Pakistan Studies Books For Bs Level

[Caterina Haggins]

Thepurpose of this study was to examine the critical thinking skills incorporated in text-based questions and tasks in the Pakistan Studies textbooks of secondary level. The Pakistan Studies textbook produced by the Punjab Textbook Board for ninth was analyzed using qualitative content analysis based on cognitive domains derived from six levels of revised Bloom's taxonomy. Moreover, the text-based questions were then analyzed by categorizing them under the nine pre-determined analytic categories of Socratic taxonomy. These categories depicted the questions that challenge the critical thinking skills of learners. The findings revealed that the text-based question incorporated in the selected textbook of Pakistan Studies was not conducive to developing critical thinking skills among students. Except for one question, none of the questions fell under higher-order thinking levels of revised Bloom's taxonomy. Furthermore, based on analytic categories, text-based questions showed a little inclination towards the questions of clarification, whereas none represented other categories. Therefore, textbook developers need to focus on the induction of critical thinking skills in the text-based questions and tasks of textbooks.

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The Pakistani textbooks controversy refers to claimed inaccuracies and historical denialism. The inaccuracies and myths promote religious intolerance and Indophobia and lead to calls for curriculum reform. According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated anti-Indian discrimination through historical omissions and deliberate misinformation since the 1970s.[1]

The revisionism can be traced back to the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who instituted a program of Islamization of the country.[2] His 1979 education policy stated that the highest priority would be given to the revision of the curricula with a view of reorganizing the entire content around Islamic thought and giving education an ideological orientation so that Islamic ideology permeates the thinking of the younger generation to help them with the necessary conviction and ability to transform society according to Islamic tenets.[3] In March 2016, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani from the upper house of the Pakistani Parliament addressed that since then, Pakistani textbooks have taught children more about the benefits of dictatorship than a democracy.

According to Dr. Naazir Mahmood, textbooks on journalism in Pakistan fail to cover the subjects of critical thinking, knowledge development, freedom of speech, gender studies, minority rights, human rights, developmental studies, democracy and constitutionalism.[4] He suggests that instead of engaging in critical inquiry, Pakistani journalists end up parroting jingoistic, insular and narrow-minded narratives. Such journalists end up condoning or even promoting hate speech and sectarian violence toward religious minorities in Pakistan.[4]

In the first decade after Pakistan gained independence following the partition of India, Pakistan "considered its history to be a part of larger India, a common history, a joint history, and in fact Indian textbooks were in use in the syllabus in Pakistan."[5] The government under Ayub Khan, however, wished to rewrite the history of Pakistan to exclude any reference to India and tasked the historians within Pakistan with manufacturing a nationalist narrative of a "separate" history that erased the Indian past.[5] According to Hussain Haqqani, only officially published textbooks have been used in Pakistani schools and colleges since the era of Ayub Khan. These textbooks are used by the 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.[6] During the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a "program of Islamization" of the country including the textbooks started.[2] 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".[3] Since 21st century, the contributions of Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar, Patel and Bose to the Indian independence movement have been largely reduced from Pakistani textbooks.[7]

According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, since the 1970s Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated prejudice towards India and Hindus through historical revisionism.[8] The textbooks incite strong emotions among students and foster extremism and fanaticism within the impressionable minds of Pakistani youth.[9]

In March 2016, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani from the upper house of the Pakistani Parliament acknowledged that in the curriculum that was created under Zia's ruling, Pakistani textbooks still teach children about twelve benefits of dictatorship compared with just eight benefits of democracy.[10]

In Pakistan, since the 1980s Islamiyat (Islam) is a compulsory subject at every educational level.[11] 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.[11]

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 which gave them additional rights to pre-screen any Islamic-related content in all Pakistani textbooks including those of Islamiat, Pakistan Studies, History, and Urdu Literature.[12][13] In June 2020, another Governor's decree made passing of Quranic examination mandatory before receiving any University degree.[12] According to Baela Raza Jamil, June 2020 legislative changes in Punjab Pakistan would compromise education based on freedom of inquiry and critical thinking in Pakistan.[11] Huma Yusuf expressed surprise over misplaced priorities in Pakistani education wherein right-wing-washing of educational content is being prioritized over education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and critical thinking.[14]

A voluntary body of educators, Working Group on Inclusive Education (WGIE), expressed its serious reservations about legislative measures in Punjab Pakistan compromising diversity and religious freedom.[11]

According to a study by Muhammad Azeem Ashraf at Hunan University in Changsha, most teaching faculty in Pakistan believe that since Pakistan is an Islamic country, Islam has to be associated with nationalism. As such, Islam can only be introduced through religious education, which practically includes only Sunni Islam, and leads to the exclusion of minority religious thought from education, Pakistani citizenship, and human rights.[15]

The discoveries highlight the pervasive influence of radical Islam in Pakistan, shedding light on the reasons behind the country's tendency to support, tolerate, or condone terrorism. The educational materials used in Pakistani schools contribute to the promotion of prejudice and intolerance towards Hindus and other religious minorities. Moreover, a significant number of teachers perceive non-Muslims as "enemies of Islam."[16] Pakistani textbooks depict non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan in a biased manner, often characterizing Pakistani Christians as representatives of Western or British colonial powers and Pakistani Hindus as minorities within the Muslim-majority population with affiliations to India. This portrayal fosters hostility and animosity. These history books are contaminating and indoctrinating the minds of the youth with a deliberate propagation of false narratives and rigid ideologies.[17]

According to Dr Naazir Mahmood, textbooks on journalism in Pakistan fail to cover critical thinking, knowledge development, freedom of speech, gender studies, minority rights, human rights, democracy, and constitutionalism, as well as health education and other developmental studies.[4] Mahmood says that, as a result, Pakistani journalists promote rather than question jingoistic, insular, narrow minded narratives, condoning and even promoting hate speech and sectarianism against religious minorities in Pakistan.[4] Many senior journalists, and observers of the media in Pakistan often complain about new or younger media professionals who have become self-styled promoters of chauvinism, jingoism and sectarian tendencies in the country.

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 a large extent of creative imagination in the creation of the state historiography, to carve out a national past based on hegemonic values. She remarked on Pakistan's history textbooks as being an example of the relationship between power and bigotry, in regards to the rigid state-controlled education system and curriculum which promoted revisionist history to satisfy its national ideology.[18]

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