1/15/2015

Does the education system in Pakistan demonize India? - Quora

Does the education system in Pakistan demonize

India?

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I have heard rumours and read certain articles regarding the same. I'd like to get
an on-the-ground view of a person from/in Pakistan who is/has been associated
with Pakistan's education system. Or maybe from someone who has undergone
education in Pakistan.

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Education in
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India-Pakistan Rivalry

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Pakistan

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Education

Saniya M. Ali, I know less than I should

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697 upvotes by Mohit Shukla, Yasaswi Kadambari, Vikas Sangle, (more)

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Does the education system in Pakistan

demonize Non-Muslims, especially
Hindus?
Is this true that Pakistan's education
system propagates hatred of minorities
and treats India as existential enemy?
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India doesn't enter the curriculum except in the subject Pakistan Studies,
which I first studied in O Levels (9th to 11th grade) - this is largely the case
with most private schools. Before that, we are taught Social Studies.
Pakistan Studies is divided into the history of Pakistan and the geography. The
geography has no mention of India, so it's mainly the history we're talking
about here. Please keep in mind that O Level books are not government
recommended books, they are approved by the Cambridge International
Examination committee. It is my impression from the government books I
have studied that they tend to be more biased.
My memory may be flawed as I studied Pakistan Studies about 7 years ago, so
if there's any Pakistani here, please correct me or add onto this answer.
Additionally, any value judgements in the description are the text's, not my
own.

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History is definitely taught with an agenda which, predictably, is to glorify

Pakistan, and that leads to a skewed and one-sided view of history.
As far as I remember, pre-partition era focuses on constructing the British as
an evil imperialist force that brought us no good, and only divided the unified
people of the subcontinent. The British colonizers are at the end of most
criticism for ending the "glory days" of Mughal rule and creating a divide
between Hindus and Muslims, when none existed before, as well as creating
issues for Pakistanis during independence. Hindus are portrayed in a positive to
neutral light because Muslims and Hindus had a common enemy - the British.
Incidents like the War of Independence (a.k.a. the Indian Mutiny), Jallianwala
Bagh massacre, and the cow/pig fat bullets controversy come to mind as an
example demonstrating the unity and cooperation between Hindus and
Muslims against the British.
The partition era (the years leading to it and during) contains increased
mention of the Hindu-Muslim divide and escalating violence. Here, the books
mention atrocities from the Hindu side. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
is hailed as a political hero against an increasingly intolerant Hindu population,
who are forcibly converting Muslims and are not protecting, even persecuting
them in Hindu majority provinces. Muslims are, therefore, unable to practise
their religion as they wish. The Congress is blamed for alienating Muslims by
not heeding their needs and wishes, ensuring their representation or safety.
Thereby, the Muslim League becomes the voice of Muslims, Congress of
Hindus (despite having Muslim members). This is where the narrative of the
need of a separate Islamic country for Muslims is constructed, and the
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Does the education system in Pakistan demonize India? - Quora

irreconcilable differences between Hindus and Muslims are magnified.

