Pakistani textbooks controversy

In the first decade after Pakistan gained independence after the partition of India, "Pakistan considered its history to be a part of larger India's, a common history, a joint history, and in fact Indian textbooks were in use in the syllabus in Pakistan."[2] The government under Ayub Khan, however, wished to rewrite the history of Pakistan to exclude any reference India and tasked the historians within Pakistan to manufacture a nationalist narrative of a "separate" history that erased the country's Indian past.[2] According to Hussain Haqqani, only officially published textbooks are used in Pakistan's schools and colleges since the era of Ayub Khan. This is used by Pakistani government to create a standard narrative of Pakistan's history. Elizabeth A. Cole of the George Mason University School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution noted that Pakistani textbooks eliminate the country's Hindu and Buddhist past, while referring to Muslims as a monolithic entity and focusing solely on the advent of Islam in the Indian subcontinent.[3] During the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq a "program of Islamization" of the country including the textbooks was started.[4] General Zia's 1979 education policy stated that "[the] highest priority would be given to the revision of the curricula with a view to reorganizing the entire content around Islamic thought and giving education an ideological orientation so that Islamic ideology permeates the thinking of the younger generation and helps them with the necessary conviction and ability to refashion society according to Islamic tenets".[5] Recently, the contributions of Nehru, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Patel and Bose to the Indian independence movement are omitted from Pakistani textbooks.[6]

According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, since the 1970s Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated hatred towards India and Hindus through historical revisionism.[7]

In Pakistan, since the 1980's Islamiyat (Islamism) is a compulsory subject for every educational levels.[9] Since 2018 Punjab province of Pakistan provided for Nazrah Quran (recitation of the Arabic text) to be taught from class I to V and reading translation of the Quran for classes VI-XII has been made mandatory as per the Punjab Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Act 2018.[9]

In Punjab, a board representing the Islamic clergy known as the Muttahida Ulema Board already had the right to censor educational content; a Curriculum and Textbook Board (Amendment) Bill passed unanimously in 2020 gave them additional rights to pre-screen any Islam-related content in all Pakistani textbooks including those of Islamiat, Pakistan Studies, History, Urdu Literature.[10][11] With another Governor's in June 2020 decree made passing of Quranic examination before receiving any University degree mandatory.[10] According to Baela Raza Jamil, June 2020 legislative changes in Punjab Pakistan would compromise upon freedom for inquiry based learning and critical thinking in education in Pakistan.[9] Huma Yusuf expressed surprise over misplaced priories in Pakistani education where in right-wing-washing of educational content is being prioritised over education of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and critical thinking.[12]

A voluntary body of educationists Working Group on Inclusive Education (WGIE), expressed its serious reservations about legislative measures in Punjab Pakistan compromising right of religious freedom and diversity.[9]

According to study of Muhammad Azeem Ashraf at Hunan University in Changsha, most of teaching faculty in Pakistan believe that since Pakistan is Islamic country, Islam has to be associated with nationalism and as such Islam can only be introduced through religious education, which in practical terms only includes Sunni Islam, and virtually leads to exclusion of minority religious thoughts from Pakistani citizenship and human rights.[13]

According to Dr Naazir Mahmood, texts books on journalism in Pakistan fail to cover subjects of critical thinking, knowledge development, freedom of speech, gender studies, minority rights, human rights, health education and other developmental studies, democracy and constitutionalism etc.[14] Mahmood says in turn, advertently or inadvertently, instead of questioning, Pakistani journalists end up carrying forward jingoistic, insular and narrow minded narratives, condoning and even promoting hate speech and sectarianism against religious minorities in Pakistan.[14]

In a 1995 paper published in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, that focused on a newly invented subject of 'Pakistan Studies', historian Ayesha Jalal notes large extents of creative imagining in the creation of the state historiography, to carve out a national-past based on hegemonic values. She remarked of Pakistan's history textbooks to be among the best available sources for assessing the nexus between power and bigotry, in the regard and noted of a rigid state state-controlled education system and curriculum, which imbibed this revisionist history among the masses, to satisfy its national ideology.[15]

