‘Decision to revert academic session after consensus by all provinces’
By Mona Khan

Islamabad—The Federal Minister for Education Dr. Shamsh Kassim Lakha has stated that the decision on reverting to the previous academic years would be taken after the consensus of all the four provinces and till then existing academic session would continue to be in practice. He was talking to media persons here in Islamabad after chairing Inter Provincial Education Ministers (IPEM) meeting which was held in Karachi on Monday and participated by the Education Ministers of all the four provinces.
The Federal Education Secretary Mr. Jehangir Bashar, Education Secretaries of the four provinces, AJK and FANA and other senior officers from Ministry of Education and other Education Departments were also present during the meeting.
Keeping in view the concerns and presentations made by representatives of the four provinces, AJK and FANA on the issue of academic session, Dr. Shamsh K-Lakha said that instead of taking some decision in haste, a scientific study is needed to be carried out and in the light of such findings the decision would be made by the upcoming elected government. The Minister however appreciated the firm commitment and resilience shown by the participants to promote education in their respective areas.
Earlier during the IPEM meeting, the matter of starting the academic session from August or from April came under thorough discussion and detailed deliberations were made by the participants on switching over to the previous calendar starting from April or continuing with the existing academic schedule starting from August.
The Education Minister Sindh, Mr. Shujaat Ali Baig presented the proposal of the Sindh Education Department to revert back to the earlier practice of starting the academic session from April, in the wake of a study made by his Department and some representations made to him by some stakeholders including private sector.
After detailed discussions it was agreed that at the time of taking the final decision, in case of reverting back to the previous schedule; at least two considerations would be certainly kept in view. Firstly, immediate switching over to previous schedule from April 2008, the students might face a loss of 47 study days. Secondly, new books are being prepared in line with new curricula. In case of taking decision to start the session from April 2008, the textbooks may not be ready. Hence, it was unanimously decided that till a final decision by the next IPEM is made, the existing academic session would continue to be practiced.
The meeting also discussed the status of preparation of new textbooks where it was agreed that every effort will be made to prepare the books on time. The meeting also reviewed the utilization status of funds released during phase-I of President’s Education Sector Reforms (PESR) and preparation of Action Plan for PESR phase-II.