Exploring Issues of Civil Rights in ‘SSC’ Versus ‘O’ Level Urdu Textbooks: An Analytical Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/psi.2025d-44126Keywords:
Civil Rights Issues, Urdu Textbooks, Secondary Schools Stream, ‘O’ Level Cambridge, Human Rights EducationAbstract
The purpose of this comparative content analytical study was to investigate key issues of civil rights highlighted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the textbooks of Urdu in SSC versus 'O' Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The research question framed for this qualitative study was to explore how far the most pressing issues of civil rights have been addressed in the selected textbooks. This research endeavor was delimited to Urdu textbooks being in vogue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study population comprised all lessons from both strands of the Urdu Textbooks. The researchers selected only two lessons from both streams through convenient and purposive sampling techniques. Data were collected by adopting the Model of Shukla (2011), which was analyzed through frequency and percentage. It was found that the issue of race [f= 17 having 85 %] was given more weightage in the SSC Urdu textbook, which was contrary to the 'O' level with [f= 00 having 00 %]. Conversely, the issues of gender and freedom from discrimination were found more in 'O' Level Urdu with [f= 08 with 40 % each] in contrast to SSC Textbook with [f= 00 having]. The study recommended that the key decision makers, curriculum planning wings, and the concerned textbook boards of both SSC and 'O' Level have to give due consideration to the ignored but pressing issues of civil rights to create awareness of human rights education among the learners.
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