Ref. No.25-pmta/10 Dated: June 8, 2010
Your Excellency
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad.
Subject: Request to take Sue Moto Action Against the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan for Violating the Rights of the Students of Minorities.
Honourable Sir,
Greetings and well wishes from Pakistan Minorities Teachers’ Association (PMTA).
PMTA would like to draw your kind attention on the subject cited above.
The Federal Ministry of Education (MoE) has a biased attitude against the students of Minorities. It has failed to create the atmosphere of peace and harmony among the people of different faiths violating Article 22 of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 that safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion, etc.
(1) No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction or take part in any religious ceremony, or to attend religious worship, if such instruction, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own.
(2) In respect of any religious institution, there shall be no discrimination against any community in the granting of exemption or concession in relation to taxation.
(3) Subject to law;
(a) No religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupil of that community or denomination in any educational institution maintained wholly by that community or denomination, and
(b) No citizen shall be denied admission to any educational institution receiving aid from public revenues on the ground only to race, religion, caste or place of birth.
(c) Nothing in this Article shall prevent any public authority from making provision for the advancement of any socially or educationally backward class of citizens.
Sir, PMTA has reservations on the Educational Policies and the National Curriculum of the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan.
1. All the National Educational Policies (NEP) including NEP 2009 have been only against the minorities and their religions.
2. There is preaching of a particular religious ideology in the educational institutions due to that students of minorities have to go through persecution.
3. There are controversial contents even in the recommended National Curriculum as there is comparison between and among religions which is the violation of the recommendations of UNESCO and the Guidelines for the material developers for the textbooks. There has been comparison of Islam with the other religions and negation of the minorities’ religions.
4. There is disinformation, disrespect and propagation against the other religions other than Islam in the textbooks of Pakistan.
5. Pakistani textbooks are representative of a particular religious ideology and its followers.
6. Only the students of minorities have been deprived of their religions which is the violation of Article 26 (3) of UDHR that describes ‘Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.’ There is violation of Article 18, 26 and 27 of ICCPR and Article 14(1) of ICRC as the students of minorities are forcibly taught Islam to convert them.
7. The material is being developed in the subject of ‘Ethics for non- Muslims’ for grades III-XII by the Muslims. PMTA has repeatedly conveyed reservations to the concerned corners but no heed has been paid and Muslim authors are developing material about the fundamental beliefs and personalities of the minorities’ religions. The belief of the material developers is just the opposite of the other beliefs. How will they justify truly without any bias writing about Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. This is really a joke with these religions. This shows that only Muslims can write better than the religious
scholars of these religions. This is indeed an insulting attitude of Ministry of Education with the followers of the minorities’ religions.
8. Minorities have played a vital role in the creation and construction of Pakistan. They have particularly played role in the fields of education, health, defense and social services. There role has been deliberately ignored considering them non- Pakistanis otherwise they are also the heroes of this sacred land who have sacrificed their lives for this land. The writers and poets from minorities are no more part of the curriculum now. It shows that Ministry of Education is not serious to create the atmosphere of interfaith harmony which is the utmost need of the time.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The Ministry of Education must change her biased attitude and approach towards minorities.
2. There must be respect of all religions on the equal basis in the textbooks of Pakistan.
3. There must not be comparison between or among religions.
4. Textbooks must be developed according to the recommendations of UNESCO.
5. Teachings of any religion must be restricted only in the textbook which has been developed for the students of that particular religion.
6. Subject of ‘Ethics’ must be changed into ‘Religion’.
7. Contents in the subject of Ethics must be developed by followers of that particular religion.
8. It is requested to order the Ministry of Education, Curriculum Wing to stop the Muslim authors to develop material on the fundamental beliefs and personalities on the minorities’ religions and order to develop material on the contents by the educationists and experts of these religions.
9. Either there should be topics on general Ethics or values or students of minorities be exempted from the assembly so that they may be escaped from persecution.
Note: - PMTA has critically evaluated the textbooks of Urdu, General Knowledge, and English for grade 1, Computer Education for grade VI and recommended
curriculum in the Subjects of Ethics, General Knowledge, History, Pakistan Studies, Social Studies and Urdu for grades I-XII. Reservations and Recommendations in the subjects of Urdu, English and General Knowledge for grade I are being presented in your honour.
Best regards.
-Sd-
Prof. Anjum James Paul
Chairman
Meri Kitab (My Book)
Grade-I
Publisher: Punjab Textbook Board Date of Printing
March 2010
Note: This is a compulsory subject for all the students belonging to any religion.
RESERVATIONS
1. There are 16 contents of this book and preaching of Islam is in seven chapters. This is a compulsory subject which has to be studied by the students of all faiths.
