Failing to get NOC: PCTB seizes Oxford’s pre-primary book stock

LAHORE: The Punjab Curriculum & Textbook Board (PCTB) has seized a stock of pre-primary book of Oxford University Press (OUP) Pakistan for failing to apply for NOC.

Sources in the PCTB said the OUP, foreign publishing house operating in Pakistan, was served a notice by the Board in December 2020 and reminders in January and February 2021 to apply for a fresh NOC to align the book with Single National Curriculum (SNC) but to no avail. They said after

the OUP management failed to apply for the NOC,

the PCTB decided to take action and ordered seizure of the stock from the market.

Meanwhile, there was a mixed response on the social media to Malala Yousafzai ‘s photograph in the book which also carried photographs of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Liaquat Ali

Khan, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan and Major Aziz Bhatti Shaheed.

It was claimed that the OUP’s Social Studies book was banned and its stock was seized because it carried photographs of Major Aziz Bhatti Shaheed and world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai side by side.

There are questions with the photographs which read: 1. Who are these people? 2. What did they do? 3. Why are they famous?

When contacted, PCTB Managing Director Dr Farooq Manzoor said the OUP did not apply for the NOC of its pre-nursery book owing to which its stock was confiscated. He made it clear that the board had nothing to do with the photographs.

He further said since Single National Curriculum was being implemented, there was a need to realign the existing books and publishers were being asked to obtain NOC for this purpose. He said the OUP had applied for NOC for many of its other books but not for that particular book owing to which its stock was seized.

Meanwhile, the Oxford University Press (OUP) has clarified that the New Oxford Social Studies for Pakistan (fourth edition) Primer B was a pre-primary, supplementary book, not designed for use as part of the Single National Curriculum (SNC).

“We continue to work closely with all provincial textbook boards to obtain relevant No Objection Certificates for the materials we are publishing aligned with the Single National Curriculum for the next academic session,” reads a statement issued by the OUP.