Punjab’s Aitchison College warned against non-implementation of unified curriculum

LAHORE: The Punjab government has warned the Aitchison College for not implementing the Single National Curriculum's guidelines.

According to the details, the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) Tuesday wrote a letter to the college and warned against issuing books for grades I-V which have not yet been issued NOCs by the board.

"It is to apprise you that the PCTB reviews and issues NOCs to the books after due process not on the request of an educational institution (school/college), but on the request of book developer (person/agency/private publisher) who apply for the same," reads the letter.

The board called upon the college to direct publishers of the books to submit their work for review and issuance of NOCs. "You are again requested/ advised to kindly do not prescribe those books which have not given NOCs by PCTB," reads the letter.

Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas posted the letter on Twitter, saying that there will be "zero exemptions" as far as implementing the Single National Curriculum guidelines are concerned.

"Letter sent to Aitchison College Lahore for NOT implementing Single National Curriculum in its entirety by Punjab Curriculum Textbook Board. Zero exemptions. I will not let anyone challenge the writ of the government," he tweeted.

School did not inform us about unified curriculum, say parents

Last month, Geo.tv  spoke to parents of students at the all-boys Aitchison College Lahore, who said that there seems to be no indication that the school is implementing the government’s unified educational curriculum this academic year.

“So far we have not received any notification from the school saying it is moving towards the Single National Curriculum,” the mother of a Grade 4 student at Aitchison told told Geo.tv, over the phone, asking not to be named. “All the subjects, except Urdu, are in English for now. I don’t know if that will change.”

Geo.tv had said that it has seen the class 5 textbooks for the subjects of Social Studies and Islamiat at Aitchison College. Both are in English, even though Social Studies/General Knowledge and Islamiat are to be taught in the Urdu language, under the SNC, which has been rolled out across most of the country this month for primary classes.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s new curriculum aims to ensure that all schools, public, private and religious seminaries follow a uniform syllabus. The SNC has already been implemented in Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Grade 1- 5 this year.

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood had earlier denied that the all-boys schools will not be implementing the SNC. In a tweet on August 14, Mahmood wrote: “There is no exemption for Aitchison college or any other school.”