ASIA/PAKISTAN - The Bishops: need to remove the contents of hatred in school textbooks

Tuesday, 12 April 2016 education   local churches   religious minorities   persecutions   islam  

Paolo Affatato

Karachi (Agenzia Fides) - It is urgent to remove the contents of hatred and prejudice towards religious minorities in school textbooks in use in schools across the country: is the appeal launched by the National Commission "Justice and Peace" of the Catholic Bishops of Pakistan, which recently presented a document in Karachi, titled "Eradicating religious intolerance through education". As reported to Fides, the Commission notes that, if Pakistani society intends to make progress and guarantee, even before the rest of the world, which is really peaceful, respectful of human rights and dignity of every person, which is an inspired and regulated society by the rule of law, "the structure of school education must be changed and the curriculum must be modified".
Kashif Aslam, one of the members of the Commission, revealed that the body of Bishops has studied and analyzed 70 textbooks, reporting that the material published in the report is only 25% of what was observed in the analysis. Compared to textbooks in use in the public schools in Punjab province, those in Sindh province "contain fewer prejudices against religious minorities", he observes.
The Commission hopes and recommends joint effort between the Pakistani Ministry of Education and civil society organizations and different religious communities so that together they intervene on such texts and reform them. If one really wants to eradicate religious intolerance, it is necessary to start from the education of young people and the formation of their mentality: the harmonic and peaceful future of Pakistani society depends on this - concludes the Commission. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/04/2016)


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