my younger brother. We also met with the administration of those schools and had a look at their curriculums. Some of the "really good schools" of Lahore had teachers who do not have the proper training to train 10-year old for their professional and moral life. Moreover, some schools follow the Oxford books (which have great content, no doubt), and some schools are using a mix of Oxford and PTB. Some schools are not even following the rules and are teaching only with the PTB syllabus.
Then we visited the book shops which were selling the coursebooks and copies for those. My mother asked the shopkeeper why the schools are not following the same curriculum. One school is teaching this book, and another school is teaching that book. To which he replied, "baji, in schools ko jab jurmana (fine) Hoga to ye pese de kr case band krwa dein ge." My take on this is that why the government does not take strict actions against such schools! The government has made a policy, but how long it will take to implement that policy. Is it that difficult? or is the government also involved in it.
There was another point in my mind relating to policy implementation: teachers should be given proper training on the national level, especially for junior schools. This should have been a part of SNC training where teachers can be taught about basic etiquettes needed to convey to the students. How to give mutual respect to the fellows. They should be taught about consent and every sensitive topic. The teachers, in turn, will teach this to the students to ensure a safe future for anyone in society irrespective of their gender. In my opinion, this policy should be added to the program, and measures should be taken to implement it.
Let me know what do you all think about it.
I think Dr. Maryam Chughtai has mentioned this in a few interviews that work has been done on teacher training instructions as well, because the kind of standards the SNC is set out to meet, curriculum alone cannot get us there. Relevant and improved teacher training is on their list as well. As for your comment about conformity to the curriculum, I think Dr. Hoodboy has voiced out this critique regarding how SNC will destroy the little amount of critical thinking and quality education we see in private institutions in Pakistan today. This is quite concerning for a lot of other educationists as well as parents who want to be able to choose the kind of education their children receive…
It is very important to include teacher training in policy reccomendation as we often forget how important a teachers influence is one students minds,especially talking about basic manners and respecting others opinions as well as asking for consent. If basic etiquette is not taught to students then they will not develop into good human beings.Well thought out and well presented ideas
Thank you for sharing your personal experience. But, for the policy recommendation, I have disagreement to the part that teachers should be given training. As we discussed it in class, these teachers have been trained hundreds of times, but still it does not work because only training cannot change things, specially in a conservative society like ours where teachers also come in schools with their mindsets and they try to impose it on children.
I totally agree with your last point that the teachers must be given training to deal with younger students. This is because the whole base of their educational carrier lies in the hands of the teachers. So, if the teachers are negligent enough to play a role in the nourishment of the students at early ages, then the student might never have a strong hold in education concepts in their later years of education.
Also, the SNC lacks implementation as many of the private institutions would NEVER agree to change their syllabus unless the state intervenes itself.
I agree. SNC is partly a hoax due to detrimental scientific and thought advancing sentiment of public. More needs to be done in the area of public policy of education for better teacher training sessions.