2. The pronoun of ‘our’ has been used that indicates the religious personality of a particular religion only.
3. Content 1, page 1, there is the picture of Kaa’ba in the poem written in praise of God. This picture symbolizes a particular religion.
4. Content 2, page 5, there is a poem in praise of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallah-u- alaihi wa alihi wa sallam)
One example is presented from the activity on page 7 ‘Encourage children that every child read Naat (poem) in loud voice.
5. Content 7, page 25 ‘Kindness with Children’ has been developed along with exercise, activity and guidelines for teachers keeping in mind the Islamic perspective.
6. Content 8, page 31 ‘Importance of Cleanliness’ an example ‘Tell children that in Islam cleanliness is half belief.’
7. Content 11, page 43 ‘Good Child’ an example ‘Tell children that in the Holy Quran it is advised to adopt good habits and qualities.
8. Content 12, page 46 ‘Speak Truth’ an example ‘Tell Children that Islam has given much importance to speak the truth.’
9. Content 14, page 54 ‘Manners of Conversation’ an example ‘Tell children what manners Holy Quran told about good and meaningful conversation.’
ENGLISH
Grade-I
Prepared by: The Caravan Book House, Kacheri Road, Lahore
Publisher: Punjab Textbook Board Date of Printing
March 2010
Note: This is a compulsory subject for all the students belonging to any religion.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It is recommended to add the following matter in the beginning of the next two pages to facilitate the reader;
S.No
Unit No
Theme
Unit title
Focus
Language Skill
Page No
2. In Unit 36, page 82.It is recommended to wish cards to the Hindus, Sikhs Parsees and Baha’is as well besides the cards of Eid Mubarak and Merry Christmas
3. In the Unit No.52, page 113, Theme ‘Love for Pakistan, Peaceful co-existence ‘Unit title ‘Our country’ the sentence ‘Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Parsees live in Pakistan.’ will certainly promote a sense of peaceful co-existence which is utmost need of the time in our country. It is strongly recommended to add Baha’is as well as they are also Pakistanis.
4. Unit 55, page 117 instead of ‘Do not throw litter on the ground. Put it in the rubbish bin.’ If it is written in this way ‘Put litter in the rubbish bin’ because all statements are positive except this one.
5. It is recommended to change the theme and unit title of Unit 57, page 120 ‘Festivals and Cultural events’ ‘Eid-ul-Fitr’ as there is contradiction in the theme and the Unit title. Eid-ul- Fitr is a religious festivals and it does not have connection with festivals and cultural events because minorities celebrate their own religious festivals. It is further recommended to add the religious festivals of the minorities as well to promote the culture of religious and interfaith harmony.
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
Grade-I
Publisher: Punjab Textbook Board Date of Printing
March 2010
Note: This is a compulsory subject for all the students belonging to any religion.
RESERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. In chapter 1, page 1 ‘Our Beliefs’ It is recommended either to change the theme of this chapter or to give place to all the religions that exist in Pakistan because students of minorities also read this textbook but they are forcibly being informed about the majority religion of Pakistan.
2. In chapter 6, page 24 ‘Eating Manners’ it is written “Reciting Bismillah before eating”. This is Islamic way of recitation but people of different religions recite prayer before eating according to their religions. So, it is recommended to write the way they recite their prayer before eating in the textbook.
3. In chapter 8, page 29 two armed soldiers have been shown in a picture. It is recommended to show a picture where a soldier salutes the national flag. In this way sense of patriotism can be promoted instead of a picture with arm which can be destructive for them. There must be message of peace in the picture.
4. It is recommended that in chapter 10, page 34 ‘The Prophets’ brief biographies of all the prophets whose names have been mentioned must be written so that students may come to know about their lives.
5. In chapter 12, page 40 ‘Neighbourhood’ Six locations have been shown including Mosque and even on page 41 Mosque has been shown again. There is maximum emphasis on this place. It is recommended that Church, Temple, Gurdevarah, Agairy and Mushriq-al-Azkaar be written so that students may learn the worship places of different religions in the same chapter.
6. In chapter 13, page 45 ‘My School’ the picture is irrelevant. Either she must be shown writing English alphabets or Urdu alphabets. At the same time she does not have even interaction with the students. So, it is recommended to replace this picture with a relevant one.
7. In chapter 14, page 46 ‘Worship’ there is more emphasis on the religion of Islam. ‘Provide necessary information to students regarding the Muslim’s method of worship “Namaz”. It is recommended to draw the pictures of the worship places of Parsees and Baha’is and completion of blanks. Place of worship for the Parsees is Agairy while place of worship for Baha’is is Mashriq-al-Azkaar. These names can be added in the activities as well with the other places of worship. In the same way in the activity on page 48 students can be asked to search any other place of worship in the neighbourhood besides Mosque. There can be change in the Guidelines for Teachers: ‘Inform the students about the importance of mosque in Muslim society.’
