LAHORE, Oct 15: The Punjab education department has finally merged the Curriculum Research and Development Centre (CRDC) with the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB), one year after making an announcement to this effect.

The new institution is expected to be named as Curricula and Textbook Board (CTB).

The provincial cabinet had approved the merger in March 2001, as functions of the two institutions overlapped with each other.

The merger would result in a pooling of available resources and production of quality textbooks at a reduced cost, it is hoped.

Sources said the education department had been facing complications in finalising the modalities of merger.

Education secretary Sibtain Fazil-i-Haleem told Dawn that all modalities of the merger had now been finalised. The department has removed all apprehensions voiced by CRDC employees in BPS-17 and above. He said the CRDC employees could either join the PTB or have themselves deputed in any other government department.

“The merger will enhance the department’s capability to formulate and monitor the syllabi,” the secretary said.

CRDC officials however claim that the merger would prove devastating for education in the province as there were no checks and balances for planners of curricula any more. They said it would not be easy for them to join the PTB. The CRDC was administered by the provincial education department whereas the PTB had been working as an autonomous body.

The function of CRDC was to assist the curricula wing of the federal ministry of education and evaluate and revise all subjects from class one to 12. It also does research in curricula and allied issues, which is funded by the federal and Punjab governments and various donor agencies.

All provinces as well as Azad Kashmir have CRDCs, which are supervised by federal Inter-Board Committees of Chairmen (IBCC).

The CRDC has been merged with the PTB only in Punjab. The education secretary hoped that other provinces would follow suit.