Authors vary widely, as to establishing a time-frame of the evolution of the nation-state; in what Jalal deems as priceless examples of narrative confusions flowing from tensions between the ideology of Muslim nationalism and the geographical limitations of the Pakistani nation-state.[15] Whilst some pan-Islamic ideologists locate the time-frame to correspond with the birth of Islam on the Arabian peninsula and choose to ignore the spatial and temporal distance between the two non-concerted happenings, others opt for a sub-continental approach.[15] An Introduction to Pakistan Studies, (a popular text-book which is compulsory reading for first and second year college students studying for an F.A degree in history), claims of Pakistan being an Islamic State which is governed by Allah and is not a mere geographical entity but an ideology reflecting a unique civilization and culture, that was borne of an effort to resist the imposition of Hindu Nationalism on Muslim masses and ward the unethical practices of Hinduism.[15] Another textbook – A Text Book of Pakistan Studies claims that Pakistan "came to be established for the first time when the Arabs under Mohammad bin Qasim occupied Sindh and Multan'" and thereafter equates the Indian subcontinent with Pakistan, whose greatest ruler is subsequently deemed to be Aurangzeb.[15] Anti-Indian sentiments, coupled with anti-Hindu prejudices compounds these issues.[15] K. Ali's two volume history designed for B.A. students, even whilst tracing the pre-history of the 'Indo-Pakistan' subcontinent to the Paleolithic Age and discussing the Dravidians and the Aryans, consistently refers to the post-1947 frontiers of Pakistan.[15] At the end, he supports the existence of the nation-state, based on a religious ideology, in light of a need to immunize themselves from (alleged) Hindu hostility displayed to the Muslims during the Independence struggle and the fact that the subcontinent was ruled by Muslims for centuries.[15] Scholars like Jameel Jalibi questions the validity of any national history that mentions Pakistan's "pre-Islamic past".[15] Jalal notes Ali's assertions to establish reactive religious bigotry, as a basis of Pakistan's statehood.[15] Secularism, Communism et al are painted as evil threats to the state and Jalal notes a textbook wherein Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was described as a drunkard, characterless and an un-Islami-minded man, courtesy his sociopolitical leanings towards communism but Zia ul Hak and his dictatorial martial regime is extensively praised for his abidance by Islamic ideologies.[15] In light of the Balochs, Sindhis et al being increasingly vocal about their regional culture, one textbook identifies regionalism as a "very dangerous episode".[15] It goes on to mention that efforts to advance 'regional dialects and lores' was an attack on the very foundations of the state and that Punjabism shall never be allowed to replace the Islamic culture, because it's patron figures had waged wars against Islamic rulers.[15] Textbooks frequently denote Urdu to be superior to regional dialects; a flag-bearer of collective Islamic identity.[15]

All these narratives, though offering arguments of varying dimensions and scope, ultimately support the national policy for the Islamization of the state and the principle of the two-nation theory, wherein the trifecta of Muslims, Islam and Pakistan cannot be challenged.[15] Jalal accuses them of discarding Jinnah's calls for secularism, the opposition of numerous Muslims to the partition and subjugation of regional communities per their own convenience.[15] She notes a broader purpose in educating the future generations to reject anything in their regional cultures that fails to qualify as 'Islamic' and strive for a spiritual and cultural hegemony, in the name of Islam.[15]

Anti-Indian sentiments, coupled with anti-Hindu prejudices compounds these issues.[16]

According to Tufts University professor Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Indophobia in Pakistan increased with the ascendancy of the militant Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami under Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.[16] Indophobia, together with Anti-Hinduism and racist ideologies, such as the martial race theory, were the driving factors behind the re-writing of school textbooks in Pakistan (in both "secular" schools and Islamic madrassahs) in order to promote a biased and revisionist historiography of the Indian subcontinent that promulgated Indophobic and anti-Hindu prejudices. These narratives are combined with Islamist propaganda in the extensive revising of Pakistan's history. By propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India’s perceived ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote an obscurantist mindset.[17]

According to the historian Professor Mubarak Ali, textbook "reform" in Pakistan began with the introduction of Pakistan Studies and Islamic studies by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1971 into the national curriculum as a compulsory subject. Former military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, under a general drive towards Islamization, started the process of historical revisionism in earnest and exploited this initiative. 'The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of religion – that's why they don't have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe-out all of them.'[18]

