Hate literature: Call for reforming schoolbooks
SDPI report says discriminatory content still being taught
An FC official shows the material seized during a raid. PHOTO: NNI
LAHORE:
A research review on textbooks of Pakistan has concluded that some schoolbooks still contain discriminatory and hate-based material against the spirit of Article 22 of the Constitution and the UN Convention on Child Rights.
The report comprising work of various research institutes was launched during a ceremony on Friday by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Calling for a comprehensive reform process to remove hate and discriminatory material in line with the National Action Plan against terrorism, the study said the anti-terror strategy was chalked out to build a counter-narrative against extreme religious narratives as a priority under the 20-point plan.
The report observed that non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan were being discriminated as if they were not Pakistani citizens. “The discriminatory and hate material prevalent in textbooks needs to be removed to give non-Muslim Pakistanis a status of equal citizen as guaranteed in the Constitution,” the report recommended.
While acknowledging the Punjab government for accommodating earlier recommendations in its curriculum and textbooks, the SDPI urged the province to introduce a comprehensive ‘curriculum for compassion’ for an inclusive society.
The report recommended that an interfaith and systematic communication between Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, subject specialists, civil society and academia should be established to ensure deletion of hate material from textbooks.
“Scholars of each religion should be taken on board so that they can review curriculum and textbooks of each religion in accordance with Article 22 of the Constitution and the National Action Plan 2015,” the report suggests. Moreover, a third-party review of the curriculum and textbooks should be done by experts to eliminate hate material, it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2016.
A research review on textbooks of Pakistan has concluded that some schoolbooks still contain discriminatory and hate-based material against the spirit of Article 22 of the Constitution and the UN Convention on Child Rights.
The report comprising work of various research institutes was launched during a ceremony on Friday by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Calling for a comprehensive reform process to remove hate and discriminatory material in line with the National Action Plan against terrorism, the study said the anti-terror strategy was chalked out to build a counter-narrative against extreme religious narratives as a priority under the 20-point plan.
The report observed that non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan were being discriminated as if they were not Pakistani citizens. “The discriminatory and hate material prevalent in textbooks needs to be removed to give non-Muslim Pakistanis a status of equal citizen as guaranteed in the Constitution,” the report recommended.
While acknowledging the Punjab government for accommodating earlier recommendations in its curriculum and textbooks, the SDPI urged the province to introduce a comprehensive ‘curriculum for compassion’ for an inclusive society.
The report recommended that an interfaith and systematic communication between Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board, subject specialists, civil society and academia should be established to ensure deletion of hate material from textbooks.
“Scholars of each religion should be taken on board so that they can review curriculum and textbooks of each religion in accordance with Article 22 of the Constitution and the National Action Plan 2015,” the report suggests. Moreover, a third-party review of the curriculum and textbooks should be done by experts to eliminate hate material, it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2016.