Textbooks must not promote extremism, intolerance, rights violations: Sardar

Taking a policy decision, Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has issued directions that textbooks must not promote human rights violations, sexual discrimination, harsh treatment of animals, violence, intolerance and extremism.

He issued the directives to this effect during the 11th meeting of the Sindh Curriculum Council held on Thursday. The meeting decided that the Directorate of Curriculum and Research, the School Education and Literacy Department’s curriculum wing and the Sindh Textbook Board would be merged as a single institution.

After reviewing the proposed unification procedure of the three curriculum bodies, the meeting unanimously approved that there was an urgent need to merge the three institutions into one institution.

It was decided that the structure of the new institution and its rules and regulations would be presented during the next meeting. The meeting also reviewed the performance of the Sindh Teacher Education Development Authority, Provincial Institute Teacher Education and Teacher Training Institute. The participants decided in principle to also merge them into a single entity.

In this regard, amendments to the rules and regulations and existing laws would be proposed and Education Secretary Ghulam Akbar Leghari was directed to prepare a detailed report.

Textbooks for grades one to eight were reviewed at the meeting, which also discussed publishing new textbooks for grades nine to 12. The meeting also reviewed other important issues such as restructuring of the Teacher Training Institute, forming syllabi for grades nine to 12, inducting technical sciences in the education system and ensuring lightweight school bags for children.

Dr Fauzia Khan, the chief adviser Curriculum Wing, informed the meeting that the textbooks for grades one to eight had been reviewed and work on new textbooks for grades nine to 12 had been completed.

The education minister said the officials should make sure that textbooks were not promoting human rights violations, intolerance, and extremism. Any such behavior should not be part of the textbooks, he asserted.

The education department has also invited new writers, teachers and civil society members who have a taste for reading and writing, to send articles for various textbooks so that the best of them could be included in the textbooks.

Shah directed the Directorate of Curriculum to update and publish as many textbooks as possible by December and review the curriculum every year. In addition to that, it was decided in the meeting that technical sciences should be made part of the teaching syllabus and students of class VIII to 10 would be taught some technical skills. A committee was formed to study the required technical skills in the market at the divisional level and present its detailed strategy in the next meeting.

The participants also discussed various suggestions regarding school bags, homework copies and weight of bags. A suggestion that was considered was setting up drawers or lockers for children's books in schools. The meeting also approved renaming the subject of ethics as religious studies.