PR No. 227 State Minister met with the Dr. Babar and his delegation of Low Cost Private Schools Association (ICT) to discuss “Nazra Quran in Schools” today. Islamabad: June 30, 2016.

This association represents 700 private low cost schools of ICT. Representatives from Global School System, Kainat School System, Kids City High School, Qazi Foundation, Faisal Model School, Modern Education School, and Al Sufa Grammar School were present in the meeting.

            Minister of State welcomed and congratulated the representatives of schools which are imparting education among the children of Pakistan. He said knowledge and character building both are essential for the education of a child. And best character building can be done through “The Quran” only. He said that he needs cooperation from them to implement this decision of introducing “Nazra Quran” in their schools with their consent and consultation. CADD has already implemented it in principles in all public schools of ICT and NCC (National Curriculum Council) is already reviewing it. Next step would be to place it in front of parliament to make it a law which would be applicable all over Pakistan. He further added that many sects and renowned scholars and muftis like Mufti Muneeb Rehman and Mohsin Naqvi have already endorsed it. It has also been presented to Council of Islamic Ideology.

Nazra Quran from class 1 to class 5  (Noorani Qaida in class 1, 2 Siparas in class 2, 6 Siparas in class 3, 10 siparas in class 4, and 12 siparas in class 5) will be introduced in schools. And translation of Quran will be taught from class 6th to class 12th. Minister of State suggested dedicating 15 to 20 minutes of Islamiyat class for this purpose. ILM Foundation of Karachi has developed books along with the teachers’ guide for this purpose, which is very easy to comprehend. Many of the schools have already started teaching those books in their schools. These books are divided in 7 levels, first 5 levels include those Surahs in which some incidents are mentioned in Quran and last 2 levels will have those Surahs in which Aihkamaats/orders are mentioned.

            Minister of State also met with the delegation of National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG) today. The delegation included Umbreen Arif (Co Chair, World Bank), Vibeke Jensen (Co Chair, UNESCO), Ali (World Bank), and Zafar Hayat (UNESCO).

The basic agenda of the meeting was to create synergy among the donor partners and the Government. The issues that need to be focused on are policy issues, technical and vocational training with Public Private Partnership, Early Childhood Education, Non Formal Education and SDGs 4.

 

Ministry of Federal Education is fully aware of the importance of ECED and has allocated adequate resources for its promotion in Pakistan. In this context, a three days International Conference has been planned in the month of November 2016 in Islamabad to bring the ECED in the forefront of National agenda. Regarding the progress on the Education Policy 2016, it was highlighted that 18 experts are engaged by the Federal Ministry of Education who are working on it. By the mid of next month the first draft of the policy will be available which will be shared with the provinces for a debate and will be uploaded on the Ministry’s website for general public’s input. Ms Jensen told about the progress on SDGs 4 consultations, which were held in all provinces. Other issues like differences in data collection and test results were also discussed in the meeting.

            Ambassador of Romania H.E Mr. Emilion Ion made a courtesy call on to Minister of State Engr Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman later in the day.

            I am glad to inform you that we have drafted a proposal for the Minister of State for Federal Education Pakistan to visit Romania and discuss education related things with the Romanian Education Minister, said H.E Mr. Emilion Ion. He added that as discussed in the last meeting, mutual agreements between Pakistan and Romania are to be revived; we are looking forward to host officials from Government of Pakistan so that a strong bond can be created between the two. Minister of State said that we have already got some solid proposals for collaboration with Romania, and we will soon draft a proposal in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will share it soon with the Romanian counterparts.

Meetings were attended by the Additional Secretary Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik and Joint education Advisor Rafiq Tahir.

PREVIOUS NEXT