May 10, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1428

KARACHI, May 9: Although the Sindh Education Department has taken initiative to introduce new curricula with 13 newly developed textbooks up to the elementary level, it is unlikely to complete the cumbersome bureaucratic process to get these books printed by the end of September.

The publishers and printers, however, have assured the department of giving it the printed textbooks if they get the allocation in time.

The Sindh Textbook Board (STB) on Wednesday claimed to be the ‘leading’ board in bringing out 13 newly developed textbooks this year in accordance with the new curricula, new educational policy and plan.

A spokesman for the STB in a statement said that despite the delay in allocation to the publishers, the present management had made ‘extraordinary’ efforts and chalked out a schedule to work on war-footing to bring out all the allocated textbooks according to the schedule.

The STB wasted some five to six months in the procurement of paper and allocation orders to the publishers, which, coupled with the current frequent power failures and flood threats in the interior regions of Sindh in a couple of months, sources said if the process had been completed at least in the beginning of April, the deadline could have been met.The new academic year is scheduled to begin on August 15.

The 13 new books which, the STB said, would be part of the curricula for this year include English and Urdu for classes one and six, mathematics of classes one and six, and Islamiat of classes one, three and four, and science of classes four and six.

Initially, some leading publishers were asked to prepare specimens for the specified subjects and submit them to the education department by March 31. The specimens were submitted with the authorities concerned on time, which the Provincial Curriculum Board in Hyderabad reviewed and some of them were returned to the publishers to rectify the mistakes with the deadline for the final submission to the authorities on May 12, sources said.

The publishers who are competing in the preparation and publishing of new textbooks include the Oxford University Press, Urdu Academy of Sindh, Ferozesons, Universal Book Depot, Noorani Publishers, Shaikh Shaukat Ali and Sons, Gaba Sons and the Royal Book Depot.

Sources in the education department said that like the rest of the curricula, the preparation and distribution of the 13 new books was likely to suffer delays given the fact that the cumbersome and lengthy procedures, which are to be experienced in the coming days.

The sources said that after these books were formally submitted before the STB by May 12 (Saturday), they would be sent to Islamabad next week where the National Review Committee, Curriculum Wing, would examine them in the final review.

After the approval by the National Review Committee, the specimens would be returned to Sindh where the relevant authorities would take a final decision to approve one particular book for one class prepared by any of the competing publishers. The entire process may take more than a month.

“Once this process is completed, these books would be given a green signal to be published and distributed among the pupils,” said a source.

Sources said it was quite a lengthy process and there was only one way to meet the easier-said-than-done deadline to some extent if the top hierarchy in Sindh took the matter on priority and followed it up at every stage to get it reviewed in the least possible time.

“It is quite hard to distribute the new books and the old curricula among the students on time for various factors and mainly due to our authorities’ disinterest in the education sector,” said a source in the education department.