Printing anomalies in math books confuse students

Lessons are strewn all over the book and are out of sequence

HARIPUR: Printing anomalies in the new mathematics book for Class-V have left teachers and students of government schools in Haripur district confused.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Text Book Board had changed the syllabus for schools after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government said it wanted to end the quality disparity between private and government institutions.

In this regard, teachers told The Express Tribune that the previous math book for Class-V in Urdu language had now been replaced by English versions. The new books have been printed by University Book Printers and Publishers in Peshawar.



Teachers said that while the academic session in government primary schools started in April, the education department distributed books among students in installments. The mathematics material, they said, remained difficult to get a hold of till October.

In Haripur, students and teachers said the books were distributed in the second week of November. But the books, far from being perfect, were confusing.

A teacher said that a lesson on the division of six digits numbers by two and three digits numbers started on page 12. But instead of continuing on page 13, it continues on page 77 owing to a printing mistake. The content of page 13 was from a different lesson altogether.  Likewise, page 92 of the 203-page book carries lesson 5.2.1 or “conversion of hours to minutes”. However, the page placed adjacent to it is marked as number 29 and bears lesson 4.1 (prime factorisation method).

“The lessons are incomplete and the errors have exposed us, and our students to an uncertain situation,” a primary school teacher said. He added that 20 books were distributed among his class and around half of those were marred by printing flaws.



He points out that over 10,000 students are enrolled in Class-V in the province and the majority is reportedly facing a similar problem.

The teacher complained that already the government had delivered the books eight months after the session started, and now the teachers and students have just four months to complete the syllabus.

Apart from the fact that the book has printing errors, it uses English which is far above the level students are used to at this stage. “How can our students pass their exams from a book that uses difficult English and is filled with anomalies,” another teacher said.

He adds that the language used for Islamic Studies and English textbooks is also complicated and is only comprehendible for students of the secondary and higher secondary level. He termed the syllabi a burden on students.

When approached for comments, Assistant District Education Officer (Establishment) Malik Rab Nawaz said he deals with middle and high schools and is unaware of these errors.

Meanwhile, Sub-divisional Education Officer Primary Akhtar Jadoon Haripur also expressed his ignorance over the subject. However, he added that if any books contain such errors, he would take up the matter with higher authorities and try to have the faulty books replaced.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2016.