PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board has standardised major schoolbooks of primary level in the province in light of the minimum standards unanimously set by the federal and all provincial governments for maintaining quality and uniformity in the education sector.
The officials claimed the books with the best contents and pictures had gone into print.
They added that after the books of English, Mathematics, General Science and General Knowledge were printed, KP would have the best textbooks in the country.
“The standardised books will be taught at the government primary schools from the upcoming academic session beginning in April 2017,” a senior official in the elementary and secondary education department told Dawn.
He said the minimum standards for education had been established with consensus among all provincial education departments and federal education and professional training ministry a year ago.
The official said the minimum standards were formulated regarding curriculum, textbooks, teachers, student assessment and school learning environment.
The sources said the textbooks’ standardisation was the responsibility of the KPTB while, the directorate of curriculum and teachers education was tasked with achieving the minimum standards in curriculum.
They said the education department would deal with the remaining components of the minimum standards.
The sources said the schoolbooks of primary level were reviewed by authors, reviewers, auditors and educationists from universities, colleges and schools of both public and private sectors.
They said after review, the experts suggested improvement in light of the minimum standards for books.
The sources said all changed books were submitted to the directorate of curriculum for final review, where the review committees recommended the final draft for publishing.
They said the standardisation of books was a very good step and it should continue as there were fears certain elements could irately respond after their delivery to schools.
The sources said the government should absorb pressure if certain elements resorted to it instead of bowing to it.
Asked about the standardisation of books taught at middle, high and higher secondary school levels, the sources said the exercise comprised four phases.
According to them, in the first phase books for primary schools were reviewed and improved; the second phase is underway to improve the quality of books for 6-8 grades, while in the third and fourth stages, the books for high and higher secondary classes would be standardised respectively.
The sources said hopefully, all schools in KP would have improved books by April 2018.
They said the minimum standards proposed that books be aligned with the curriculum by promoting child-centered pedagogy, harmony and unity for national cohesion and integrity.
The sources said the minimum standards supported inquiry-based learning, critical thinking and problem solving, free from gender, ethnic, religious, sectarian, geographical, cultural, occupational biases and respect diversity.
They said the books would be attractive, interesting and engaging for learners to pursue further studies and have authentic texts presented systematically in gradual steps.
The sources said it also provided a variety of assessment opportunities to evaluate the cognitive, psychomotor and affective abilities and facilitates teachers to use a variety of instructional strategies to deliver the content.
The sources said with the devolution of the curriculum to provinces in light of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, setting the minimum standards for the education sector was a vital decision, which would ensure education’s uniformity in the country up to some extent.