KARACHI, June 8: The federal education ministry has suggested to the Cambridge International Examination and British Council to get their textbooks reviewed to make their contents suitable for Pakistani students.

Talking to Dawn from Islamabad on Wednesday, Education Secretary Sajid Hasan said that complaints had been received that the First Language Urdu (GCE O level) book included some objectionable material.

“After going through some of the chapters included in the book, Pakistani Kahanian, I found that there were objectionable not only about use of inappropriate or badly chosen language but also about some text, which were derogatory about some local people or characters,” he said.

He said the British Council Pakistan, which worked for the CIE, UK, had been approached to arrange for substituting the book.

As per assurances received, it might be hoped that the book would be withdrawn by the CIE immediately, he remarked.

He said the education ministry had offered the CIE and the British Council to avail themselves of its services for reviewing the entire lot of books prescribed for Pakistani students taking O or A level examinations. It would help circumvent conflicting details and objectionable language in courses for schoolchildren if the CIE got the books reviewed prior to their introduction in schools, he said.

A local facilitator in O/A level learning said there had been no information from the CIE or the British Council that the book in question or any of its topics had been changed.