Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training, Engnr. Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman was Chief Guest at the book launch ceremony of “Samajyat”–a model textbook of Social Studies – arranged by the Organization for Research and Education (ORE) at Islamabad Hotel, here on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister congratulated ORE on contributing towards a useful and most desired subject of social and ethical studies. He said that the topic of ethical behavior and character building was very close to his heart. “In the contemporary times where there is abundance of information available on the internet, to help our children sift out useful information, imparting ethical learning, behavioral training and character building in our conventional education apparatus is indispensible”, he said. Minister said that the book will be a useful source of reference and guidance for the government in its desire to impart teaching of social and ethical conduct in the new curriculum and thereby emphasize soft aspects of education in teaching.
Talking about the initiatives of the present government, Minister said that government has put great emphasis on curriculum review and development and established National Curriculum Council that also provides support to provinces in this endeavor. He said that though post devolution, education was largely the responsibility of provincial governments yet Federal government is very keen to provide all-out support for this national objective. “Federal Government reactivated the forum of Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference to discuss mutual issues and work out way forward; so far nine conferences have been held which were quite fruitful”, he said. “We have been able to define minimum educational standards in seven broad areas in collaboration with provinces”. Minister said that schools in Islamabad have been modernized and quality of education and infrastructure has been improved to a great extent. He said that the overall rate of improvement in education indicators released in the recent statistics is encouraging; however PML(N) government in Punjab has performed better than other provinces.
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