8. In chapter 17, page 58, instead of saying
o Do not throw garbage here and there.
o Do not pluck flowers
o Do not spit everywhere
They can be written in a positive way like
o Throw garbage in the trash bin.
o Protect flowers
o Spit in the trash bin.
9. In chapter 19,page 63 ‘Traffic Signals’ instead of saying
o Never do violation of red signal.
o Never get in or get down from the moving vehicle.
We can say
§ Always stop at red signal.
§ Always get in or get down from the stopping vehicle.
10. In chapter 20, page 66
Instead of saying.
§ Do not spread litter.
§ Do not spit everywhere.
§ No wall chalking
We can say
§ Throw litter in the rubbish bin.
§ Spit in the rubbish bin.
§ Keep walls neat.
11. In chapter 22, page 70 ‘Good Manners’ In Guidelines for Teachers it is written: ‘Tell non-muslim students according to their own religion’. It is recommended to write ‘m’ of ‘muslim’ with a capital letter. For the convenience of the teachers the way the students of the other religions greet must be written like this
Jews say Shalom
Christians say Peace be with you/ God bless you
Hindus say Namaste
Sikhs say Wahe Guru ji da Khalsa, wahe Guru ji de fateh
Parsees say Sahib jee
Baha’is say Allah-hu- Abha
12. Chapter 23, page 73 ‘Divine Books’
This is so sorry to say that there is lack of information in the Divine Books. The writer must know at least the fundamental beliefs of Judaism and Christianity. The Holy Bible is the component of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Torah and Psalms are in the Old Testament while Gospel is in the New Testament. The order must be like this
TORAH Moses
Psalms David
Gospel Jesus Christ
Holy Quran Hazrat Muhammad (Sallallah-u- alaihi wa alihi wa sallam).
It is further recommended to change the title of the content to ‘Holy Books’ and the Holy Books of the following religions must also be included to create harmony and understanding among religions that exist in Pakistan.
Garanth Sahib of Sikhs
Avesta of Parsees
Kitab-e- Aqdas of Baha’is
Vades, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad- Gita of Hindus
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Church officials criticize new education policy
October 5, 2009
www.ucanews.com
Catholic Church leaders have expressed concern over the country’s new education policy, which they say imposes Islamic studies as a compulsory subject on minority students.
The Catholic bishops´ National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) has demanded the government make provision for non-Muslim students to receive religious lessons in their own faith in lieu of Islamiat, which comprises courses on Islamic belief and practice.
Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha of Lahore, the commission´s chairman, and Peter Jacob, its executive secretary, expressed their concern in a press release.
“If government thinks public education is not possible without a compulsory subject of Islamic Studies and Arabic, then we are forced to demand religious education for Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, etc. in their respective religions,” it said.
They issued the statement on Sept. 25, two weeks after the government announced the National Education Policy 2009. Continuing the existing policy, the new guidelines maintain Islamic studies as a compulsory subject.
“Non-Muslim children” have the option of taking ethics and moral studies instead from third grade onwards, whereas the old policy allowed this only in grades nine and 10. But this ignores a fundamental objection that the provision means nothing in practice.
Catholic educators have long maintained the textbooks used for these alternative studies are written with “a biased mindset” by Muslim writers who do not make allowances for the teachings of religions other than Islam. They thus claim Muslim teachers cannot teach ethics effectively to children from religious-minority communities.
In practice, many Christian students have chosen Islamic studies anyway. Either they want to keep their Christian identity from being known to all or they claim teachers inflate grades for Islamiat students while marking those who choose ethics harshly.
The NCJP statement raised several of these points:
“The subject of Ethics proposed in the policy is hardly a choice as an alternative for non-Muslim students. Taking this option involves several difficulties including: non-availability of text books [some are still being written] and a syllabus that has chapters on different religions, yet only presents the Islamic point of view. Moreover non-Muslim students risk their grades and isolation from the rest of the class.”
Christians have criticized the current syllabus for praising only Islamic personalities while presenting followers of other religions as infidels and depicting Christianity negatively. The commission statement regretted that no proper evaluation of the syllabus was conducted before extending it.
It also alluded to the longstanding objection that textbooks quote excessively from the Qur´an, even science texts. It raised the particular concern that minority students´ unfamiliarity with these texts could leave them open to accusations by people exploiting the country´s blasphemy laws.
