Print
Email
Share
Historical revisionism is erasing minorities from Pakistan's school textbooks and fostering religious extremism.
Pakistan's minorities are being written out of school textbooks while the government conveniently looks the other way. Experts say the texts used in state-run schools foster religious extremism in a less blatant but more widespread way than the infamous Wahhabi madrasas.
Since 2006 I have been following the issues of historical revisionism and religious exclusivism in Pakistan's state school system, which is responsible for educating about 50% of school-going children (who in turn represent half of all school-age children). What I found was a pattern of cultural and religious homogenisation instilled in children from the time they learn to read, right through young adulthood.
While the authorities seem in no hurry to fix errors and upgrade the syllabus to international standards, they seem very keen to use the textbooks for propaganda purposes.
