KABUL - A revised curriculum was handed over on Sunday to chancellors of universities in Kabul and provinces, the higher education minister said.

The Higher Education Ministry says the new curriculum will be effective from first semester and a credit system is being introduced at all higher education institutions.

Currently, the country lacks a uniformed syllabus and the credit system is in place at only a few universities.

Higher Education Minister Obaidullah Obaid told a press conference in Kabul that the new curriculum had been prepared keeping in view contemporary requirements.

“With the help of respected teachers and experts, a standard curriculum has been prepared in order to improve the teaching capacity,” Obaid said. Calling the new syllabus a big achievement, the minister said private sector universities could also adopt it.

He said his ministry had long been endeavoring to come up with a curriculum which could resolve existing problems and silent critics.

He said the curriculum would be implemented unanimously in the country’s 23 universities and other higher education institutes to replace the old syllabus.

He said another advantage of the new curriculum was that it could be enforced through cooperation between universities.

University chancellors and teachers expressed their pleasure over the introduction of the new curriculum, hoping the measure would help address students’ demands.

Kabul University chancellor Prof. Habibullah Habib said the new curriculum would have a positive impact on teaching methods and would give trust to universities. He said a uniformed curriculum could help promote cooperation among universities.

Prof. Shah Mohammad Bismal, the Kabul Polytechnic Institute’s chemistry faculty head, said the new curriculum for the faculty had been prepared in cooperation with Slovakia and Ukraine.

He believed the effectiveness of the new curriculum lied in training to teachers. He said some teachers from the chemistry faculty had been sent to the two countries for training in this regard.

He said some changes have been brought to parts of subjects in the new curriculum and similarly, a credit system was being introduced. (Pajhwok)