According to Pakistani physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, the Islamist revisionism of Pakistan's schools began in 1976 when an act of parliament required all government and private schools (except those teaching the British O-levels from Grade 9) to follow a curriculum that includes learning outcomes for the federally approved Grade 5 social studies class such as: 'Acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan,' 'Make speeches on Jihad,' 'Collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and national guards,' and 'India's evil designs against Pakistan.'.[19] Likewise, Yvette Rosser criticizes Pakistani textbooks for propagating jingoist and irredentist beliefs about Pakistan's history and culture, and being negationist in its depiction of political Islam and the treatment of minorities in Pakistan, such as Hindus and Christians. Irredentism is manifested through claims of "eternal Pakistan" (despite the country being created from British India only in 1947), narrow and sectarian interpretation of Islam, downplaying the tolerant aspects of the religion and focusing on Islamic Fundamentalist interpretations (such as all banking being un-Islamic), and making accusations of dual loyalty on minority Hindus and Christians in Pakistan.[20]

According to Pakistani professor Tariq Rahman, Pakistani textbooks cannot mention Hindus without calling them cunning, scheming, deceptive or something equally insulting. The textbooks ignore the pre-Islamic history of Pakistan except to put the Hindu predecessors in negative light.[21]

Another Pakistani historian Khursheed Kamal Aziz similarly has criticised Pakistani history textbooks. He stated that textbooks were full of historical errors and suggested that mandatory study amounted to teaching "prescribed myths". After examining 66 textbooks used at various levels of study Aziz argued that the textbooks supported military rule in Pakistan, promoted hatred for Hindus, glorified wars and distorted the pre 1947 history of Pakistan.[4]

A study by Iftikhar Ahmad of Long Island University published in Current Issues in Comparative Education in 2004 drew five conclusions from content analysis of the social studies textbooks in Pakistan.[22]

1. First, the selection of material and their thematic sequence in the textbooks present Islam not simply as a belief system but a political ideology and a grand unifying worldview that must be accepted by all citizens.
2. Second, to sanctify Islamic ideology as an article of faith, the textbooks distort historical facts about the nation's cultural and political heritage.
3. Third, the main objective of the social studies textbooks on Pakistan studies, civics, and global studies, is to indoctrinate children for a romanticised Islamic state as conceptualized by Islamic theocrats.
4. Fourth, although the vocabulary in the textbooks underscores Islamic virtues, such as piety, obedience, and submission, little is mentioned about critical thinking, civic participation, or democratic values of freedom of speech, equality, and respect for cultural diversity.

A study by Nayyar & Salim of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute concluded in 2003 that there is an increasing trend where children are taught Pakistan Studies as a replacement for the teaching of history and geography as full-fledged disciplines. Previously, children were taught the very early pre-Islamic history of South Asia and its contribution to rich cultural diversity of modern-day Pakistan. This long historical perspective of Pakistan is absent in the Pakistan Studies textbooks. Instead, children are now taught that the history of Pakistan starts from the day the first Muslim set foot in India. The study reported that the textbooks also had a lot of gender-biased stereotypes and other perspectives that "encourage prejudice, bigotry and discrimination towards fellow Pakistanis and other nations, especially against religious minorities, as well as the omission of concepts ... that could encourage critical self awareness among students".[7]

Rubina Saigol, a US educated expert, said "I have been arguing for the longest time that, in fact, our state system is the biggest Madrassah, we keep blaming madrassahs for everything and, of course, they are doing a lot of things I would disagree with. But the state ideologies of hate and a violent, negative nationalism are getting out there where madrassahs cannot hope to reach."[23]

Referring to NCERT's extensive review of textbooks in India in 2004, Verghese considered the erosion of plural and democratic values in textbooks in India, and the distortion of history in Pakistan to imply the need for coordination between Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani historians to produce a composite history of the subcontinent as a common South Asian reader.[24]

However, international scholars also warn that any attempt for educational reforms under international pressure or market demands should not overlook the specific expectations of the people at local levels.[25]

The following excerpts showcase the discriminatory and agitative nature of Pakistani school textbooks:[26]

