October 21, 2007

Although in recent times, the role of curriculum as centre stage in educational development and research is being more and more realised, the role of the textbook in embodying and embedding the curriculum is also growing as a phenomenon in both developed and developing countries. In Pakistan, for instance, the textbook is by and large ‘the curriculum’ as it serves its aims and purposes, values, pedagogy, assessment motives and the cultural and ideological imperatives that underpin its ‘whole’ curriculum. However, Pakistan’s status was not unique in the adoption of textbooks as educationists the world over recognise its important role when they argue that ‘Only the teacher and, perhaps, a blackboard and writing materials — are found as universally as the textbook in our classrooms’. More recently this important role is reiterated when educationists reveal that ‘it is the textbook which establishes so much of the material conditions for teaching and learning in classrooms in many countries, and it is the textbook that often defines what the elite and legitimate culture there is to pass on.’

The following discourse will trace the ideological and cultural imperatives that underpinned Pakistan’s curriculum as part of its role in nation building and how the grand designs of its broad based curriculum fell prey to political control and agendas. In the process, broader educational goals were sacrificed when a narrowing view of the curriculum emerged through the setting up of Textbook Boards which mandated approved tradition based texts on prescribed syllabi.

Rationale and Structure

At its inception in 1947 as an independent state, Pakistan had two pressing tasks — it had to build a nation from scratch and justify its existence in relation to the idea that had given it birth. Pakistan was created on the basis of religion — a unique status it shares with Israel which came into being a year later in 1948. The task of nation building or state formation had already been undertaken by Prussia and France in Europe and Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong in Asia earlier on in the 19th and 20th centuries. Common to all these countries was the use of a national system of education for the development of the state’s economic, social-political, technological and cultural advancement but Pakistan added religion to these goals as well. More generally, in the eighties, it was analysed as follows:

‘The importance of education in the process of state formation is evident. The major impetus for the creation of national education systems lay in the need to provide the state with trained administrators, engineers and military personnel to spread the dominant cultures and inculcate popular ideologies of nationhood, to forge the political and cultural unity of the burgeoning nation states, and to cement the ideological hegemony of their dominant classes. In all the countries there was a need to promulgate popular literacy and to generalize the use of the dominant language or dialect as a part of fostering national identity. In new nations, such as the U.S.A, education also had to play a major part in assimilating immigrant cultures.’

Likewise, Pakistan’s strong regional and provincial affiliations tied inevitably to regional customs and dialects, absence of trained civil, military and technical personnel, an initial formidable illiteracy rate of 90% and a tradition-based agro-economy required an educational system to meet all these needs. Underpinning national re-construction was the colonial heritage that had to be re-organised, restructured and, in some areas, discarded for adjustments to be made to the new state’s policies.

Ideology and Cultural Imperatives

Equally necessary was the formulation of a new identity for the nation. Its ideological leanings had to be clarified and stated in no uncertain terms. On 9th February 1948, the Advisory Board of Education for Pakistan declared: ‘Thus, the adoption of the Islamic ideology as the basis of Education is no longer a mere theoretical issue but a definite policy of the state, and the sooner the provincial and local authorities and all those who are concerned with education realize this the better for the security of our state, and the progress of humanity at large’.

The ideology chosen for the social, cultural and educational aims was founded on sound logic. Historically, the word ‘ideology’ has acquired a negative or pejorative sense and the most common and powerful use of the word ‘ideology’ is when the ruling classes use its ideas and practices covertly to continue their hold on the oppressed, economically and materially. However, Pakistan’s ideology based on religious grounds can be taken to be in the neutral or positive sense as ‘the manner of thinking, characteristic of a class or individual’ and ‘ideas at the basis of some economic or political theory or system’ (Concise Oxford English Dictionary). The ‘system’ in question here is guided by the principles and laws that have to govern Islamic societies. These can be viewed as a democratic participation where educational opportunities will be available to all and in a ‘progressive’ view contribute to the creativity and genius of the people of the society.

