ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has formally asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and chief ministers of the four provinces to make constitutional history of Pakistan a compulsory subject “to inculcate an understanding and commitment to the Constitution”.

In separate letters written to the prime minister and the chief ministers, the chairman said: “Steps may be taken for incorporation of the constitutional history of Pakistan in the curriculum of all federal and provincial educational institutions up to the intermediate level.”

Mr Rabbani said the decision had been taken in the light of a discussion held during the Senate sitting on April 13 in which parliamentary leaders and members had agreed to make “constitutional history” a compulsory subject in educational institutions of the country.

The issue came under discussion when senators observed April 10 as the Constitution Day to commemorate the passage of the Constitution in 1973.

In the letters, copies of which were released to media by the Senate Secretariat on Saturday, Mr Rabbani said: “In the Senate sitting held on April 13, an hour [long] discussion was held on the Constitution of Pakistan. During the discussions, parliamentary leaders and members were of the opinion that the constitutional history of Pakistan should be made a compulsory subject in all educational and training institutions to inculcate an understanding and commitment to the Constitution.”

The chairman in his letter to the premier said: “The Senate is conscious of the fact that education is a devolved subject and curriculum and syllabus are no longer in the federal domain after the omission of the Concurrent List from the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution.

“In view of the above, the Senate proposes that steps may be taken for incorporation of the constitutional history of Pakistan as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of all federal educational institutions up to the intermediate level.”

Similarly, in his letters to the chief ministers, the chairman called for incorporation of the constitutional history of Pakistan as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of all provincial educational institutions.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2015

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