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Exemption of Urdu for O-level students on medical grounds irks educators

News Desk

Nov 13

The recent exemption of the Urdu subject exam for O-level students on medical grounds has sparked serious concerns among educators in Pakistan.

  

According to critiques, the exemption conveys a strange message that sickness only impacts students' ability to read and write a particular language. They fear that the higher-level decision will further exclude the national language from school curricula.

 

The Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC) has recently exempted O-level students from the Urdu exam on medical grounds. In a recent notification issued by the IBCC’s Assistant Director, it has been clearly mentioned that O-level students appearing for their examinations on medical grounds will be exempted from the compulsory subject of Urdu.

 

It was announced during the 173rd meeting of the IBCC on September 30 that a student must provide proof of their medical condition to be allowed an exemption for the Urdu exam.

 

According to IBCC's website, English, Urdu, Islamic Studies, Pakistan Studies and Mathematics have been included in the eight compulsory subjects of O-level in Pakistan. A notification was also issued by the Federal Ministry of Education in June 2023.

 

Urdu, English, Pakistan Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Entrepreneurship and Islamic Studies have been approved for Grades nine to 12 under the National Curriculum of Pakistan.

 

The IBCC’s announcement has triggered a fresh debate among the education circles in the country, with some teachers questioning why the students are being allowed an exemption on medical grounds from the subject of Urdu only when an exemption from any compulsory subject could be sought on medical grounds.

 

Terming it a discriminatory move, an Urdu teacher observes that the IBCC could have issued a notification in which either no subject or all the compulsory subjects were mentioned. “Students, who don’t want to study Urdu, can misuse this exemption on medical grounds," he said.

 

Dr Irfan Shah, who is a Professor of Urdu at the Government City College, Karachi, is of the view that the notification is beyond the IBCC’s jurisdiction. "This matter is related to the National Curriculum and only the Bureau of Curriculum can decide all kinds of exemptions related to compulsory subjects,” he maintained. Shah wondered how such decisions are being made by the subordinate bodies of a federal minister whose mother tongue is Urdu as well.

 

IBCC's Director Meetings Aamar Gilani, when contacted by the Express Tribune, conveyed his unawareness of the matter, saying this was a specific case and no general notification had been issued.

 

When the correspondent read out the notification to Gilani, he inquired about how the notification came to be accessible. "I have to see when and how the general notification was issued," he responded.

 

COURTESY TO THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE

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