Supporting and giving credence to the ideological base were the equally strong cultural imperatives of the new state. This can be explained explicitly by the meaning of culture as ‘the whole way of life of a society’ as defined by social scientists. A British curriculum expert, Denis Lawton, divides his “selection from the culture” approach to curriculum to correspond with nine invariants of the concept of culture as seen by many anthropologists: socio-political system, economic system, communications systems, rationality systems, technology system, morality system, belief system, aesthetic system, maturation system

Unfortunately, Denis Lawton’s perspective of ‘making available to the next generation whatever is regarded as the most valuable aspects of British culture’ could not find its place in Britain’s curriculum because of its present multicultural and pluralist society but is quite suitable for an Islamic country like Pakistan.

As such, despite the fact that Islam encompasses many countries across the world with variants in cultural norms of language, literature and the arts, the Islamic way of life is based on an explicit ‘code of life’ for a socio-political order based on democratic values, a strict moral and belief system that shuns all forms of indecency in dress and behaviour and an economic system with set rules for taxation and an equitable balance of wealth in society. Furthermore, Islam’s shared art forms expressed through calligraphy, floral motifs and architectural uniformity, acceptance of man’s role on earth and his exalted status as God’s vice regent, a common access to the Arabic language and use of advances in technology for the betterment of mankind find resonance with Lawton’s cultural sub-systems. Thus, the necessity for bonding a ‘common Islamic culture’ to a ‘common’ or ‘core’ curriculum to project and nurture ideological and cultural aspects through a national system of education and mass schooling became a necessity as more than 95% of the population was Muslim.

As a break from the colonial past, the statutory Boards of Secondary Education had to effect the fundamental change in the form and content of education that the introduction of Islamic ideology implied. The education system’s new outlook, content and methods were explained by the Pakistan’s first Federal Minister for Education, Fazl ur Rehman, at the joint meeting of the Executive and Academic Council of Dacca University in 1948:

“Under a foreign government, it was only to be expected that the main emphasis in the teaching of history should have been on English history and such aspects of Indian history as threw into relief the achievements of British rule. The contribution of Muslims to Indian history was given a secondary position while Islamic history was either completely ignored or… relegated to the periphery of the curriculum. We, as a Muslim nation have our roots stuck deep in the past and these spread as far as Spain in the west and China and Indonesia in the East. The study of Islamic history should, therefore, occupy a central place in our universities. We should also provide sufficient incentives for sustained research to enable our scholars to assess the value of Muslim contributions in other important branches of learning such as philosophy, law, mathematics, economics, civics, science, medicine and literature with the object, not of self-glorification but of rescuing and preserving whatever leads meaning and significance to human civilisation”.

Textbook Boards at the centre and provincial level were mandated to produce textbooks based on the new or revised syllabi. One example of cross-curricula themes based on Islamic culture and religious history are the readers in the Urdu language. A selection from poetry and prose in Urdu were produced in the form of a textbook for each grade from 1 to 10. The chosen narratives reflected Islamic culture and background. Initially, the coordinated input of the best of specialists and intellectuals contributed to the writing of textbooks and the latest scientific methods of instruction and exposition were taken into consideration.

Political Control and Manipulation

The government’s responsibility for education for all and managing the national system suffered severe setbacks in the next two decades because of political expediency and instability. During the 1960’s (Pakistan’s first military government) known as “the decade of development”, Pakistan’s industrial base was laid and agricultural economy improved. A sudden surge in capitalist development needed a corresponding educated work force. Vocational and technical schools were set up and standards maintained while attendance in schools increased. The military government’s task force kept a vigilant eye on educational expansion as a vital tool in the nation building process.

