Evaluating the Quality and Educational Impact of the Grade 5 Social Studies Textbook under the Single National Curriculum in Rural Primary Schools of Galiyat, Abbottabad.

Abstract

This paper evaluates the standards, appropriateness, and pedagogical usefulness of the Grade 5 Social Studies (Urdu version) textbook of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board according to the Single National Curriculum (SNC) 2020, and rural settings specifically. The study took a qualitative research design guided by the textbook quality framework by UNESCO (2017) and in line with the SNC 2020 requirements. The data was gathered using the systematic conceptual content analysis of the chosen textbook chapters, semi-structured interviews with Grade 5 teachers, and in-depth group discussions with students of government primary schools in rural Abbottabad.

As the results suggest, the textbook meets the requirements of the core subjects of civic, historical, geographical, and environmental topics that are required by the SNC, but the indications are that it cannot be used with rural students due to various obstacles. According to the teachers and students, most examples are urban-centric, there are complicated and abstract ideas in the language, visual materials are scarce or inadequately connected with the text. These aspects suppress understanding and valuable interaction, especially in the rural areas where exposure to additional learning materials is low.

Comprehensively, the textbook does not address the minimum thematic standards of the SNC, but it does not have the contextual relevance, simplification age-appropriate and sufficient to support the pedagogical aspect. The paper concludes that conceptual clarity, contextual alignment and instruct ability need to be significantly revised to be more useful. The results have valuable implications to curriculum developers, textbook boards and policymakers who want to enhance the learning outcomes in the rural primary education.