Adil Najam
In late July, the Daily Times broke the story about about how the new Ethics textbook published by the Punjab and Sindh Textbook Boards for class IX do not have a chapter on Christianity and Jesus Christ.
The good news was that there was an immediate uproar from some politicians (Senator Aitzaz Ahsan) and major Pakistani newspapers (Daily Times, News) wrote scathing editorials condemning the omission.
I have waited ten days now to find out what has been done on this. Yet, unless I have missed something — and I really hope I have — nothing seems to have been done yet to rectify the situation.
To be fair, the text books are slowly becoming better and more balanced than they used to be. This is largely because of the pioneering work being done by many civil society activists. Indeed, the fact that the text book in questions does have sections on Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Krisha, and Guru Nanak is great news (these were not there when I was in school).
But as this incident points out, because of our past negligence, the challenge is much bigger and there is a need for continued vigilance. At issue is the education of our cchildren, but also the shape of society and the treatment fo religious minorities in Pakistan.
The News, for example, pointed out:
Mr Ahsan is spot on as far as his remarks on the Christian community are concerned. Unfortunately, he has also hit the nail on the head when he says that the community has been persecuted since the days of General Zia. The reason for this has a lot to do with the fact that the country has become conservative since then and because that military dictator introduced laws that tended to target Christians and other minorities, especially the laws relating to blasphemy. Other policies introduced by General Zia — and which successive governments have failed to discard in many instances — were even more overtly discriminatory. For instance, many public-sector educational institutions give applicants extra marks or credit if they have learnt the Holy Quran by rote. Indeed, if such a policy is to be followed in college or university admissions then applicants of all faiths should be allowed to benefit from it — otherwise it should not be instituted in the first place because it reeks of discrimination….
The News is exactly right. For too long and on too many issues, Pakistan has taken its minorities for granted. An immediate stop must be put to this and we have to learn to treat all Pakistanis, irrespective of their religion, as equal citizens with equal rights. The insensitivity that officialdom and society at large shows to the religious beliefs 
of non-Muslims must be reversed and meaningful steps should be taken by the government to reverse the trends of discrimination and marginalization.
The misdirected zeal of our curriculum designes has created entire generations who actually think that patriotism is just about trashing the ‘enemy’ and faith is about explaining what is wrong with everyone else’s religion. True, others do it too and there are enough hate-mongers everywhere. But that is their problem. Our responsibility is to our own kids and we must not mess with their future!
Speaking of messing with education, now we hear of more propaganda seeping into the curriculum. A story in the August 2, 2006 issue of The Daily Times points out this incident of curriculum abuse:
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s messages to the nation have been replaced by messages from President Pervez Musharraf and Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi in almost all the latest editions of books approved and published by the Punjab Textbook Board… The Punjab Textbook Board chairman said he had noticed the error in books published by the board and had planned to omit the messages of Musharraf and Elahi from books to be published in 2007-08.
In this case it is good news that the Board plans to remove the political propaganda. Let’s please make sure it is removed.
We have fed our youth canned and erroneous histories for too long. So long, in fact, that I would bet if you asked a cross section of our young who Mohammad Ali Bogra was and gave them two choices — sportsman or politician — most will probably guess he was a sportsman rather than a Prime Minister of the country!
So, whatever else we do or not do, please do not mess with education!
(P.S., also see earlier ATP post on what’s happening to libraries).
Q_Ain:agreed.The funniest part is that India and Pakistan teaches different history about pre-partition India.
Social Studies for class VI (Sindh Text board 1997): Mohd Bin Qasim (MBQ) was the first Pakistani Citizen
This is all lie.My memory is not so weak that I dont remember what I had studied but…it might have changed later.Qasim was introduced was first Muslim who got into this region via Sind.I am rather laughing that he was introduced as a PAKISTANI
Pakistan Studies: The idea of Pakistan was born when MBQ set foot on the subcontinent.
debateable but technically it’s not wrong.As soon as Qasim entered in India,the existing population had started opposing him and if you remember same opposition was the reason of Pakistan’s establishment.
what is even the point of trying to explain an abstract concept such as Jehad and shahdat to 7 and 8 year olds
I ask why not??there is a religious tradition among muslims that their kids start getting quranic education at age of 2 /3.I started my quranic education when i was 3 years old.Several other kids go to memorize Quran at age of 4/5 and In quran there are various verses about Jihad and Shahdat.Would you say that those verses should be excluded from syllabus while a kid going to memorize entire Quran.?
How many of you stop you kids in early ages NOT to watch every program of TV.Doesnt TV leave its impact on kids?why not such measures taken against TV as well? I woudn’t oppose if a kid is introduced concept fo Shahdat.Being a Muslim I dont feel ashamed that my religion has concept of Shahdat and fight against enemies.If you wont teach at this age then which age would you prefer to teach about Jihad?What if some country attacks on Pakistan and our youth dont have idea and concept to fight against enimies?we dont even have sprit like Hizbollah to figbht against any enemy.
ever heard of IDF,the israeli defence force which is bsy these days in Lebonan?every isreali men and women of above 16 is part of IDF.Now noone in world condemns that they are spoiling their youth by sending them in war’s furnanance.They do it because its necessary for them and according to their Psalms which directed them to guard the “promised land”.
@Nuzhat Aziz
the link you sent is not working. here is another link of complete report in pdf : http://www.sdpi.org/whats_new/reporton/State%20of% 20Curr&TextBooks.pdf
Well Adnan, the fact, whether we like it or not, is that the word jihad has been co-opted by certain elements within Muslim society to mean only one thing; death and destruction to the non-believers (The West is just following that lead). It is up to us to wrest the true meaning back from them.
Going back to education, let me tell you about some other gems in our curriculum:
Social Studies for class VI (Sindh Text board 1997): Mohd Bin Qasim (MBQ) was the first Pakistani Citizen
Pakistan Studies: The idea of Pakistan was born when MBQ set foot on the subcontinent.
Pakistan Studies (1984 National Bureau of Textbooks-ISB): Aim of chapter: to encourage the aspiration of Jihad and Shahdat in students…..
There are many more such pearls… I ask you….. what is even the point of trying to explain an abstract concept such as Jehad and shahdat to 7 and 8 year olds!
I refer you to an SDPI report publised 2 years ago called “the subtle subversion”
http://www.sdpi.org/advocacy/Education.htm. It is an eye-opener.
NUzhat i never studied Jeem se Jihad in my school or college life.I was rather told Jeem se “Jota” ,wo bhe bachpan me parents aur teacher ka.for Shadi shuda people it would be jeem se jota wo bhe begum ka =).
I dont understand why are we so much pissed of _Jihad_.Why so much fear from it?Jihad was taken improperly by few extreemist elements but it didnt disturn my belief on blessing of Jihad which exist in different forms.