LAHORE, Dec 7: The Pakistan studies and history subjects are likely to be excluded from the intermediate syllabus after upgradation of their syllabi in the secondary school certificate course from 2007. Official sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the Federal Education Department was interested in excluding the two subjects from the intermediate syllabus because they were easier than the subjects taught at the matriculation level.

They said the department had set up a committee to review the curricula of both subjects at the intermediate and matriculation levels and would submit its recommendations to the education ministry in a month.

Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood confirmed that the federal education authorities wanted to exclude the subjects from the course of intermediate to avoid repetition (of contents). However, a final decision would be taken after consulting the curricula experts, he said.

Mr Masood said the rationale behind excluding the subjects was to improve the quality and standard of education in the country, besides continuous upgradation of curricula.

He said the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen, which supervises the Curriculum Research and Development Centre of every province, was also holding deliberations to finalize as to which subjects should be retained in different courses to improve the quality of education.

Replying to a question on the restoration of the independent status of the CRDC in the Punjab, the minister said the matter would be discussed at the next cabinet meeting. He said it should, however, be an independent body.

It is pertinent to mention that the CRDC was merged with the Punjab Textbook Board during the interim set-up of the Musharraf government because the functions of both departments were overlapping.

The experiment, however, did not work as the CRDC wing under the PTB could not carry out a single research project during three years. Before the merger, it used to carry out around 20 research projects annually.

Officials of the education department claimed that there were no checks and balances on the curricula during the period, as the CRDC wing did not want to criticize its own organization. They said numerous mistakes were made in the textbooks of various classes during the period because of this reason. Besides, the PTB bore financial burden after the merger, they added.

The prime function of a CRDC is to assist the curricula wing of the federal ministry of education, evaluate and revise curricula in all subjects from classes I to XII. It is also supposed to conduct research on curricula and allied issues.iil