Education, now a provincial subject, it is unclear what will happen to the process by which curriculums are drawn up.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to your report of September 17 titled: “Teaching students about Ranjeet or Bhagat Singh would not harm Pakistan”.
In the past, the federal education ministry’s curriculum wing was the sole arbiter of what would be included in the national curriculum. And it would be reluctant to take any suggestions from the provinces or consult members of civil society. As one would expect of a bureaucracy, there was no transparency to the whole process, which is a shame since the curriculum was taught in all government and, to some extent, private schools.
While the Eighteenth Amendment has passed and education is now a provincial subject, it is unclear what will happen to the process through which curriculums are drawn up. At the very least, the whole process should be transparent and consultative. Furthermore, the provincial textbook boards should be transformed into regulatory bodies and their operation should also be an open book (no pun intended).
Every province should have an oversight committee which should have the authority to monitor all textbooks taught in the curriculum. This body should have elected members and they should be drawn from professional fields and from civil society in general, along with representatives from the publishing sector and the government.
Aamir Riaz
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2011.
