Background:
While access to education remains a burning issue in Sindh’s education landscape, due attention is also being raised towards the quality of education being delivered in public sector schools of the province. Curriculum, broadly defined by learning material, pedagogy, and teaching material, has to be reflective of and responsive to learning needs of current times. The Sindh School Education Standards and Curriculum Act 2015, enacted with the vision of introducing curriculum reforms, outlines a comprehensive framework for updation and development of the curriculum.
A major component of the curriculum is student learning material, whereby textbooks are a pivotal part of student learning inputs. Obsolete content, lack of direction on teaching outcomes, printing quality and dearth of focus on student learning outcomes, have been a recurring theme of public school textbooks.
Objective:
To enhance the quality of learning material by restructuring content and improving publishing standards
Scope:
Textbooks for all school grades (I to X)
Overview:
The Sindh Textbook Board (STBB), in collaboration with the Bureau of Curriculum (BoC) has initiated the process of new textbook development in line with the standards laid out in the Sindh School Education Standards and Curriculum Act 2015. The content of these textbooks is being guided by the national curriculum 2006 till a provincial curriculum is developed. The new textbooks are being developed with a vision that emphasizes inculcation of modern teaching trends (Competency, standards, and benchmarks), a focus on student learning outcomes, and 21st century skill development. The content of newly developed textbooks is inquiry based, student centered, and based on critical thinking, higher order and problem solving.
Textbook content is also being seen as a critical medium for introducing social reforms. The department aims to promote religious harmony, ethnic solidarity, and respect for minorities through the new content. Insights from other departments is also accommodated in textbook content; as case in point, anti-narcotics and road safety chapters have been processed for inclusion in textbooks.
As of now, new textbooks have already been developed from grade I to VI; the rest are due to be completed by 2018. Additionally, new developments include:
- Textbook of general knowledge has been introduced as a separate subject for grade I-III
- Islamiyat has been introduced as separate subject from grade III
- Science and social Studies have become separate subjects from grade IV