However, in the 1970’s (under a popularly elected Prime Minister) standards in education were perceived to have fallen when all private schools, colleges and universities were nationalised as part of a socialist agenda. The number of students increased but no provision was made to put up extra classrooms and hire more teachers. Numbers in classes increased and a de-motivated teacher force let standards slip. The educational experience became routine, dreary and performance based with mark sheets the only criteria of success.

The elected government’s hollow slogans of reform and failure to show results expedited another military takeover in the 1980’s whose ‘legitimacy’ became the ideological slogan ‘Islamisation’ of the country. Misuse of the ideological stance impacted on education, banking, women’s role in society and Islamic laws on taxation and punishments. Two new subjects, ‘Pakistan Studies’ and ‘Islamiyat’ were made compulsory for all Pakistani pupils taking Matriculation/O Level, BA/B.Sc, M.A/M.Sc, medicine, engineering and civil service exams. The study of these subjects was a mandatory clause in the constitution of Pakistan and became firmly situated within the educational framework. This arbitrary move had the weight of the military rule behind it but no concern was shown for delving into curriculum matters (its evaluation or further development) and no inquiry was made into prevalent educational standards.

The objectives of the syllabus for Pakistan Studies were: to develop a sense of citizenship based on knowledge of Pakistan’s history and geography

To instill a sense of the sacrifices made to establish Pakistan as an independent nation

To provide an understanding of the achievements/contributions of various personalities in the formation and functioning of Pakistan

As was to be expected, the syllabus prescribed for Pakistan Studies appeared in the form of one textbook to be used at school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Rather than instilling a sense of citizenship and pride in nationhood, this example of ‘textbook culture’ resulted in negating the objectives of Pakistan Studies due to the narrow approach of the prescribed text and the constant repetition of the same content at each level of study. The students came to view the subject as boring and the textbook as something to be learned by rote in order to pass the examination.

To take the example of and to sustain a continuing interest in Pakistan Studies at higher levels, I would like to suggest a few examples that can be included in the curriculum for Pakistan Studies. For instance, enough source material is available in the form of poetry, letters, speeches, and writings of the personalities who contributed to the creation of Pakistan which can become part of the syllabus for the subject. Pakistan’s poet-philosopher, Allama Iqbal’s awe inspiring poetry relating to Muslim past and future well-being can be studied at secondary and college level. Another poet Hali’s epic poem “Mussadus” for Muslim emancipation is also a simulating material for college students. At undergraduate level, Allama Iqbal’s essays on ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ and his more difficult poetry can inform students of Islam’s tolerance, liberalism and peace.

However, Pakistan’s education system has become more and more dependent on a textbook culture to project its curriculum — subject content, pedagogy and assessment criteria. Also, in the absence of trained teachers, rote learning of textbooks is now accepted as the norm by both teachers and students.

Conclusion

Despite the advances in human psychology that inspired theories of learning in the rest of the world, Pakistan’s immature educational climate has continued haphazardly in the wake of political instability and lack of direction and vision. The gap in educational vision whereby outdated syllabi, untrained teachers and the inability to take firm measures in policy planning has led to the dependence on textbooks to impart ‘knowledge’ and inform ‘pedagogy’. The education of the ‘whole’ child has been sacrificed to the narrowing of the curriculum in the use of a single textbook through didactic teaching.

The effect of such schooling deteriorates to what can be said to be a closing rather then a broadening of the minds. In writing of the textbooks scholars usually often have a variety of definitions from which to choose from while formulating textbooks; teachers have fewer from which to choose, but often have more than one; the students usually, more so at lower levels, are given the opportunity to learn only one. The acceptance of the textbook by teachers and students of different social classes in Pakistan, whether elite or otherwise, to determine the breadth of content, its views of knowledge and their correctness, and its effect on pedagogy can be related to generations being exposed to what was being handed down to them. Thus, the textbook culture in the face of more or better continues to have its stranglehold on the curriculum, pedagogy and learning in Pakistan.

The writer has a Masters degree in Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Institute of Education, University of London and has been teaching English language and history for 25 years