Confusion looms as Saeed Ghani changes Sindh's academic calendar

Textbooks will not be available until at least two months into the new session

KARACHI: The abrupt change of the 2020-2021 academic calendar and the decision to shift the new session from July to April 15 has left educational institutions scrambling to figure out their plans.

Last year, the former provincial education minister, Sardar Shah, had decided that the academic session would begin in July. Now, though, the newly appointed Sindh Education Minister, Saeed Ghani, has changed the dates, propelling the educational system towards some major issues, while students and teachers are left to deal with the impact.

The first of the problems is the provision of textbooks. The change in the calendar has not simply meant that the school year starts earlier - it comes with the fact that it is practically impossible for the market to provide textbooks to students more than a month and half before their previously scheduled supply.

If the decision of the education steering committee is implemented, students of grades 1 to 10 would be forced to go to schools without the learning materials they need. These children will have to spend their entire summer break as well as three months of their academic session without their books, if the session commences according to the new schedule.

Prior to the start of the academic session, the Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) has to publish and provide over 30 million books for both private and public schools. This process is made even more difficult by court orders that have resulted in a change in the scheme of studies for grades 9 and 10, with students having to study all the science subjects in both years. As a result, some books are being published in line with the new syllabus while others are being published in accordance with the old syllabus for both classes.

The STBB has been making its preparations for the publication of the textbooks with July 1 in mind as the commencement date for the new academic session. The change in date has thrown their plans into upheaval.

The matter is further complicated by the fact that the school education department offers free textbooks to millions of public school students - and it requires two months to distribute them in each public school on the basis of enrollment.

It is pertinent to mention here that when a decision is made regarding a change in the curriculum, calendar or textbooks, it is normally to be implemented in the next academic year. However, in Sindh, the change in the educational calendar has been implemented mid-way through the ongoing year, resulting in massive confusion amongst the students due to the shortage of books.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, STBB chairperson Agha Sohail explained that the board could not provide books to the schools or the market within a month under any condition. "The scheme of studies has already been changed in Sindh, and because of this, the textbooks of a few subjects have been printed in two different versions," he added.

He maintained that the board had made its preparations before the abrupt change of the academic calendar and would only receive the books from the publishers in May, after which they would be distributed to schools.

Sohail further claimed that despite alerting the education minister about the unavailability of textbooks if the session began in April, little heed was paid to the problem, with Ghani simply instructing them to try to deal with the matter. "How would it be possible?" he questioned.

Mixed-up exam schedules

Another problem that has arisen as a result of the shift is the confusion about examinations for grades 6 to 8. With schools shut down across the province for over two weeks in a bid to control the spread of coronavirus, these examinations could not be conducted on time.

They cannot be held when schools reopen after the closure either, since hundreds of secondary schools have been designated as examination centres for students of grades 9 and 10 - where the testing is to begin on March 16, the very day that schools are to resume their operations, and will not end until April 2.

If the younger students have their exams after the matric exams, they will not be able to obtain their results until after the new session begins, leaving the question of their promotion to the next grade hanging in the balance. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2020.