• The Class III (ages 7–8) book (Punjab Textbook Board) on Urdu teaches that Islam is "superior" to all other religions.
• The Class VII (ages 11–12) book (Sindh Textbook Board) on Islamic Studies reads: "Most of the [other] religions of the world claim equality, but they never act on it".
• The Class VIII (ages 12–13) book (Punjab Textbook Board) on Islamic Studies reads: "Honesty for non-Muslims is merely a business strategy, while for Muslims it is a matter of faith".
• The Class V (ages 9–10) book (Punjab Board) on Social Studies says: "Religion plays a very important role in promoting national harmony. If the entire population believes in one religion, then it encourages nationalism and promotes national harmony".
• The Class VI (ages 10–11) book (Punjab Board) on Islamic Studies says: "For the person who is neither in financial need, nor governed by a tyrant, and still does not perform [the pilgrimage to Mecca], it does not make a difference whether he dies as a Christian or a Jew".
• The Class VI book (Punjab Board) on Islamic Studies says: "Though being a student, you cannot practically participate in jihad, but you may provide financial support for jihad".
• The Class IV(ages 8–9) book (Punjab Board) on Urdu says: "The better a Muslim we become, the better a citizen we prove to be."

In 2018 one of Sindh Textbook Board chairman had come under judicial scanner for financial mismanagement and contempt of court.[28]

In 2011 Fazalur Rahim Marwat, the chairman of Textbook board of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stated that reform of textbooks was being undertaken in the state. Marwat stated that previously, school books played a key role in spreading hatred against non-Muslims, particularly against Hindus and distorted the history. Such material had now been removed from the textbooks used in the state.[29] Professor Marwat had previously blamed General Zia for "sowing seeds of discord in society on religious and ethnic lines by stuffing school curricula with material that promoted hatred now manifested in the shape of extremism, intolerance, militancy, sectarianism, dogmatism and fanaticism". In addition he stated, "After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 countless lessons and chapters were introduced that spread hatred among the students and portrayed India as the biggest enemy of the Muslims. That stuff should be done away with."[30]

Sindh province has also made efforts to reform curricula.[31]

• K.K. Aziz. (2004) The Murder of History : A Critique of History Textbooks used in Pakistan. Vanguard. ISBN 969-402-126-X
• Nayyar, A. H. & Salim, Ahmad. (2003) The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Text-books in Pakistan – Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics. Sustainable Development Policy Institute. The Subtle Subversion
• Pervez Hoodbhoy and A. H. Nayyar. Rewriting the history of Pakistan, in Islam, Politics and the state: The Pakistan Experience, Ed. Mohammad Asghar Khan, Zed Books, London, 1985.
• Pervez Hoodbhoy – What Are They Teaching in Pakistani Schools Today? (International Movement for a Just World)
• Mubarak Ali. In the Shadow of history, Nigarshat, Lahore; History on Trial, Fiction House, Lahore, 1999; Tareekh Aur Nisabi Kutub, Fiction House, Lahore, 2003.
• A. H. Nayyar: Twisted truth: Press and politicians make gains from SDPI curriculum report. SDPI Research and News Bulletin Vol. 11, No. 1, January – February 2004
• Yvette Rosser: Islamization of Pakistani Social Studies Textbooks, RUPA, New Delhi, 2003.
• Yvette Rosser: Hegemony and Historiography: The Politics of Pedagogy. Asia Review, Dhaka, Fall 1999.
• Rosser, Yvette Claire (2003). Curriculum as Destiny: Forging National Identity in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (PDF). University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2008.
• Rubina Saigol. Knowledge and Identity – Articulation of Gender in Educational Discourse in Pakistan, ASR, Lahore 1995
• Tariq Rahman, Denizens of Alien Worlds: A Study of Education, Inequality and Polarization in Pakistan Karachi, Oxford University Press, 2004. Reprint. 2006
• Tariq Rahman, Language, Ideology and Power: Language learning among the Muslims of Pakistan and North India Karachi, Oxford UP, 2002.
• Tariq Rahman, Language and Politics in Pakistan Karachi: Oxford UP, 1996. Rept. several times. see 2006 edition.
• World Bank Case Study on Primary Education in Pakistan

• Bias in education
• Education in Pakistan
• NCERT controversy
• Pakistan Studies curriculum
• Japanese textbook controversy
• Sectarian violence in Pakistan

• MADRASA EDUCATION IN THE PAKISTANI CONTEXT: CHALLENGES, REFORMS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS ~ Zahid Shahab Ahmed