CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN

by Dr. Sultan Muhammad  Khan

Keywords ;  curriculum development in Pakistan,  Problems of Curriculum Development Process, Problems related to objectives, Problems related to content,Problems related to methods,Problems related to audio-visual aids,Problems related to evolution.

 Problems of curriculum development in Pakistan and suggestions for its improvement

Falling education standard is one of the most favorite topics for discussion at our social gatherings. Everyone has his own views and experiences to narrate and ultimately, to lament and then recall the good old days when everything was at its best.

It is a known fact that our educational standards are one the decline. We have progressed in quantitative expansion but gone backward qualitatively, in the government policies there are planning and recommendations for the revolutionary steps but the progress in negligible.

We have innovative ideas but unable to implement any positive change effectively. That is why we could not achieve the desired goals. We have many leaders in education but most of them are without dedication to work. We have many schools, colleges and universities but they are working only to award certificates and degrees to the students without changing their attitude. The students are just memorizing facts and information from their text material without developing proper concepts to apply in daily life. Teachers are following conventional methods such as the lecture. Textbook recitation and notes dictation. The innovative methods are not followed even in teacher training institutes. The textbooks are also theoretical ignoring the activities. All these and many more are the curriculum related problems. These problems are identified by various policies along appropriate recommendations as given on the next page.

 Problems of Curriculum Development Process

If we look to the various phases or elements of curriculum development process. So many problems can be indicated i.e.

1. Problems related to objectives.
2. Problems related to content.
3. Problems related to methods.
4. Problems related to audio-visual aids.
5. Problems related to evolution.

1. problems Related to Objective

The curriculum development is a continuous and dynamic process, having some goals to be achieved though classroom activates.

The effectiveness of curriculum process depends largely upon the extent to which these goals are achieved. If the objectives are formulated in clear an behavioral terms, their achievement becomes easy. The objectives formulated for the existing curricula are mostly ambiguous and non behavioral such types of objectives can be considered as invalid. Some of the objectives are too broad to achieve and some of them are not related to the socio economic conditions in the country. There are certain objectives that are not according to the psychological needs of the learners.

2. Problems Related to Content

It has already been mentioned that curriculum development is a dynamic process. So it must be flexible enough to be changed from time to time along with the changes occurring in the society. But in our country, researches in curriculum development are very rare which make it static.

Some of the defects of existing subject matter are as under;

• The content is not selected on the basis of research.
• To content does not help in the achievement of desired goals.
• The content is not suitable to the life situation of the learners.
• There is a lack of horizontal and vertical coordination in various concepts.
• The content does not demand active participation of learners, instead it encourages rote memory.
• Logical sequence (when required) is missing.
• The subject matter does not help in the development of understanding, indicative reasoning and desired creative abilities.

3. Problems Related to Methods

The problems of curriculum development related to methods of instruction are:

• Methods of instruction are not suggested by the curriculum planners.
• Methods of instruction which are being followed in the classroom do not help in the achievement of desired goals.
• Teachers take last interest in inquiry-based methods.
• Participatory or communicative approaches are not followed in the class.
• Methods are not helping the learners to develop various skills.
• The existing teacher training programmes do not fulfill the requirements of the innovative methods.
• Teachers are reluctant to follow activity-based methods.
3. Problems Related to Audio-visual Aids

• Lack of sources and resources educational institutes affects badly the implementation proves of curriculum development.
• Teachers are not properly trained preparation and used of low cost material.
• The curriculum planners have not given any guidelines to the teachers to use the local resources as audio-visual aids.
• Charts should be accurate but it always missing the third dimensional attribute and must be viewed from a fixed position
• The aids must be relevant to the concept need to be developed
• the audio-visual should be interesting for the students
• chalk board is the oldest aid of teaching but chalk is a source of pollution and it all depend on teacher hand writing
• power failure (electricity) problem, it sometime damage audio-visual aids
• Hardware problem in electronic AV aids
• Overburden class room, the problem of visibility of small charts to all students
•  

e. Problems Related to Evaluation

·         Proper evaluation programme is not suggested by the curriculum planners.

·         The test items are not related to the objectives of the relevant course.

·         Most of the test items are ambiguous.

·         Only cognitive aspect is emphasized in evaluation.

·         The content validity is very low existing evaluation system.

·         The concept of continuous evaluation in to applied.

5.3 GENERAL RECOMMENDATION FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

• The curriculum should base upon native research and not on the basis of opinions of experts.
• Some of the enthusiast working teachers should be involved in curriculum development.
• The objectives must be spelt out in specific behavioral terms.
• While setting the objectives, equal weightage must be given to all the domains such as cognitive effective and psycho-motor.
• Curriculum should be future oriented to cope with the needs of 21^st century, which is expected to be scientific and technological
• Curriculum should be activity based
• Curriculum must provide a high order of understanding inductive reasoning and application of knowledge in the situation
• Instead of product based instruction, there should be an emphasis  on processes of learning
• Curriculum should be according to the social, cultural and economic conditions of the country
• Teachers guides should be prepared to provide them help in instruction
• Curriculum planner must suggest a proper criteria for evaluation
• The test items must possess a high content validity
• The test items must help in the achievement of desired goals
• The test items should be objectives valid and reliable