ABSTRACT

This thesis employs qualitative research technique and exploratory research design to compare the quality of education in public and private schools of Islamabad, existing in same localities with similar socio-economic profiles. It intends to examine the teaching methodologies, broadly categorized into teacher-centered vs. student-centered pedagogical approaches, across public and private schools of the capital city that influence the ‘fair, equal, and high-quality education’ objective of the Single National Curriculum. The study has been developed through content analysis of SNC to identify its objectives and the certain obstacles it has faced during its earliest rounds of implementation in achieving the goal of ‘uniform education for all.’ Through teacher’s semi-structured interviews and the class observations of public and private schools of primary level in Islamabad, the paper finds out that the differences in teaching approaches is the main reason hindering the achievability of uniform education system and equal, quality education across all the sectors. Based on the result of the study, this research ends on a recommendatory note by emphasizing on capacity building of the teaching staff and also suggested improvement in the physical infrastructure of schools, especially in case of public schools, in order to meet the objectives envisaged by the SNC. Findings from this research will help policy makers in educational sector to prioritize their efforts to focus more on pedagogical approaches which are most important for achieving uniform and quality education for everyone and will also help in future for better implementation of SNC.