Setting curricula and syllabi in accordance with the national needs and world standards has always been a serious issue during the past over six decades of Pakistan's history.

Academics and scholars have always pointed out flaws in our school and college curricula. Historian Ayesha Jalal in her 1995 article raised concerns over the trends of official historiography in Pakistan's history textbooks.

Yvette Rosser, in an article based on her Ph.D thesis, regarded such curricula as a composite of patriotic discourses. She identifies significant defects, inherent contradictions and inaccurate information within educational syllabi in general and the Pakistan Studies textbooks in particular.

Various organisations working in the field of education and development have also been giving their recommendations from time to time. In 2003, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan published a report that had emerged from a survey of textbooks of Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics subjects, being taught at the secondary and higher secondary school levels. The survey identified inaccuracies of fact and omissions that appeared to distort the significance of actual events in the country's history. Some of the prominent issues included the lack of understanding towards civil society, religious diversity, and gender relations.

The SDPI report called for major structural reforms and establishment of a National Education Advisory Board to centralise the curriculum development and carry out regular revisions. The report claimed that "associated with the insistence on the ideology of Pakistan has been an essential component of hate against India and the Hindus. For the upholders of the ideology of Pakistan, the existence of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus, and hence the Hindus have to be painted as negatively as possible."
Another report prepared in 2005, by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a non-profit organisation, found that Pakistan Studies textbooks in Pakistan have been used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policymakers have attempted to inculcate towards the minorities.

Also, an editorial in daily Dawn commenting on a report in the Guardian on Pakistani textbooks noted: "By propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India's ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote a mindset that is bigoted and obscurantist. Since there are more children studying in these schools than in madrassas the damage done is greater."

Professor Mubarak Ali, a known historian and author of various books, says that the textbook reform in Pakistan began with the introduction of Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1971, into the national curriculum as compulsory subjects. Former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, under a general drive towards Islamisation, started the process of historical revisionism in earnest and exploited this initiative. "The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of religion - that's why they don't have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe-out all of them."

Pervez Hoodbhoy, a professor at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, also agrees with Mubarak Ali. He says that "Islamising" of schools in the country began in 1976 when an act of parliament required all government and private schools (except those teaching the British O-levels from Grade 9) to follow a curriculum that includes learning outcomes for the federally approved Grade 5 social studies class such as:-

"Acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan";
"Make speeches on Jihad";
"Collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and national guards";
And, "India's evil designs against Pakistan."

Again in 2006, an extensive media debate and academic reiteration was launched for the need to update the curricula at all levels of education. The government carried out measures in 2006 to improve the national curriculum for Pakistan Studies. These actions were based on the earlier studies and recommendations by the former University Grants Commission in 2001, and then later by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) in 2003. The new curriculum, for secondary and higher school certificates, was implemented from 2007, to include the political history from pre-partition to modern times, international relations, evolution of the country's economy and demographics, diversity of regional cultures and languages, and the status of religious groups with specific reference to Muhammad Ali Jinnah's views that he expressed at his speech of 11 August, 1947.
It also attempted to eliminate prejudice against non-Muslims. Efforts were made to exclude all such material that tended to promote prejudice against the non-Muslims of pre-partition India. Subsequently, the need was also realised to standardise the subject framework across the university degrees. As a result, in 2007, the Curriculum Division at the HEC revised the syllabus for the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Pakistan Studies.

However, it appears as if the issue could not be resolved fully. In line with the attempts to expunge the textbooks of hate material and historical mistakes, various other things were also removed which should have always been part of Pakistan's curricula.

According to the Ministry of Education sources, Quranic verses on the universe, and creationism were ordered removed from the government-issued textbooks on June 24, 2003, as per the decision of the National Review Committee, which also blocked the role of the rightwing Majlis-e-Aharar in deciding what is to be incorporated into textbooks. Also, the number of Quranic verses in Biology textbook for grades IX and X was halved from 12 and Surah Tobah was replaced with three shorter verses from the Holy Book.

Later on, a federal curriculum review committee was formed to review curricula for school and colleges textbooks. In the light of the recommendations, made by the committee, syllabi were revised and new books were introduced in educational institutions. However, again objections were raised.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) reviewed the content of the new books and launched its report in the last quarter of the year 2012. The report titled Education or Promotion of Hatred claimed that hate material had been increased from 2009 to 2012. In 2009, there were just 45 lines that have been increased to 122 lines in 2012. In this study, 22 textbooks from Punjab and Sindh were examined, that were for students of class 1 to 10.

Another study was conducted by a journalist-cum-educational policy analyst, Amir Riaz, and presented in September 2011. In his report titled What We Are Teaching Our Children, he pointed out the flaws in the textbooks of various subjects, including English, Urdu, Islamiyat, Ethics and Pakistan Studies.

The report was based on content analysis of 34 textbooks published by the Punjab Text Book Board, for classes one to 10. The report claims errors of dictation, history, misquotations, cultural bias and hatred against minorities in the textbooks.

The researcher said that the text of the Lahore Resolution, Allama Iqbal's famous 1930 Allahabad address and Jinnah's speeches were either misquoted or twisted in books published during the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid government in the Punjab, and reprinted during the PML-N government that completed its tenure the last month.

The report said that "all the 34 books (reviewed) had 871 lessons, while only 11% content was related to peace and tolerance." In the Punjab textbook, "there were only 35 lessons out of 871, that contained information about Punjab", which was less than 5%. There were overall 90 lessons introducing and promoting scientific achievements and very few lessons, 35 in all, which were based on information about developed nations, the Muslim world and South Asia.

However, the latest development in this regard took place this year, in January 2013. The Lahore High Court annulled an eight-member provincial committee formed by the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) chairman to select manuscripts for the books of different subjects distributed free-of-cost in public sector schools.

On the other hand, the Punjab Textbook Board chairman, meanwhile, formed his own provincial committee comprising eight members including headmasters of schools to select books of his own choice. A notification was also issued in this regard, though the Punjab Curriculum Authority Act 2012 says that the academicians of vice chancellors' level could be part of the selection committee for selecting the best books. It all shows things are still not moving in the right direction as far as the syllabi and curricula for school and colleges are concerned. It very clearly shows that the authorities concerned not only lack vision but also are incompetent to resolve this very important issue once and for all.

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