Recently there has been extensive deliberation and discussion around introducing a “Single National Curriculum” (SNC) throughout the country in Pakistan. This initiative took on board experts from various educational fields to develop a curriculum which can be applied all over Pakistan. It is being widely considered as a revolutionary and unprecedented step in the education sector by a government. The need for a single syllabus was spurred by the challenges faced by the country in terms of keeping its education sector up to date with the ever-changing technological front globally.

The development of SNC is being derived by key considerations like alignment with SDG-4, life-based skills, inclusive education, tolerance and empathy for different cultures/faiths, activity-based learning, analytical, critical and creative thinking and religious studies. [1]

The development of SNC is primarily spearheaded by National Curriculum Council (NCC), Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training in consultation and collaboration with Education Departments of all federating units of the country, educationists, national and international organisations etc. The groundwork done before the implementation of SNC included close alignment with international standards, including analysis of Singapore and Cambridge curriculums and learners' standards of Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. The role of Cambridge University was very vital as the first draft of the SNC was also shared with the university for suggestions.

The Institute of Educational Development of Aga Khan University was taken aboard for value-addition, development of teacher training modules and assessment framework for SNC. All the suggestions of Aga Khan University, Cambridge University and Federal bodies were collected and collated for the second draft of the SNC. In the SNC education delivery will include activity-based learning, higher order thinking, application of knowledge to real life and focus on project and inquiry and development of 21st century skills including analytical, critical and creative thinking, communication, problem solving etc.

In the first phase, the SNC will be implemented from the next academic year 2021-22 in all streams of education for the students from Grades Pre-I-V. In this initiative, Federal Minister for Education and Training, Shafqat Mehmood has announced that a uniform curriculum for primary schools (i.e. from class 1 to class 5) will be implement in the country from April 2021.

In this tweet earlier this week, Mr Mahmood said that, “Single national syllabus will apply to all schools in Pakistan. This curriculum is prepared after an unprecedented consultative process with every stakeholder. Feedbacks & suggestions are welcome.” Furthermore, the minister also announced that uniform curriculum for class 6 to class 8 would be launched in 2022 and for 9 to 12 classes in 2023. He also mentioned that pre 1-5 class curriculum is available to download from the website of ministry of education.[2]