KARACHI: Educationists and rights activists have raised concerns over “biased content in school textbooks” across Pakistan and warned that religious discrimination, gender stereotyping and distortion of historical facts in the curriculum are promoting intolerance and undermining inclusive education in the country.

They were speaking at the launching ceremony of a report, “A Dive into the Education Landscape of Pakistan: Trends, Challenges and Solutions,” at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist), here on Tuesday.

The report has been published by the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) in collaboration with the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

Speaking on the occasion, CICF programme manager Kashif Aslam said that as part of the research, 150 textbooks from all four provinces and other areas were analysed. Textbooks on mathematics, science, and other technical subjects were excluded and the focus was placed on Pakistan studies, social studies, history and general knowledge, he added.

Report highlights problems with curricula after analysing 150 schoolbooks from across country

The study raised “concerns regarding the treatment of religious minorities, gender representation, and social harmony”, Mr Aslam said, adding that there were historical distortions in the textbooks, particularly in relation to the partition of the Indian subcontinent.

He said that Hindus were maligned in the context of partition while in discussions of the Crusades and British colonisation, Christian communities were portrayed negatively.

Such content in schoolbooks, he maintained, “promotes hate and violence, which leads to extremism and narrow-mindedness among Pakistani youth and undermines human rights in general”.

Mr Aslam also said that lessons on civic sense, citizenship ethics, and personality development focus largely on the majority religion, Islam, while figures from religious minorities were excluded.

About gender issues, he highlighted that most of the heroes and personalities in the textbooks across different fields were men, while women were represented far less.

He said Sindh was doing well in terms of a biased syllabus as compared to other provinces, especially Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where discrimination in their curricula was relatively higher.

Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Szabist Dr Riaz Shaikh said that the issue of education and problematic syllabus was a collective crisis and must be addressed collectively.

He said that minorities had long been discriminated against in the country and practices such as mob justice and lynching had damaged Pakistan’s international image.

According to him, students from other countries used to come to Pakistan to study, but now very few choose to do so. At the same time, Pakistani students face challenges going abroad because they are often perceived as intolerant.

“With such discriminatory and intolerant teachings, Pakistan is isolating itself from the international community and creating hurdles in developing global citizenship,” said Dr Shaikh.

He also emphasised the importance of teacher training. He said teachers shape and represent the teachings of the textbooks and are central to promoting inclusivity.

He stressed the need for their training of the highest quality.

Dr Shaikh concluded by saying that there was a serious need for revising all problematic things in the syllabi and to discuss such issues openly.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MPA Mahesh Kumar Hasija said that the root cause of these problems in school textbooks lay in the ideology and agenda promoted by those in power, which were reflected in the curriculum. He emphasised that the absence of minority figures and personalities from textbooks affected relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

“When people do not read about non-Muslims, their notable figures, and their history, how would they relate to them, connect with them, and communicate with them better,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, journalist Mazhar Abbas said that extremism had taken root in Pakistan, and this outcome was inevitable considering how the country had been run since 1947.

He said that although Pakistan was born out of a democratic struggle, “true democracy” had never been practiced in the country, nor had there ever been genuine rule of law.

“Conservative and hard-line ideologies have consistently been promoted by those in power, who have deliberately prevented Pakistan from becoming an enlightened state,” argued Mr Abbas and added that even the country’s constitution also needed improvements and amendments.

He criticised the judiciary as well as lawmakers along with other “pillars of the state”.

He said that education, especially science, had never been a priority for the state, which had failed to take ownership of education.

“In such an environment, there can never be an inclusive and balanced education system in the country” he argued.

Pakistan Peoples’ Party MPA Maleeha Manzoor said that it was time to move beyond basic issues and begin discussing subjects that are being researched globally.

However, she regretted that Pakistan was still stuck on basic human rights and setting minimum standards for the quality of education.

Spokesperson for the Sindh government Sukhdev Hemnani said the provincial authorities were taking initiatives to address the issues in the curriculum and said that committees should be formed to affectively address the matter.

Mehnaz Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Director Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority Zainul Abidin Laghari, Deputy Lead South Asia CSW Cecil S. Chaudhry and Deputy Leader Teacher Training and Assessment Firm- Sindh Secondary Education Aamir Latif Siddiqui also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2025