The post-partition era focuses more on Pakistani politics and the struggle to
maintain the nation given the non-existent industrial base, multiple regimes of
martial law, the Cold War and Afghanistan etc. However, Indians are
mentioned with respect to the Kashmir Issue. (I shall elaborate this since I'm
curious about what the Indian textbooks say, comment below if you wish).
Before partition, it was decided that Kashmir would join Pakistan due to its
overwhelming Muslim majority population (cited as around 90%) and because
it formed a natural extension of Pakistan (it is the heart of all the major rivers
in the country). However, the maharaja of Kashmir at the time was a Hindu
and, after delaying his decision, he decided he wanted to be a part of India. The
Indians and Pakistanis had a military clash over who would gain Kashmir and
eventually, it was agreed upon in a ceasefire through the UN that India and
Pakistan would carry out a plebiscite. However, India did not withdraw its
troops (a condition of the plebiscite) and Pakistan did not consider voting under
the Indian army valid. Ever since, the plebiscite has never been carried out and
the issue is at a standstill.
[Edit: I have been informed by Emad Khan that the textbooks mention that a
plebiscite was, indeed, carried out in 1954 by India, but under supervision of
its armed forces. The vote was in favor of India. The assembly set up to
supervise the election and confirm the decision was also considered a sham by
Pakistan. As a result, Pakistan did not accept the legitimacy of the plebiscite.]
There is mention again of Indians' military support to East Pakistan during
their war for independence, but not in great detail.
Pakistan Studies is a necessary course of the university curriculum as well; the
course is not standard, however. Mine focused more on debunking established
myths ("Pakistan was made for Islam") and research on the current conditions
of Pakistan. There was little to no mention of India.
Returning to your question, I'd say that Indians are not particularly
demonized. Since most mention of Indians is in relation to Independence, it
would be unfair to downplay the atrocities that brought about partition.
Muslims were, indeed, being treated unfairly. However, the textbooks do pick
and choose what to include; events portraying Pakistan negatively are taken
out. The atrocities were not one sided and no side is clean. Rather than
providing a one-sided view, the texts should provide a more nuanced analysis.
Where demonizing occurs is in society; survivors of Independence are still in
our midst and they have faced incredible terrors. When they recount their
stories, it is easy to forget that Independence was painful for both countries.
It's best to accept what we did wrong and not allow it to mar our current
perceptions of each other and our progress.
----Editing to provide the government textbooks' view by Raza Majeed, who wrote
in the comments below.
I studied government curriculum till intermediate. Most of the stuff that
Saniya mentioned is true. However separation of east Pakistan is also in
detail. I remember cramming a topic of 3-4 pages on causes of separation of
East Pakistan. And here again India is the villain. India was involved but
there is no mention of Pakistani government's uncaring attitude about
Bengalis which was also a major reason for unrest in that part of the
country.
She is spot on about Kashmir too. Raja Hari Singh joined India against the
wishes of his people, etc. etc.
Demonizing is a strong word and I am sure that Indian curriculum is this
much biased too because no one wants to burden young minds with the
truth. So, our books portray national leaders as heroes who weren't capable
of making mistakes of any kind. Both Gandhi and Jinnah were great leaders
but the authors should not defame the other while portraying the one they
are fond of.
However I agree with Saniya completely that the books should provide a
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Does the education system in Pakistan demonize India? - Quora

neutral approach on whatever the topic is.

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And we should move on from Indo-Pak fight. This rivalry is healthy just in
cricket, hockey or kabaddi field. We should respect eachother in every walk
of life. And I have seen that some of the Indians posted very harsh questions
on quora about Peshawar attack. This should
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Written 22 Dec. Asked to answer by Navaneeth Nenmini.

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Asfiya Aziz, Medical Books Editor, Master o... (more)

19 upvotes by Rajath Seshadri, Navaneeth Nenmini, Peeyush Kumar, (more)

