PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami has submitted a long list of what it deems objectionable material in the textbooks of government schools to the education department and termed it against the Islamic and country’s norms, according to sources.

The objections to certain material in textbooks have been raised by the JI’s working group on education and submitted to the Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) Department with a covering letter of JI chief Sirajul Haq to E&SE Minister Mohammad Atif Khan.

“Please remove flaws from the textbooks due to which unrest has been spread at large scale and inform me in this regard,” the letter quotes the JI chief as requesting the minister. The six-page objections are related to textbooks of different grades that mainly entail that many things incorporated in the textbooks printed according to the curricula approved in 2006-07 do not conform to the social norms, sources in the education department told Dawn.

The JI working group pointed out that some ‘inappropriate’ human organs had been printed in the biology book for grade-10 on pages 76 and 86 and taught to the students in the government schools, which was improper for students of such an age group.

However, a senior official in the education department rejected the JI’s objections, saying there was nothing wrong in the mentioned pages of the biology book. “Only sketches of some human organs have been shown as it was impossible to teach science subjects to the students without sketches, skeletons and diagrams,” he said.

Party’s provincial chief says secularisation, western culture unacceptable

The official said that it was not a taboo to teach students such things rather it was science which needed to explain every part of the body to the students. “The students reach grade-10 in the age of 15 or 16 years when they are mature enough to understand these things,” he said.

The education department has already made several changes in the textbooks on the recommendations of JI last year. The material removed from the textbooks mainly included a chapter on Helen Keller from English, a chapter on the existing problems in Pashto for grade-10 titled “Da mujuda dor Masaly”, etc.

In its present list, the JI has also shown concern over the dresses of children shown in pictures printed in the English book for grade-II; and removal of some chapters regarding personalities and events related to Pakistan and Islamic history, the sources said, adding the JI had termed it cultural invasion.

The JI stated that it had proposed to the education department last year to replace objectionable pictures of children with those wearing national dress in the English book for grade-II on pages 22, 25, 47, 58, 65 and 85. In these pages two children introduced as brother and sister in the picture are wearing half-sleeve shirts, while the father is dressed in shirt and trouser.

The JI has also shown reservations about page 47 of the same book in which only pictures of school uniforms such as coat, shirt, shoes and socks of minor students have been shown.

It was also a matter of concern for JI that why preference has been given to western writers in English part-I of the intermediate classes and none of the Muslim and Pakistani writers is included. The JI has also dubbed most of the chapters as useless in English book part-II of the intermediate classes.

The JI working group on education is also opposed to inclusion of chapters on Abdul Ghaffar Khan also known as Bacha Khan in Pashto subject for grade-2, 5 and 7. The group had proposed last year to reduce material on Bacha Khan, but the proposal was ignored during printing of new textbooks.

Everything incorporated in the textbooks is in accordance with the curricula, sources in the Directorate of Curricula and Teachers Education told Dawn.

The current curricula was approved in 2006-07 when it was a federal subject, while the books development process was completed two years ago, they said. Then Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government’s minister for education Maulana Fazl Ali and education ministers of the federal and three other provincial governments had approved the current curricula.

The sources asked why such issues were not raised when JI was part of the MMA government in the province from 2002 to 2007. “Actually, JI wants to impose its ideology through textbooks,” said an official.

When contacted, JI’s provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said that secularisation and western culture was not acceptable to them. “Our local culture, Islam and patriotism should be reflected in the textbooks,” he said. “We have an agreement with the PTI on education and are holding meetings time to time in this regard,” he said, adding that issues would be solved amicably.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016