Write down a critical essay on the current syllabus of Urdu taught at grade five.

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Curriculum is typically a phenomenon which includes many dimensions of learning, including rationale, aims, content, methods, resources, time, assessment, etc; which refers to various levels of planning and decision-making on learning (for example, at the supra-, macro-, meso-, micro- and nano-levels); or, international, national, local, classroom and individual levels; and which relates to multiple representations of learning (for example, as already mentioned, ‘intended’, ‘implemented’, ‘attained’, etc). Curriculum can be understood as the totality of what children learn while at school – including what they learn through classroom activities; in interdisciplinary tasks; across the school, for example, in the playground, at lunch time when eating (civic responsibilities, etc.). This curricular totality also includes opportunities for wider achievement through sport, music, debating, and the like. For the purposes of this paper, curriculum is defined in a holistic, process-oriented way. This definition is based on the belief that, while curriculum might commonly be perceived as a set of documents, the quality of those documents is closely connected to the processes used to develop them and to the means through which they are put into practice. In other words, judging the quality of the curriculum itself cannot be done in isolation from the broader processes of curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

The syllabus has been structured to cover each of the three years of Primary 1-3. Each year·s work has been grouped under five sections or themes (Diversity of matter, Cycles, Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter). Each of these themes is related to everyday experiences of the child, and to commonly observed phenomena in the child·s environment. The main aim is to enable pupils appreciate the links between different scientific topics and thus help them to integrate scientific ideas in dealing with phenomena. The sections/themes cover a core of concepts which provide broad based understanding of the environment upon which the foundation for further study could be built.

The topics under each theme are not to be looked at as separate or isolated blocks of knowledge. In general, there are no clear borders between these themes. There are some topics that are common to different themes. A conscious effort should therefore be made by the teacher to let pupils see the link between themes whenever possible. In particular, it will be noted that Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter are closely related. Another feature of the syllabus is the Spiral Approach. This is characterised by revisiting concepts and skills at different levels with increasing degrees of depth at each stage. The spiral approach has the benefit of matching scientific concepts and skills to pupils· cognitive development. It therefore helps pupils to build a gradual mastery of scientific skills.

Diversity of matter

Pupils should recognize that there is a great variety of living and non-living things in the world. Humans seek to organise this great variety to better understand the world in which they live. There are common threads that connect all living things. There are also unifying factors in the diversity of nonliving things that scientists use to classify them. The study of the diversity in the world should also help pupils to appreciate the importance of life·s diversity and therefore take necessary steps for maintaining this diversity. Topics covered under Diversity of matter include the following:

• Variety and characteristics of living things
• Materials
• Classification of organisms and materials

Cycles Pupils should recognise that there are repeated patterns of change in nature and should seek to understand how these patterns occur. Examples of cycles are the day and night cycle, life cycles of living things and the recycling of resources. Studying these cycles helps humans to understand the Earth as a selfsustaining system and secondly, helps humans to be able to predict events and processes. Topics included under cycles are as follows:

• Life cycles of the mosquito
• Water cycle
• Day and night cycles
• Convection and ventilation
• Reproduction in plants and animals
• Land and sea breezes etc.

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