Thursday, July 01, 2021
By
APP
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Web Desk

FDE to change summer vacation schedule

By
APP
|
Web Desk
|
File photo.
File photo.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training directed on Wednesday the relevant ministry to start summer vacations in federal educational institutions from July 1, as decided by the Punjab government.

During a meeting held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the committee members questioned the commencement of summer vacations in Punjab and the federation on different dates.

The committee members directed the ministry officials to inform the concerned minister about their concerns on the issue and directed that summer vacations should be announced in federal educational institutions from July 1 like Punjab.

The federal secretary for education assured that the committee's instructions would be followed.

Summer vacations for students this year have been reduced to two weeks starting from July 18 to Aug 1.

This was notified by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which supervises 423 public sector schools and colleges in Islamabad.

“Summer vacations will be observed in all educational institutions working under the ambit of Federal Directorate of Education w.e.f 18-07-2021 to 01-08-2021,” it read.

The Senate committee was briefed in detail about the working of different departments of the ministry.

The chairperson of the committee reprimanded the concerned authorities for providing incomplete details and directed them to appear before the committee with full readiness.

He said the education system in the country is in a dilapidated condition.

"It is very unfortunate that our education budget is still only two percent of our gross national income, however many countries are spending 10 percent or more of their budgets on education," he said.

The federal secretary for education told the committee that providing education in remote areas is a major challenge.

The officials of the ministry said a uniform curriculum across the country would be implemented from the new academic year.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmed asked the reason for abolishing the 18-year educational requirement for admission to PhD.

He said setting a standard of 16 years for admission to PhD would definitely affect the quality of research.

Senator Falak Naz said that internet availability in Chitral and adjoining areas is a big problem that has barred students from participating in the online learning process, started due to COVID-19. These students lagged behind in their educational life.

The committee noted that there was a lot of overlap observed in the work of many of the ministry's subsidiaries which is wasting valuable national capital with no results.

In this regard, Siddiqui constituted a three-member sub-committee to review the funds received by the departments and their performance.

The sub-committee will compile a report on the basis of which institutions can be merged to reduce the undue burden on the national exchequer.

The committee members also expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the Higher Education Commission and directed the relevant officials to submit the details of funds released to all the universities in the next committee meeting.

The chairperson of the committee, while expressing his reservations over the government ordinance regarding HEC, said that this ordinance has been brought only to remove one person from office.

He directed that immediate steps be taken to preserve endangered languages by improving the performance of the Ministry.

The members of the committee said that they should make efforts from this forum to increase the budget for education and bring the issue of the uniform curriculum in the parliament so that there should be a regular discussion on it.

The committee members asked what steps have been taken to control the unjustified fee spike by the private educational institutions in Islamabad.

Expressing displeasure, the chairperson said that there was no one to supervise the private educational institutions.

The committee members sought a detailed report on the matter from the concerned authorities in the next meeting.

The chairperson of the committee also sought details regarding the court cases pending in the subordinate bodies of the ministry.

Siddiqui directed the Lok Virsa authorities to preserve the old films and dramas of Pakistan and take steps to digitize them for public viewing.

The committee decided that in the next meeting, apart from reviewing the preliminary legal bills presented by the Senate, the issues of HEC would also be discussed in detail.

The committee also decided that uniform curriculum and other related issues would be discussed.

Apart from the Ministry of Education, organizations of religious madrassas will also be given ample opportunity to present their viewpoints in the discussion.

The meeting was attended by Senators Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Fauzia Arshad, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, Engineer Rukhsana Zubair, Shaheen Khalid Butt, Falak Naz, Mushtaq Ahmed and Maulvi Faiz Mohammad besides senior officials of the concerned ministry.