LAHORE: The Punjab government on Thursday approved a new curriculum from Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) to Grade 5 for implementation from the academic year 2027, with the authorities claiming that the revised syllabus would reduce the burden of textbooks and shift students away from rote learning.
The approval was given at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, which reviewed the curricula for English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Urdu and ECCE.
According to Punjab Education Curriculum, Training and Assessment Authority (PECTAA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Musa Ali Bukhari, the authority had developed the curriculum from ECCE to Grade 5, which was subsequently sent to Cambridge for assessment and comparison with international curricula before its approval.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Bukhari said Cambridge would provide the final content in December 2026, after which PECTAA would start printing the textbooks in January. The books would be made available for the new academic session beginning in April 2027, he said.
Cambridge input being sought; plan envisages mental health training for teachers, curbing rote learning
He said the revised curriculum was also aimed at reducing the cost of textbooks as its pages would be reduced and would focus on improving student learning outcomes instead of memorisation.
He said the volume of textbooks would be reduced by 25 per cent and each textbook would also carry QR codes through which students could access video lessons related to the topics covered in the books.
He said the Cambridge officials, who were involved in developing the curriculum content, would also provide training to the teachers about teaching the new syllabus to the students.
The chief minister directed officials to finalise an artificial intelligence (AI) curriculum for students from Class I to XII and stressed that computer laboratories should be developed alongside the new curriculum.
The meeting also agreed to launch mental health training for teachers for the first time in the province and considered appointing visiting psychologists in every district. Online counselling facilities for students were also proposed.
It further agreed in principle to make legislation against corporal punishment in schools. Instead of physical punishment, the establishment of “discipline corners” in classrooms was proposed.
Saturdays would be dedicated to teachers’ training across Punjab, while authors of the new textbooks would conduct training sessions for teachers, the meeting was told.
The chief minister said the government wanted to establish an effective educational model in public schools, with greater focus on primary education, digital literacy and laboratories.
She was also informed that English language training had been completed for 35,000 teachers in 31 tehsils of 12 districts.
“There is no shortage of resources, but wastage of resources must now be stopped,” Ms Nawaz said, according to an official briefing.
She stressed that physical violence in schools could have a lifelong impact on children and called for constructive disciplinary measures instead of corporal punishment.
Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2026.
