LAHORE, April 12: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has directed the education department to issue corrigenda to make sure the deletion of objectionable matter from English and Urdu textbooks for Class-X , reinstatement of the full text of Surah Tauba and benedictory phrases for the companions of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), and correction of the dates regarding historic events and personalities.
He directed that English textbook's three chapters -- Model Millionaire (18 and 19) and How to live in less income (21) -- and Urdu book's chapter 1 titled Hazrat Umar Farooq's seerat should be deleted immediately.
The chapter 1 of the Class-X Urdu textbook will be replaced by some other chapter from Maulana Shibli Naumani's book highlighting Hazrat Umar's bravery and administrative capabilities.
The material included a shocking reference, according to which, Hazrat Umar used to listen to songs, which in the present circumstances didn't sound good. The half text of Surah Tauba, which was deleted from Class-IX and X Islamiyat textbook, will be re-included.
The benedictory phrases -- Razi-Allah Tala-Unho and Rehmat-Ullah-Aleih -- after the names of Sahaba-i-Karam and other renowned personalities in the Islamic history will also be included in the textbooks. Besides, some dates about historic events and personalities, which have been found incorrect, will be corrected.
This was explained by Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood while talking to reporters after the Queen Mary College's 18th convocation here on Monday.
The minister said the corrigenda would be distributed in the schools through the district education departments. He said the teachers imparting education to the students of Class-IX and X would be required to expurgate the objectionable material and insert the replaced contents in the textbooks.
Besides, the corrigenda would be issued to the chairmen of the eight boards of intermediate and secondary education to ensure that no question be put in the examinations from the deleted material, he said.
He also said the objectionable material would be deleted and replaced in the re-prints and fresh editions. He said the chief minister had constituted a committee, headed by Punjab Education Secretary Shahid Rasheed, to conduct an inquiry to fix responsibility in the matter and submit findings within seven days.
Answering a question about the allegations and counter-allegations by the education ministry and the Punjab Textbook Board, the minister said the inquiry body would examine the issue minutely by finding out what instructions were issued by the ministry and at what level those were complied with.
It is pertinent to mention that the chief minister was told that the PTB had prepared the draft textbooks in accordance with the national curriculum approved by the education ministry's curriculum wing. The PTB produced the textbooks through private publishers/printers on receipt of an NOC from the ministry.
The minister, however, said the chief minister didn't accept as sufficient defence that the ministry's review committee had whetted the text and issued an NOC. The inclusion of inappropriate contents seems to have occurred owing to lapse on the part of both the ministry and the PTB.
Answering another question, Mr Masood said the 'objectionable' textbooks were printed in 2001 and being taught in schools since then. As the curriculum prepared by the education department was adopted as a national curriculum for implementation all over Pakistan, he said the Sindh government could print that text material for the ongoing academic session.
He said the textbooks printed in Sindh drew strong reactions and protests that led the federal government to issue instructions to delete the objectionable text material.
The minister said the situation would be clear after the submission of a report by the committee. He said that all the officials found guilty would be taken to task.
Responding to a question, he said: "If the government will re-print textbooks to replace the objectionable contents, the government will surely distribute those free of cost to the students."