22 open-opinion prompts — the highest count anywhere in the corpus, including "do you think that climate change is our moral responsibility" (PAGE 46) and "Do you think students…" (PAGE 42).
Overview / Findings / Assessment
Pupils are asked for their opinion — just never about the nation
This study previously reported that open inquiry collapses at matriculation. Completing the class-10 tier shows that is wrong as stated: Punjab's English 10 sets 22 open-opinion prompts, the most of any book in the corpus, and Sindh's sets 5. Every one of them is on a personal, scientific or literary topic — climate change, social media, space travel, a lottery win. The class-10 books that carry the national narrative set none at all. Openness is not absent at matriculation; it is allocated away from contested national questions.
This finding corrects an earlier and stronger claim by this project. Punjab's English 10 sets 22 open-opinion prompts, more than any book in the corpus — “do you think that climate change is our moral responsibility” (p. 46). Sindh's English 10 adds 20 evaluation and 5 open prompts, including “Do you think that social media is a good thing or a bad thing” (p. 78). KP's English 10 sets 8 and 3. So open demand at matriculation plainly exists. But every one of those prompts is on a personal, scientific or literary topic, and the class-10 books carrying the national narrative set none at all — KP's Pakistan Studies 10 records zero of both. Openness is not absent at matriculation; it is allocated away from contested national questions. A single open prompt on a contested national question in any class-10 Pakistan Studies volume would refute this.
“Do you think that climate change is our moral responsibility?”Punjab English 10, 2026-27 edition — PDF p. 46
What the books say
Each entry below is the catalogue's own record for that book on that
axis, printed as it stands. Pages marked PDF p. are counted from the first page of the scanned file, which is how most of this corpus was read; pages marked printed p. are the folio printed on the paper. The two differ by however many unnumbered cover leaves a volume carries, so the label matters when you go to check.
20 evaluation and 5 open prompts, including "Do you think that social media is a good thing or a bad thing" (PAGE 78) and "Do you think people (travel) to the moon again" (PAGE 94).
8 evaluation, 3 open — including "in your opinion, is the significance of the Masjid of Cordoba to…" (PAGE 55).
What was checked and not found
A claim that one board does something and the others do not is only as good as the search that failed to find it elsewhere. These are those searches.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan Studies 10
Zero evaluation verbs and zero open-opinion prompts in the entire volume. Its learning outcomes are Explain, Discuss, Identify, Comprehend, Analyse (PAGE 7), and its assessment is date recall: "When was the nationalization of industries announced? A. 2th January 1972 B. 12th January 1972…" (PAGE 42). A4 = 3 rather than 5 because the content is politically frank: it narrates the 1970 election with "In East Pakistan the Awami League carried the day while Pakistan People's Party won in West Pakistan. Differences emerged between the two parties" (PAGE 8), and calls the 1973 document "a constitution based on federal and parliamentary principles" (PAGE 13).
Against this
Sindh's English 10 asks “Do you think that social media is a good thing or a bad thing” (p. 78) and KP's asks “in your opinion, is the significance of the Masjid of Cordoba” (p. 55) — all three boards teach the form of holding an opinion. The restriction is in subject matter, not in pedagogy.
Limits
Falsifiable: a single open-opinion prompt on a contested national question in any class-10 Pakistan Studies volume would refute it. This finding corrects an earlier, stronger claim by the project.
Boards and confidence
PunjabSindhKhyber Pakhtunkhwa high confidence
Confidence reflects the evidence tier this rests on. High means native or English-medium text verified by exact string match; medium means it depends partly on Urdu-medium material read at theme grade, or on an absence. See the method.
Source
Punjab English 10, 2026-27 edition — PDF p. 46; Sindh English 10, portal-listed edition — PDF p. 78; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa English 10, Test Edition, scan 2021 edition — PDF p. 55; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan Studies 10, 2022-23 edition — PDF p. 7
Punjab English 10’s climate-change prompt is at PDF p. 46.
Cite this finding
Textbook Evidence Project, “Pupils are asked for their opinion — just never about the nation”. Evidence from 4 textbooks (Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Corpus version 210 records. Retrieved from https://textbookevidence.com/findings/openness-is-allocated-not-absent/
Two citations are appropriate here, not one. The line above cites this finding. If you are quoting the textbook passage itself, cite the book — its full bibliographic record, edition and approval reference is on its own page, linked from each evidence entry above — and say that you found it here.
Challenge this finding
This is a claim about a printed book, so it is checkable, and it should be checked. If the citation is wrong, the edition is misidentified, the passage is quoted unfairly, or the finding does not survive its own evidence, that is worth reporting and it will be acted on whether or not the correction is convenient for the argument. Corrections are logged publicly in the corrections log; this applies fully to the boards themselves.