Waging war through textbooks

Imran has spoken for uniform education in the province but so far, little of that promise has materialised


Hifza Jillani October 02, 2014

Throughout history, those in power have used educational systems as a tool for manipulation and control. Socrates was poisoned for ‘polluting’ the minds of youth but in reality he only questioned a mindset informed by a society based on conventionalism.

In Pakistan, the liberty of education was never given, and those fighting for it may not have been poisoned but are certainly silenced. Teachers have been killed, schools have been bombed, and if that did not work, the curriculum taught in schools is now being made more radical. Yes, I am talking about right-wing parties’ recent row on ‘to change’ or ‘not to change’ the curriculum in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Let’s look back into the curriculum history of Pakistan. The darkest era for education had been the time of General Zia who censored history. The curriculum of Zia was then revised by Musharraf and the PPP government only followed the latter’s suit. The PPP devolved education and made it into a provincial subject, asking the K-P government to include the legacy of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan in the textbooks. The Awami National Party (ANP) was brought to power by the liberal voices in K-P by people in hopes that the curriculum will be changed.

Interestingly, the curriculum change undertaken by the ANP could only see the light of the day a year after the PTI took over the reins of K-P. Imran has, in a great gesture, spoken for uniform education in the province but so far, little of that promise has materialised. He and his party are currently determined upon demanding the prime minister’s resignation, so little attention is being given to the curriculum debate. Officials in the province on condition of anonymity have revealed in media reports that they have agreed to omit pictures of girls without dupattas, added the salam in place of ‘hellos’ in textbook diagrams, included verses from the holy book, replaced the cross symbol with crescent on pictures of ambulances and removed pictures of Christmas cakes.

My question to those considering these changes is: are you completely ignorant of the fact that there are many minorities which share Pakistan and the public education system? Jinnah made a promise to them when he made Pakistan, the promise was never kept as many Sikhs are murdered in the same province in broad daylight and Christians are bombed in their religious gatherings while they pray. Now, textbooks are in the process of getting ‘purified’.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2014.

COMMENTS (3)

Tariq Shabir | 9 years ago | Reply After reading short but briefly and well compiled article with simplicity and meaningfull information which are given in the article, "Waging war through textbooks". Hifza really you are good writer and no doubt ur family nourishment is good and you are also one of the beautiful looking journalists.. keep it up. impressed from ur liberal, positive and modern thoughts.
Bushra Naz | 9 years ago | Reply

With a compulsory subject of Islamiyat, can’t we not use the space in other text books to introduce some non-Muslim heroes? Or get our children acquainted with some non-Muslim practices? So that our next generation doesn’t look their non-Muslim Pakistani brothers with contempt, and are able to respect them as any citizen of Pakistan should be respected - with equal rights to practice their religious norms and take pride in them. How can a political party, that doesn’t even enjoy the full mandate of Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, enforce their self righteous, conservative traditions on the other less conservative sections of society?

http://bushranaz.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-curious-case-of-kp-text-books.html

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