While there has been a lot of sharing of government’s intentions and ambitions of implementing uniform education policy, the recent decisions made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on reducing the size of students’ bags is worth appreciating.

I believe that if this is implemented with all stakeholders taken into confidence, the result will be far-reaching, in addition to simply leaving a good impact on the physique of schoolchildren. I have no idea how the KP government is going to implement this, but I wish to present an educational-cum-logical perspective which may be found appealing as well as doable.

One way of reducing the size of students’ bags is through the integration of the curriculum. Why cannot students be taught English language skills through the content of, say, Pakistan Studies, Geography and History? Content of these subjects may be converted into English language comprehension passages followed by questions requiring students to answer ideas as well as meanings-based questions, and summary writing.

Only a few additional poetry or grammar-based lessons will be required to cover the balance. Similarly, Islamiat content may be embedded into the Urdu subject with the inclusion of a few poetry and prose pieces.

Another advantage is that English teaching, which is often stigmatised to be promoting English culture, may also be addressed through this strategy. This will be like killing two birds with one stone. In this way, we may reduce the number of books which will ultimately serve to minimise the size of the schoolbags.

However, this is not easy, especially when most of our textbook boards are unable to include quality questions in comprehension exercises. In the exercises of a few English lessons in matriculation and intermediate classes, there are questions requiring reproduction of regurgitated text; there is little, if none, weightage to application-based or creative questions requiring ‘how’, ‘in your opinion’ questions that necessitate higher-order language and thinking skills.

Another way of reducing the size of the schoolbags is by making certain subjects term-specific. Almost all schools have two terms in a year in which content of the first term is assessed in the first terminal examinations, and in the final term more weightage is given to the content taught in the second term with the inclusion of a few from the preceding term.

We may bring amends by allowing half of the subjects to be taught and assessed in the first term and the remaining in the second term. For example, English, Science, Pakistan Studies and Computer Science may be taught in the first term, and Urdu, Mathematics, Islamiat and Geography in the second. This way, the duration for each subject will remain the same, but this may considerably reduce the weight of the schoolbags.

Perhaps there may be other better ways which the government might have taken into account. The most important thing is that the whole nation is grateful for this, and for other such decisions, making things feasible for our young students. The next important thing is the professional skills and aptitude to transform dreams into reality on the part of all concerned.

Syed Farhan Basit
Abbottabad

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2021