CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

History

Before 18th Amendment:

In 1971, an internal crisis in Pakistan resulted in a third war between India and Pakistan and the
secession of East Pakistan, creating the independent state of Bangladesh. After separation, to ensure
national integrity of Pakistan and the consensus government of Pakistan under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
formed a wing known as National Curriculum Wing in 1973 in Islamabad. It can be called as a project
based setup. There was a concept of outline only before this wing. And the experts were used to write
their books keeping in view that outline. And then those books were available in Urdu Bazar Lahore by
the name of different developers. All the senior educationists from the four provinces of Pakistan were
the members of this wing. The head was usually from the Sindh. Directors and Deputy Education
advisors and education advisors were from the four provinces and AJK. Some people were permanent
and some were on deputation. These people used to make a rough outline which can be called as a
rough draft by the wing in Islamabad.

There were textbook boards in each province at that time. Curriculum review committees were made in
the provinces to review the rough draft made by the national curriculum wing.

PCTB: It was CRDC (curriculum research and development center) at that time before 18th amendment.
People were called from school education and college higher education department in CRDC.

QAED: Its old name was Education Extension center and then it was changed to directorate of staff
development. Experts from all over the Pakistan at that time were running this directorate and
extension center. They had expertise in teacher’s training so CRDC used to get experts from former
QAED and their services for the time being. A rough outline from Islamabad was reviewed by these
curriculum review committees (education department, directorate of staff development, textbook
board and board of intermediate and secondary education, working teachers of a specific subject and
level). They used to review that outline 3-4 days. The draft was sent to Education extension center and
directorate of curriculum and teacher training in Abbottabad, Curriculum wing at Jamshoro Sindh,
Directorate of training and curriculum of Quetta to review the outline.

Suggestions and reviews were made by the reviewers from review committees of the provinces and
were sent back to Islamabad. Then a letter was used to deliver to all the provinces to the higher
authority that these suggestions has been forwarded from your side so please ensure that a well versed
person will be sent from your side to explain and defend these materials, to tell the reasoning and logic
behind any new input.

National Consensus was made in this way because all the provinces took part in those committees. And
there was distinction from all over the Pakistan. Point of views was presented to the wing. And those
views were accepted by the wing if all four of the provinces agree to that point or if that view has
maximum strength. National Curriculum Review committee used to finalize the outline after 1-2
meetings. That was the National Curriculum Document. When National Curriculum Document was
finalized then federal education minister was sent the outline having consensus and input from the
provinces. Then the document was put on the table of PM of Pakistan. And the national curriculum was
implemented by the permission of Prime Minister of Pakistan.

After the implementation of the curriculum, all the related textbook boards were sent that document;
and were asked to develop books keeping in view this document. Every board was used to hire different
authors according to their needs to write and publish books. This process was till 2004-2005.

After 18th Amendment:

Provinces will be given authority and autonomy. National Curriculum wing will only develop curriculum
for the areas under the district of Islamabad. It was bound to a radius of 50 km. And the order was given
to end National Curriculum Wing. Assets of National Organization were ended in that amendment.
Provinces were called to make their own books and curriculum. CRDC was integrated into textbook
board office. It was made curriculum wing of textbook board in 2002. This wing was terminated in 2011.
Course of study (nisaab sazi) was affected badly. There were no organizations, no mechanism to give
input, no setup or committees in the provinces. So provinces used to see and copy the curriculum of
Islamabad. There was no new curriculum. So curriculum 2006 was used continuously. Punjab Curriculum
Authority was established in 2014. PCA will detach curriculum wing from textbook board office and
functions of textbook board were also given to PCA. Printing, pricing and making of books came under
PCA. This organization runs through year. But there were no good results. And as a result CM of Punjab
decided to terminate PCA and textbook board. And made a new organization named as PCTB (Punjab
curriculum and textbook board). It was a wise decision to keep an end to the problem. Different wings
were made in PCTB.

