Didn’t Atchison College implement the government’s single national curriculum?

With the school reopening after the summer vacation, the parents of all-boys Atchison College in Lahore stated that there is no sign that the school has implemented the government’s unified education curriculum this school year.

“So far, we have not received any notice from the school that it is moving to a single country curriculum,” Aitchison’s mother of a fourth-grade student told Geographic TV, Through the phone, asked not to be named. “Except for Urdu, all subjects are now in English. I don’t know if this will change.”

Geographic TV I have read Level 5 textbooks of Social Studies and Islamic Studies at Acheson College. Both are in English, and although social studies/common sense and Islam will be taught in Urdu, according to the government’s Single National Curriculum (SNC), elementary courses have been launched in most parts of the country this month.

The new curriculum of the ruling Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf aims to ensure that all schools, public, private and religious seminaries follow a unified syllabus. SNC has been implemented in Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year for grades 1-5.

read more: “The government’s single national curriculum is like martial law”

Earlier this month, TNS Beaconhouse, a private school in Lahore, sent a letter to parents. The letter read: “Dear parents, according to the government’s instructions, starting from the 2021-22 new semester, all Schools will implement a single national curriculum. Some of the changes introduced through SNC, such as Nazra Quran, General Knowledge/Social Studies and Islamiat, are all in Urdu…”

Even the government-issued textbooks include social studies in Urdu and Islam.

However, the Aitchison fifth grade social studies textbook “World Watch 5” published by Oxford is in English, and the Islamic textbook entitled “Islamic Studies” by Aamir Mahmood Awan.

Only Urdu textbooks written by Aitchison for 5th grade students have the SNC logo engraved on them.

But the Federal Minister of Education Shafqat Mahmood denied that all boys’ schools would not implement SNC. In a tweet on August 14, Mahmoud wrote: “There is no exemption at Acheson College or any other school.”

Khalid Mohammad Noon, the deputy head of administration of Aitchison, did not respond to Geo.tv’s multiple requests for comment.

Kashif Mirza, chairman of the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, also confirmed to Geo.tv that many large private schools in Punjab have not fully implemented SNC.

“Aitchison is led by the governor of Punjab. If the governor does not personally implement it…this is discrimination,” Mirza said. “Sindh did not adopt SNC, and Azad Jammu Kashmir did not adopt this year. So this course is not single, nor is it national. of.”

Since the government announced the new curriculum, civil rights activists, parents, and educators have expressed concern about the large inclusion of Islamic content in the required subjects.

In addition, despite the government’s commitment to promote quality education, the quality of government-approved textbooks is significantly different from that of private schools.