LATEST STEPS ON CURRICULUM REFORM IN PAKISTAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 000616



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2017

TAGS: PGOV, PK, PHUM, PTER, SCUL, SOCI

SUBJECT: LATEST STEPS ON CURRICULUM REFORM IN PAKISTAN



Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)



1. (C) Summary. On January 21, the Ministry of Education

unveiled its new curriculum for public schools in Pakistan

and handed over responsibility for its implementation to

provincial governments. The new curriculum marks a

significant step forward because it emphasizes more nuanced

and tolerant perspectives on neighboring India, South Asian

religions other than Islam, and toned down the presentation

of jihad. With the curriculum complete, the GOP,s next

battle will be to ensure its uniform implementation in each

province. The process will require at least three years, and

for thethe provincial governments to publish new text books

and promote new approaches to teaching. End Summary.



What,s Wrong With the Old Curriculum?

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2. (C) The curriculum currently employed at public schools

across Pakistan is the legacy of former President General

Zia-ul Haq's push to Islamize Pakistan during the 1980s. it

also reflects other objectives of the era: with the war

against the Soviets in Afghanistan raging, Zia pushed

educators to indoctrinate in youth the value of jihad and

martyrdom for one,s country. Zia's religious fervor also

mandated that the curriculum emphasize the values and

superiority of the Sunni faith at the expense of minority

communities, including Shias and followers of other

religions. These goals pervaded every aspect of the

classroom, including the teaching of math and science.



3. (C) As local critics have noted, young Pakistani children

growing up over the past two decades are provided with a

strong sense that history on the South Asian Subcontinent

started with the Islamization of the subcontinent, heralded

in Pakistan by the arrival of the Arab General Mohammad bin

Qasim in Sindh in the Eighth Century. The historical

perspective offered on neighboring India and its majority

Hindu population has been similarly revisionist, promoting

the theory that the two nations--one Hindu and the other

Muslim--are at natural odds with one another. These

teachings neglect historical accuracy, fairness, and

even-handedness necessary to promote tolerance in a part of

the world in which many languages, religions and ethnic

groups are part of the basic social mosaic.



A New, More Tolerant Curriculum

--------------

4. (C) On January 21, the Ministry of Education unveiled a

new curriculum that addresses much of what was lacking in the

old syllabi. The Ministry's approach included 18 months of

consultations, and a review of the educational approaches of

several countries across Asia, Europe and North America,

including Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The

resultant curriculum features:



-- Science and math are treated as secular subjects, with

Islamic studies viewed as a separate, stand-alone subject.



-- The new curriculum for grades one through five no longer

emphasize jihad, while history as taught in grades six

through eight covers Pakistan's pre-Islamic past and provide

a more complex and pluralist perspective on the spread of

Islam and the interaction between religions in the region.

When jihad is taught in the required Islamic studies class,

it will promote the idea that jihad is a struggle within

oneself, or a movement to attain social justice and assist

the less fortunate.



-- Perspectives on conditions for Muslims in India prior to

Partition are to be more nuanced. With respect to

post-independence Pakistan, the curriculum now even tackles

events that portray Pakistan in an unfavorable light: lessons

include references to the Pakistani military killing

civilians during East Pakistan's struggle for independence in



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1971.



-- The treatment of Islam is more pluralistic and includes

discussions of Shia traditions as well as the significant

role that more tolerant forms of Sufi Islam have played in

South Asia. Commonalities among the various Islamic

communities is emphasized and Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and

other belief systems are more fairly presented as part of

middle school history and geography lessons.



5. (C) The Ministry's efforts--including a new white paper

that discusses the significant problems in the public

education system--represent a new willingness to tackle

pedagogical shortcomings in the public education system.

Along with curriculum reform, the Ministry is now: promoting

critical thinking skills in the syllabus rather than the

traditional focus on memorization; making the new curriculum

the centerpiece of teacher training; and improving the

quality of textbooks, which now have to be rewritten to

reflect the Government's changed priorities. The Ministry is

also pushing forward a controversial change that will require

English to start being taught in the first grade vice the

third.



6. (C) The reform process has been highly controversial, with

many seeing nothing wrong with the narrow content of the old

curriculum and others saying that the reforms do not go far

enough. Conservative critics say Islam is being "watered

down" at the behest of foreign powers. As one Pakistani

researcher recently put it, locals say, "we can't talk about

Jihad anymore because the Americans don't want us to mention

it." More liberal critics say that the new curriculum is

still too ideological, unnecessarily champions the current

government and doesn't properly present more nuanced

approaches to history and religion until the middle and upper

grades. Several others have challenged the Ministry's

efforts as being championed by a foreign hand--the U.S., the

British, and even the minority Ahmadi community have all been

accused of unduly influencing the curriculum. Such criticism

could undermine the Ministry's efforts to get the full

backing of provincial governments for the changes. (Note: The

GOP requested USAID early on to avoid direct involvement in

the curriculum process, sensing the difficulty the Ministry

would have in passing the curriculum changes if they were

seen to have been designed by a "foreign hand" End Note.)



The Way Ahead

--------------

7. (SBU) The Federal Ministry of Education--which has the

responsibility of developing the new curriculum, but not

implementing it--officially handed over responsibility for

introducing the curriculum to the provincial government

entities, such as the provincial textbook boards, on January

21. Provincial rollout of the new curriculum--including new

textbooks and teaching methodologies--is expected to take

another three years or longer.



8. (C) Some of the expected delay will be due to pushback

from the more conservative provincial governments,

particularly the the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)

government, which is run by the Mutahida Majlis-i Amal, an

alliance of Islamist parties. The NWFP government--which like

all other provincial governments were given the opportunity

to provide input throught the process--at this late stage has

sought to insert additional verses from the Koran--in Arabic

and Urdu--into the curriculum. The request will not

fundamentally change the new curriculum, but represents an

attempt on the part of a provincial government to make

adjustments.



9. (C) Teacher training to introduce new approaches to

learning is another critical step towards full implementation

of the new curriculum. The government's efforts at reforming

teacher training are perfectly timed to coincide with a new



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USAID-funded teacher training initiative for elementary,

middle, and high schools to planned for launch in late Summer

2007; USAID's initiative will be in place to support the

GOP's efforts, while complying with the GOP's request that

the US not have a direct hand in its curriculum reform

program.

CROCKER