I will answer this question in two parts. First a little bit about the state of
school education, then my experience.
About education in Pakistan (to illustrate that the education system is not the
same across the country):
1. Education is a provincial matter. All provinces have their own Textbook
Boards which develop and publish their own books according to the national
curriculum. Government schools are required to follow these books as the
exam of government boards is set from these books.
2. Until 2008, (that's when I last checked), there were 27 examination boards
in the country.
3. Private schools are free to adopt any books. Many private publishers print
books based on the broad curriculum guidelines to get a share of the market. I
worked for Pakistan's biggest publishing house until last year and private
schools constituted the largest market segment according to their sales figures.
4. Private publishers also develop books to capture the GCSE (Cambridge
system) market.
So, the point is, it is hard to come up with a comprehensive answer on this
issue. However, I can share my own experience of studying in the government
system.
I have written elsewhere about the 2006 National Curriculum for History. Y ou
can read this to know a bit about that document. Asfiya Aziz's answer to What
do Pakistanis think of their Indian ancestry?
The way we were taught history, the demon turned out to be the British
definitely. And this may sound a bit off, but the indigenous history figure that I
remember as the most berated, named and shamed in our school days was Mir
Jafar who deceived Nawab Sirajuddaulah against the British. No other history
figure rose to this kind of prominence, not even close. Mir Jafar was even
frequently shamed on national TV back then and the Urdu press, that I can
remember. Selfish chap!
History begins at Indus Valley, then a cursory mention of the indigenous
kingdoms lands us neatly into the year 712 when Sindh was conquered by the
Muslims, the adversary being the corrupt Raja Dahir who patronised pirates.
From there on, Muslims probably became too lazy or bothered by the heat of
Upvote 19 Downvote Comments 2+ Share
Sindh,
or the muggy classroom made me too sleepy because the next thing we
knew Mahmud Ghaznavi was marching through the Plains of Indus in the
year 997. There onwards, the rise of Muslim Power in South Asia dominates
the books. This finally leads to the fall of the Mughal empire as the evil British
took over.
Hindus as adversaries enter in higher classes as the reasons for the formation
of the Muslim League are discussed and the development of the mistrust
between the leaderships of Congress and ML, Two Nation Theory.
If by demonising you mean they are shown as evil and sub human, I think the
History books do not dwell on the people. They make their point by omitting to
mention the role of Congress leaders. Therefore, a skewed view is offered by
not acknowledging the collective struggle.
The post partition history also follows more or less the same pattern. The war
heroes are glorified and their roles are described in detail. Any Indian reading
those chapters may cringe at the mention of the 'enemy.' For Pakistanis, that is
our side of the story. Still, I can imagine the children come out of school
thinking that we are different from Indians, but not particularly focused on
Indians as adversaries.
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Does the education system in Pakistan demonize India? - Quora

There is another relevant factor. The quality of Government boards' textbooks

has gone down. The government system is in a shambles and most people who
value education try to send their children to private schools. So when you wish
to analyse the impact of what is being taught in schools or written in History
books, you need to devise some measure of assessing impact as well. I have
come across some poorly written and shoddily printed textbook board books
that went on and on without even a picture to break the monotony.
So, you may want to remember that even if a particular publisher sets out to
demonise a group of people, she doesn't necessarily do a good job of it.
Written 22 Dec.

Ravi Teja, IMperfect.

40 upvotes by Zdenka Don, Abhilash Krishnan, Veerappan Laxman, (more)

Apart from demonizing india,

Some one tell me this is not from Pakistan's Physics textbook!(im not 100%
sure)
otherwise,LOL!

Written 24 Dec.
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Downvote Comments 3

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Goutham Atreya
13 upvotes by Siddharth Dhagia, Diniel Patel, Naveen Kumar, (more)

This is an excerpt from Wikipedia Pakistani textbooks controversy

...
According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute , since the 1970s
Pakistani school textbooks have systematically inculcated hatred towards
India and Hindus through historical revisionism.[3] There is no mention
of Islamic invasion and conversion of Hindus. Many texts give an impression
that ancient Indian heritage was not destroyed by Afghans and Turks but
Muslim heritage was destroyed by Indians, which is a contradiction of the
theory of mainstream historians.
...
Written 21 Dec.
Upvote 13

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Usman Qazi
9 upvotes by Navaneeth Nenmini, Diniel Patel, Atul Kumar, (more)

It surely does not promote a peaceful accommodation with India. Both

Pakistan and India spin history in different ways. My focus is on Pakistan, and
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Does the education system in Pakistan demonize India? - Quora

I regard the curriculum as pretty inflammatory as it is explicitly driven by an

ideology.
Note that following the fall of communism in Europe, Czechoslovakia (which
later split peacefully) and Germany decided to become friends. An important
step in this direction was agreeing to teach the same version of history in both
countries.
Written 22 Dec. Asked to answer by Diniel Patel.
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Emad Khan, I'm looking for it.

4 upvotes by Navaneeth Nenmini, Diniel Patel, Roohani Naik, (more)

Thanks for the A2a, but I see the question has already been answered well by
Saniya M. Ali and Asfiya Aziz.
I will repeat that India appears only in historical contexts of pre and post
partition times and within the correlated struggles, communial problems and
hegemony issues.
It also depends on the textbooks, but I wouldn't say they demonize India.
Focus is on the historical problems, their factors and how it affected the masses
and where has it led to.
Written 22 Dec. Asked to answer by Navaneeth Nenmini.
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Monsieur Personne
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