A sit-in continues in Quetta after the deadly blast on the morning of Friday April 12th. I am still wondering what is wrong where, after the news went on air, we listened to the number of dead and injured and then life moved on as usual. It just leads me to think of the incident of shooting in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand which left everyone spellbound across the world, grieving to the core of their souls due to the manner in which it was carried out. The Christian majority felt the pain equally for the deceased one of a minority in their state. Their PM Jacinda Arden and the whole nation stood for the human beings in pain and trauma, irrespective of what faith they believed in.
Again multiple questions boggled my mind. How did the Christian majority become one to console with the grieved minority? Why were the victims were treated as human beings and nothing else? Why are we, as a nation, still waiting for a very huge tragedy, something very harsh to console the victims of? Is it the consistent conflict and militancy which has numbed us? Or there are some other reasons too? How far we are desensitized to being human beings and not just Muslims? Is it the glorification of the majority religion which makes us feel superior and see the rest as useless infidels? Is our system of education failing to teach us the importance of coexistence and acceptance of minorities as equal human beings? Are we being taught to respect all of humanity or just Muslims? I believe that respect for humanity, respect for different cultures, respect for different faiths and the acceptance of different genders are the values to be inculcated through education. What we saw in New Zealand is the result of a visionary education policy emphasizing lifelong learning without any discrimination of identity, language, culture, or ability. While going through the content as apart of learning in grade 1 to 5 in the curriculum of New Zealand, it is observed that talks about values of excellence including innovation, curiosity, diversity, equality, community and participation and ecological sustainability are among key learning competencies. The thinking is based on participation and contribution. I will also quote the example of Sri Lanka with the highest literacy rates in the world that each learner would attend a class of their own religious teachings. To my surprise, religion and religious studies are not the dominant component as we will explore here in our books of social studies. Social sciences prepare students for civic engagement, acceptance and cross-cultural exchange. I have been going through the textbooks of social studies. Grade 4 and 5 books by the KP textbook board are written to the guidelines provided by the 2007 and 2006 curriculum. The title pages of the books are still the same and there is hardly any innovation exhibited after so many years. I next went to the content.
Most cases of bigotry occur due to a lack of knowledge. Cross-cultural dialogue and interactions add dynamism to thought processes, making first individuals, then groups and finally society more tolerant and accepting as a whole
Looking at the second section in grade 4 social studies textbooks published for 2019 and 2020, the title pages show no innovation. In search of the content for promoting harmony and acceptance I came across section two, which starts off with the life of the Prophet Mohammad and the four Caliphs, a theme that is present in the Urdu and Islamiat books too. The section on important personalities of KP has some very interesting names, most associated with shrines and saints (Peers). We do understand the importance of religious scholars in the promotion of Islam in the region, but orienting a fourth grade child with Peer Baba Peer of Manki Kaka Sahib is beyond comprehension. Again it is not difficult to assess the long-lasting impact of it (we are also well aware that there are different schools of thoughts when it comes to shrines and saints). They have contributed a lot and the religious influence and association with a certain school of thought in the everyday life of most families should be kept in view. Let’s have a closer look at the important political personalities. It includes Khushhal Khan Khattak, Haji sahib Trangazai who waged Jihad against the British and kept the foundation stone of Islamia college Mosque; Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan, Sahibzada Abdul Qayum Khan, Jalal Baba,Qazi Hussain Ahmad (associated with shrine Kaka Sahib) and Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao. It is surprising to see the cluster of important personalities as most of them had a specific political affiliation and were connected to shrine culture. Many non-Muslims must have contributed in the past 70 years in KP but they are hardly mentioned. Secondly, it is all male-dominated either its political personalities, or literary personalities. KP has seen many prominent females: Mrs Nasim Wali Khan, Dr Mehrtaj Roghani, Mrs Aneesa Zaib and Zaitoon Bano to name but a few. How can we expect a boy or a girl studying content related to just one gender and one religion to develop respect, sympathy and acceptance for different cultures, religions and genders?
The discussion on culture similarly propagates stereotypical pictures of the four provinces, which a child starts studying from grade one. Under the same heading, in an example, Mr Peter is sharing some knowledge about Christianity and Christian cultural practice in a letter. But the knowledge is at best very vague and superficial. The chapter on the history of KP is mostly about the Jihadi movements, and pushes a narrative describing the rule of the Sikhs, mentioning that they were very harsh to people. A question in the activities at the end of the chapter asks which areas were occupied /conquered by Sikhs. The Sikh population in Pakistan is predominantly Pashtun and is scattered across different areas of KP. What image is being created of a community that is living in peace now? Are we preparing the learners for thinking and managing relations with others? How can we claim that we are promoting dialogue for conflict resolution and cross-cultural interactions? Apart from a scarcity of cross-cultural and cross-religious activities in our educational institutions, there are hardly any occasions in our every day learning even to find out the differences and diversity of culture and religion. Cultural exchange is a core element in soft diplomacy for intrastate and interstate policy. If it plays such a role internationally then it definitely can play a role domestically. Most cases of bigotry occur due to a lack of knowledge. Cross-cultural dialogue and interactions add dynamism to thought processes, making first individuals, then groups and finally society more tolerant and accepting as a whole. If such values of coherence are instilled bit by bit, it will play a huge role in the evolutionary process of developing a tolerant mindset in our society. Firstly, the textbook writers must move out of what they have been taught about other faiths and cultures. They must explore new dimensions in cross-cultural interactions.
Secondly, schools need to promote dialogue with communities irrespective of their culture and religion. School is the place to prepare the learner for respect for diversity of faith and culture. Teaching resources need to be focused on core values of tolerance, acceptance and respect aiming at inclusion and not exclusion.
Thirdly, all genders must have an equal presence in the content taught in the classroom. We have to understand that every human being created by the Almighty is important and valuable no matter what culture they belongs to. Our schools, society and families have to encourage the study of different religions, cultures and cultural values not only at the national level but internationally as well.
Lastly, the existing ethics curriculum is a comprehensive document. Let it be studied by all instead of just the minority faiths, as it can be the first step towards acceptance and learning.
Let us move forward and think outside the box. After all, we are preparing a generation for tomorrow they will need the values of acceptance, respect and tolerance.
The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector