Matric, Inter students unclear about syllabus

Pandemic disrupts academic schedule for third year

More than four million students of matriculation and intermediate classes in Punjab are awaiting the announcement of the academic schedule and syllabus for the coming year.

The delay in announcement of the details for the academic session has caused confusion among the students, teachers and parents.

The Inter-Boards Committee of Chairpersons also appears to be looking towards the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to clarify the situation.

After the three earlier waves of coronavirus disrupted the last two academic sessions, the fourth wave of the pandemic is once again haunting the education sector.

The educational institutions in Punjab were shut to prevent the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, the system of online education also appears to have been neglected.

In particular, students of grades 10 to 12 are facing uncertainty as the schools and colleges are scheduled to reopen on Wednesday as per NCOC instructions but the education department has not even decided about the extent of the syllabus to be taught this year.

In view of the time lost due to the pandemic, the authorities may decide to cover a portion of the syllabuses for the year, try to teach all the topics in the remaining months or take the annual exams from a shorter syllabus prepared on an emergency basis.

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The teachers have only five months left during the academic session to complete the syllabus set for eight months under normal circumstances.

The government had decided to start the academic session from August 1 instead of April, but the secondary education boards in the province are likely to schedule the annual examinations in March next year.

The inter-boards committee did not include the issue in the agenda of its recent meeting.

The registration of students of matric and intermediate classes has been scheduled according to the dates set previously, which shows that the annual examinations will begin in March.

A school student in Lahore said while speaking to The Express Tribune that the classes had not begun but there was no indication of a delay in the exams. He said the students might get insufficient time to prepare for the exams.

On the other hand, a teacher said they had not yet been given any guideline by the education department as to how much of the syllabus would be covered in the examinations.

He said the decisions in this regard should have been taken before the resumption of the classes so that the teachers could make preparations in this regard.

When contacted, a spokesperson for the IBCC said the annual examinations would begin at the same time in all the boards, but each of them would prepare its own schedule.

Sources in the relevant departments said the NCOC would take the final decision on when the examinations would be held, what would be their pattern and what would be the syllabus.

Replying to a question, Punjab Higher Education Department Deputy Secretary Rehana Ilyas said the academic schedule would be announced after a decision in this regard by the federal education ministry.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2021..