THE CONCEPTUAL GAP IN PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF SINDH (2020) AND NATIONAL (2023) CURRICULA (AT SECONDARY LEVEL)

Abstract

Pakistan's education system plays a significant role in developing national unity. The study will explore the conceptual division between aspirational standards (vision) and measurable student learning outcomes (SLOs/Instructional Design) in secondary education. The comparison that is made between the Sindh Curriculum (2020) and the National Curriculum of Pakistan (2023), to explain why the discipline does not often spark interest in students and civic participation, or cannot develop their interest in patriotism (enthusiasm). The researcher used qualitative comparative curriculum analysis, which involved mapping the action verbs onto the strands of the two documents. The Taxonomy was revised as Bloom defined it, classifying verbs into the passive (low-order) and active (high-order) domains. The results of the analysis reveal a very strong structural shortcoming, herein referred to as the pedagogical simplification, to develop enthusiasm among students by using text sentences in the curriculum that foster enthusiasm and citizenship, thereby developing interest in their studies. Although the standards of the Sindh curriculum promote active citizenship, the SLOs that accompany it are primarily passive in form, i.e., describe, listout. On the other hand, verbs like propose and critically analyse, which are verbs of higher order, are included in the National Curriculum but have the passive sound during reading. The research presumes a lack of student interest and assumes that excessive memorisation is the primary cause. In order to renew the focus on the themes and SLOs, the curriculum developers. Reviewers and policymakers should focus SLOs on higher-order thinking skills; the priority should be the implementation of citizenship and patriotism among students, rather than their definition or cramming.