Officials in Pakistan have acknowledged that the government is reviewing textbooks published under the same curriculum to allay the concerns of parents and educators about the inclusion of women and minorities in the textbooks.
Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said, "We are reviewing (textbooks) based on the response from the people." Dr. Maryam Chughtai, Director, National Curriculum Council of Pakistan (NCC), also confirmed that the textbooks would be reviewed. He says that all the textbooks of the same curriculum are written that these are trial editions.
Speaking to the BBC, he added that he had asked his department to improve books in five key areas
It may be recalled that in August last year, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) introduced a uniform curriculum in all private and government schools and even madrassas. According to the website of the Federal Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, a uniform curriculum will be ensured so that "all children have a fair and equal opportunity to get a high quality education".
Last year, seven subjects of first to fifth grade in which English, mathematics, Islamic studies, A new curriculum for Urdu, social sciences, science and others was introduced. Along with this new curriculum, the government also published model textbooks for these subjects in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Islamabad.
While Sindh province had apologized for adopting the new curriculum.
Shortly after the new curriculum was enacted, it was criticized for its quality of education and its portrayal of women and minorities.
According to the response received from Maryam Chughtai, the second area to be addressed was related to filling any knowledge gap in the curriculum. The third area that the NCC is working to improve is related to gender equality, he said.
Dr. Maryam Chughtai explained that "some textbooks did not have a problem of gender equality but some textbooks used it."
Although hijab is part of the uniform in many Pakistani schools, the images did not reflect Pakistani culture.
For example, in the first grade English textbook, a woman was seen only as a mother, a housewife and a teacher. Meanwhile, a man was portrayed in various roles such as policeman, farmer and doctor.
According to Dr. Maryam Chughtai, the fourth area to focus on is religious minorities and their representation in book
According to Dr. Maryam, the last thing that needs to be fixed is typographical and grammatical errors. When asked about excessive Islamic content in compulsory subjects such as English and Urdu (which is a concern for religious minorities), Dr. Chughtai acknowledged that the criticism was justified.
"Yes, that's right. It's important to strike a balance between these books. "
In the past, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood has defended the inclusion of Islamic material in compulsory subjects, saying, "If we do not give the example of our Prophet and Prophet in building the character of children, then who will? It will be important to clarify that revised uniform curriculum books for class one to five will not be available immediately and will be republished by 2023.
In this regard, Federal Minister Shafqat Mahmood told the BBC that the revised syllabus would be implemented in August 2023.
"We are doing this so that the children do not have to buy the books they have already bought. We want to give the existing books at least one more year. "
What do the experts say?
They can make some dramatic changes just to please the critics or they can make some significant changes to make it a really good curriculum. Yaqub Bangash added that "the mere statement that the books will be reviewed is an indication of what he and many other critics have been saying about the problems in the new government curriculum."
And the way it was imposed was wrong. There were many important issues that would not have arisen and the situation would not have been so bad if it (the government) had taken more time to resolve these issues.
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