ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) on Thursday notified the names of publishers of text and reference books for classes 9 and 11 for the Students Learning Outcome (SLO)-based examination 2025.

“In order to implement the National Curriculum of Pakistan (NCP) notified by the federal ministry of education in June 2023, today we have notified reference books for students of classes 9 and 11, as the next exam in 2025 of these two classes will be held in accordance with the NCP, and it will be an SLO-based exam,” FBISE Chairman Qaiser Alam told Dawn.

Mr Alam said the ministry and its other components such as the Federal Directorate of Education and the FBISE were also working on a curriculum implementation framework. He said the focus was on teacher training and assessment frameworks.

The notification from the board states: “A suggested list of books of different publishers as reference/reading material which is not prescriptive in nature is being provided here under for each subject along with the other details.”

The affiliated institutions are, however, free to rely on any other valid and reliable instruction/reference material to fulfil the instructional requirements of the SLOs for these subjects.

The institutions may further shape their instructional and assessment practices around the SLOs and teaching resources/reference material of these subjects for preparing their students,” read the notification.

Sharing details of books for Class 9, the notification says that for English Compulsory, books of the National Book Foundation (NBF) and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, are recommended; for Urdu Compulsory, books of the NBF, Kitabistan Paper Products, Lahore, and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, are recommended.

Similarly, for Pakistan Studies, books from Gohar Publisher, Cantab Publisher (English and Urdu versions), and Kitabistan Paper Products are recommended, while for the subject of Islamiyat compulsory, books from the NBF and Punjab Text Book Board are recommended.

Meanwhile, the notification states that for subject of Physics, the books of NBF and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, and for Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics, the books of the NBF and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, are recommended. For Computer Science subject, the NBF books are recommended by the FBISE.

For Class 11, the notification says that for the English subject, books from the NBF and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, are recommended. For Urdu Compulsory and Pakistan Studies, books from NBF, Kitabistan Paper Products, and Cantab Publisher are also recommended.

For Islamiyat Compulsory, the notification says the decision is pending. However, for Physics books of NBF and Cantab Publisher is recommended, and for Chemistry, books of NBF, Cantab Publisher and New College Publications, Quetta, are recommended.

According to the notification, for the subject of Biology, books from NBF and Cantab Publisher and New College Publications, Quetta, and for Mathematics, books from NBF and Cantab Publisher, Lahore, are recommended and for Computer Science subjects, NBF books are recommended.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2024