Revised education policy ready for approval: Lakha
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Education, Science and Technology Shamsh Kassim Lakha said Wednesday the revised draft of national education policy had been finalised and would be presented to cabinet for approval in days. In an exclusive interview with the minister said the guidelines in the previous policy had been revised with consensus of all stakeholders with an objective to make it more receptive to contemporary trends and address future challenges.
Describing the revision of the policy a crucial task on the part of of the education ministry, the minister said the draft envisioned future line of action to raise the standard of education to catch up with developed countries in terms of socio-economic development.
“To me, the good thing is, that all stakeholders including the provinces were taken on board while giving a shape to the policy, outlining more clear route to progress and prosperity through education”, the minister observed. When asked about his top priorities being a caretaker minister for education, he said he would continue the same existing policies and projects already initiated by the previous government for raising standards of education in the country. Replying to an other question, he said that he had suggested the Private Regulatory Authority to shut down those educational institutions, if they failed to qualify for the stipulated standards necessary for registration within specific time frame given as deadline for them.
The minister said that extensive programmes had been planned to train teachers and heads of educational institutions in line with present day’s requirements as he was of the view that a best teacher was not necessarily a good administrator as head of any school or college and vice versa.
The minister said that provinces were being convinced to pump more financial resources into education sector, as according to him allocation of inadequate budget for the sector, is one of the main reasons for the present poor quality of education. He said education sector, unfortunately, in the country, could not receive due attention in terms of sufficient budgetary allocation for it, thus, he added, he would make efforts to work on this front. When his comments were sought about the role of Deeni Madaris, the minister said, mostly, they were contributing invaluable services for the healthy development of the society, however, he added, there was always room for improvement.