Colleges to offer wider subject range

Punjab Higher Education Department working on ‘unbundling’ policy

LAHORE:

For the first time in the province, intermediate college students may be allowed to choose subjects from both the arts and science faculties simultaneously.

Under a proposal, students of art may also study one science subject and vice versa.

The Punjab Higher Education Department is reportedly planning the introduction of the policy of 'unbundling of subjects'.

After the implementation of the policy, the students of science and arts in the intermediate classes will be able to choose one subject from the other group as per their interest.

Besides science and arts, students of intermediate in computer science (ICS) and commerce (ICom) will also be able to select one subject from a different group.

The department's officials say the purpose of the change in policy is to introduce variations in the education system following modern and evolving trends in the field of higher education.

They said the Punjab Higher Education Department was working on proposals to develop the education system at the advance level and introducing the new policy of subject selection at the intermediate level would be a part of the initiative.

"The Punjab Higher Education Department is currently making preparations to implement the policy of unbundling of subjects. Meetings in this connection are being held with the officials and heads of all Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Educations in the province," a senior official of the department told The Express Tribune.

He said the chairpersons, secretaries and controllers of examination of all the boards in the province had expressed their willingness to implement the proposal.

The official expressed hope that the new policy would be implemented during the admissions to government and private intermediate colleges in the next academic year.

"As per the new policy, science students will be allowed to study one arts subject and the same choice will be there for arts students to select one science subject. There will be no restriction in this regard on the students as our purpose is giving facilities to the students as observed n many countries whose education systems give more choices to students," the senior official of the higher education department said.

Commenting on the proposal, Punjab Teachers Union secretary general Rana Liaqat Ali it had been observed that talented students wanted to study different subjects in view of their interests. However, the classification of science and arts restricted them from choosing the subjects of their choice.

He said it would be a great development in the education system that the students would be given choice.

"Around four million students appear in the matriculation and intermediate exams every year in the province. There will be thousands of students who want to study a variety of subjects, so the new policy would benefit them," the teachers' representative said.

Renowned educationist and writer Professor Munawer Sabir said it was a wonderful idea that students should be given the opportunity to study the subjects of their choice.

"This policy will also be helpful to students in their practical and professional life in future," he said.

Dr Sabir said the Punjab government would also deserve credit for being the pioneer of the initiative in the country as the students had been restricted to the set groups of subjects for a long time.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2022.