LAHORE, Aug 27: The education department is facing complications in finalizing modalities of merging the Curriculum Research and Development Centre (CRDC) with the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB).

The CRDC is currently administered by the provincial education department whereas the PTB is an autonomous body. Most of the CRDC employees are in BS-17 or above cadre employees. What will be their working position at the PTB is yet not determined.

The CRDC officials, on the other hand, believe that the merger will be devastating for education in the province as there will be no checks and balances on the curricula. They believe that the merger will also affect the curricula development and research work in the province.

The education department had forwarded the summary to the provincial cabinet in March, 2001, proposing that since the functions of both departments were overlapping and hence be merged together.

The department had also suggested that the CRDC and the PTB should be placed together in one organization so that the resources available and input of experts could be pooled for producing quality textbooks for modern curricula and reducing the expenditure. It had proposed that the new body coming into existence after the merger of the two entities be named as the Curricula and Textbook Board (CTB).

The cabinet had approved the proposal despite its observation that the function and purpose of the CRDC was different from that of the PTB and the merger of these organizations might not be appropriate. However, it had directed the department to work out all modalities, including the status of the CRDC employees, after the merger.

Education Secretary Sibtain Fazl-i-Halim was not available for his comments on the issue. He did not make himself available for comments to this reporter despite several visits to his office at the civil secretariat nor did he return the telephone calls made in the last few days.

“He is in a meeting. We’ll return your call when he is free,” came the reply from his staff at office and residence.

The function of the CRDC is to assist the curricula wing of the federal ministry of education, evaluate and revise curricula in all subjects from class I-XII. It also conducts research in curricula and allied issues funded by the governments of Punjab, Pakistan or donor agencies. The function of the PTB is to print and produce textbooks.

Every province including Azad Kashmir has a CRDC that is supervised by a federal wing —- Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC).

Sources said that the CRDC was being abolished only to facilitate the Curricula and Textbook Board Development Committee (CTDC) that was formed under the notification (A-1V) 3-15/99. The function of this committee is to revise curricula, textbooks and teaching aids from class 1-XII.

Both the CRDC and the PTB employees have their apprehensions about the proposed merger of their organizations.

The CRDC officials said that the CRDC was the only research oriented institution in the public sector in the Punjab attached with the education department. They said that the National Development Group (NDG) under the federal ministry of education had also recognized it as its only member from the Punjab.

They said that the merger would not only create problems for the CRDC employees but there were chances of formulation of sub-standard syllabi and errors in books. To determine seniority and work at the PTB would also be a problem, they added.

The PTB officials said that the deregulation policy under the notification D.310/2002-TBB had provided the private publishers to send their books directly to the federal ministry of education for approval accordingly. They said that the deregulation had also given the chance to skip any monitoring body at provincial level and if the CRDC was merged with the PTB which was already an autonomous body would create more problems for the PTB.

When contacted PTB chairperson Dr Fouzia Saleemi, she said that she was not taken into confidence regarding any decision.

CRDC Director Safdar Jang said that he had no idea about the fate of the merger of the two organizations.