Recommendations of 18th Amendment

Parallel systems should be developed in the provinces before the 18th amendment. Without developing
parallel systems, it was implemented in haste. And as a result, it couldn’t perform well.

SNC
SNC was made by viewing the curriculum of Cambridge from classes early childhood to 5. The motto was
to meet the minimum standard of Cambridge. As schools and teachers cannot be changed but books can
be changed to develop different skills in our students. Religious portion was put into focus in SNC. The
focus was to improve the management system of the country in terms of Holy Prophet’s teaching. This
was enlightenment in terms of Islam. Progressivism in terms of the teachings of Holy Prophet was the
agenda of SNC. There should not be distance of difference in making of curriculum and books. Books
were made by the same people who were developing SNC. Modern education must be
included/entertained in light of Holy Prophet Teachings. How to develop national economy, banking,
and finance system according to the teachings of Holy Prophet was the goal of SNC. Every province was
the part of SNC except Sindh.
There was no point of view, no thoughts, and no agreement from the government of Sindh. Professors
of Quaid e Azam University, Allama Iqbal Open University and the teachers of Army public garrison
school played vital role in this process. They were well-informed, well organized and were more
committed than other teachers. Gilgit- Baltistan teachers were also committed in this process.

Wings of PCTB
• Curriculum
• Finance
• Administration
• Manuscript
• Production

Hierarchy of PCTB
• 17th grade research associate
• Deputy director
• Director
• Managing director

Curriculum Development Process

Curriculum experts have proposed set of sequenced actions or steps for planning and development of
curriculum. For example, following steps for curriculum development have been identified.

• Diagnosis of learner’s needs and expectations of society

• Formulation of learning objectives
• Selection of learning content
• Selection of learning experiences
• Selection of learning activities
• Determination of what to evaluate and the means of assessment

Diagnosis of learner’s needs and expectations of society

The first step in curriculum development is to identify the needs of the students as well as the society.
These needs also cover emotional, psycho-social, economic and psychological needs. The curriculum
must fulfill the expectations of the society and the cultural values.
Formulation of learning objectives

After diagnosing the needs, learning objectives will be formulated to be fulfilled. The objectives will be
comprehensive and related to the concepts, ideas necessary to learn at a stage, particular aspects of
thinking, attitudes, and skills and so on.

Selection of learning content

Based on the needs and the objectives, the relevant topics will be selected. The content will cover the
topics, basic ideas and the units to achieve the objectives. The content will be organized in a manner to
be taught to the students.

Selection of learning experiences

After the selection of the content, all the learning experiences will be planned to meet the expected
learning outcomes. The experiences will help students to learn more effectively. Variety of learning must
be included to give students a broad view of a particular topic.

Selection of learning activities

Content related activities will be a part of the curriculum as these are necessary for the students to
practice the content they are studying. Resources should be kept in mind while designing these learning
activities. The activities must be in an order to be efficient for the students.

Determination of what to evaluate and the means of assessment

The last step is to evaluate the number of objectives that has been achieved. To determine the type of
assessment to measure student’s performance is an important step in curriculum development. This is a
necessary step to ensure the fulfillment of objectives and student learning outcomes.

In short, process of curriculum reforms consists of following main steps: -

➢ Assessment of needs
➢ Setting goals and objectives
➢ Selection of content
➢ Organization of content and learning experiences
➢ Strategies for delivery and assessment
➢ Field research and evaluation

Each step contains a number of actions which involves research. Utmost care is required to be taken in
decision making at each stage. The whole process of curriculum review and development is planned and
conducted purely in a professional manner with active contribution of a team of un-biased experts and
should not be influenced by external political factors. The process of curriculum development should be
characterized by the following features.
 ❖ Planned and systematic
❖ Inclusive and consultative
❖ Led by curriculum professionals
❖ Cyclic in nature
❖ Sustainable

Reference
National Curriculum Framework Islamabad

Retrieved from https://www.pc.gov.pk/uploads/report/NCF.pdf assessed on June 18, 2022.