DISCRIMINATORY and exclusionary content in Punjab’s textbooks has been flagged in Inclusive Education for a United and Harmonious Pakistan, a new study conducted during 2024-2025. Not only does the research underline systemic problems that contribute to faith-based marginalisation, restricting “critical thinking among students”, it also calls the educational structure “deeply fragmented, with a mix of public, private, missionary, and seminary schools operating under varied curricula and standards”. This should unsettle both the federal and provincial governments. When prejudice is fed at the primary level, incidents of carnage — such as the Jaranwala incident — can ensue, leaving irreversible misery and social divisions in their wake.

Recently, religious education schoolbooks for Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Kalash, Buddhist and Zoroastrian students were approved by the Punjab Education, Curriculum, Training and Assessment Authority. The time to see this through is now. Targeted interventions that instil interfaith harmony together with initiatives to promote the merits of religious and cultural diversity are crucial. Curricula must also celebrate figures from other faiths. Only comprehensive educational reforms that address structural barriers within the system, insensitive attitudes in classrooms, and underrepresentation of other faiths will complete the mission to align education in Pakistan with the constitutional promise of equality. New textbooks taught by teachers from various faiths in environments that prioritise empathy and responsible citizenship harmonise society. Meanwhile, the Sindh Education and Literacy Department’s readiness to introduce religious textbooks for primary level Hindu students in public schools also falls short as it excludes other faiths. Our minority communities have long demanded that their own religion be taught to their children. For the state, every child is equal. It must now become actively involved in making inclusion the lived reality of our young. Homes and schools should not serve as breeding grounds of prejudice.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026