According to Anjum James Paul, chairman of the Pakistan Minorities Teachers’ Association, more than half the subject matter in textbooks for the compulsory study of Urdu, the national language, is based on Islamic teachings.
“The oppressed and suppressed minority students will be forcibly taught Islamic teachings in social and physical sciences subjects as well,” the Catholic educator wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The minority association´s letter criticized the new policy as an “Islamic Education Policy.”
The NCJP statement demanded a review of the proposed policy and action by the Supreme Court against infringement on the freedom of religion guaranteed in Pakistan´s Constitution, which “bars any religious education other than the student’s own.”
The Catholic Church has been calling for the exclusion of religious education from the school syllabus, saying this should be the responsibility of the family and community religious institutions. “We were forced to use the option of religious education as the government doesn’t seem to want to give up compulsory Islamic education,” NCJP secretary Jacob told UCA News.
Church schools teach catechism to Christian students through grade 8, since schools set their own annual exams up to that point. A government education board sets exams from grade 9 onwards and offers exams only in Islamiat or ethics, not catechism.
According to the Catholic commission, Pakistan has about 1 million non-Muslim students. The Catholic Church runs 534 schools, 53 hostels, 8 colleges, 7 technical institutes and 8 catechetical centers, according to 2008 statistics.
www.ucanews.com
Catholic Church leaders have expressed concern over the country’s new education policy, which they say imposes Islamic studies as a compulsory subject on minority students.
The Catholic bishops´ National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) has demanded the government make provision for non-Muslim students to receive religious lessons in their own faith in lieu of Islamiat, which comprises courses on Islamic belief and practice.
Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha of Lahore, the commission´s chairman, and Peter Jacob, its executive secretary, expressed their concern in a press release.
“If government thinks public education is not possible without a compulsory subject of Islamic Studies and Arabic, then we are forced to demand religious education for Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, etc. in their respective religions,” it said.
They issued the statement on Sept. 25, two weeks after the government announced the National Education Policy 2009. Continuing the existing policy, the new guidelines maintain Islamic studies as a compulsory subject.
“Non-Muslim children” have the option of taking ethics and moral studies instead from third grade onwards, whereas the old policy allowed this only in grades nine and 10. But this ignores a fundamental objection that the provision means nothing in practice.
Catholic educators have long maintained the textbooks used for these alternative studies are written with “a biased mindset” by Muslim writers who do not make allowances for the teachings of religions other than Islam. They thus claim Muslim teachers cannot teach ethics effectively to children from religious-minority communities.
In practice, many Christian students have chosen Islamic studies anyway. Either they want to keep their Christian identity from being known to all or they claim teachers inflate grades for Islamiat students while marking those who choose ethics harshly.
The NCJP statement raised several of these points:
“The subject of Ethics proposed in the policy is hardly a choice as an alternative for non-Muslim students. Taking this option involves several difficulties including: non-availability of text books [some are still being written] and a syllabus that has chapters on different religions, yet only presents the Islamic point of view. Moreover non-Muslim students risk their grades and isolation from the rest of the class.”
Christians have criticized the current syllabus for praising only Islamic personalities while presenting followers of other religions as infidels and depicting Christianity negatively. The commission statement regretted that no proper evaluation of the syllabus was conducted before extending it.
It also alluded to the longstanding objection that textbooks quote excessively from the Qur´an, even science texts. It raised the particular concern that minority students´ unfamiliarity with these texts could leave them open to accusations by people exploiting the country´s blasphemy laws.
According to Anjum James Paul, chairman of the Pakistan Minorities Teachers’ Association, more than half the subject matter in textbooks for the compulsory study of Urdu, the national language, is based on Islamic teachings.
“The oppressed and suppressed minority students will be forcibly taught Islamic teachings in social and physical sciences subjects as well,” the Catholic educator wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The minority association´s letter criticized the new policy as an “Islamic Education Policy.”
The NCJP statement demanded a review of the proposed policy and action by the Supreme Court against infringement on the freedom of religion guaranteed in Pakistan´s Constitution, which “bars any religious education other than the student’s own.”
The Catholic Church has been calling for the exclusion of religious education from the school syllabus, saying this should be the responsibility of the family and community religious institutions. “We were forced to use the option of religious education as the government doesn’t seem to want to give up compulsory Islamic education,” NCJP secretary Jacob told UCA News.
Church schools teach catechism to Christian students through grade 8, since schools set their own annual exams up to that point. A government education board sets exams from grade 9 onwards and offers exams only in Islamiat or ethics, not catechism.
According to the Catholic commission, Pakistan has about 1 million non-Muslim students. The Catholic Church runs 534 schools, 53 hostels, 8 colleges, 7 technical institutes and 8 catechetical centers, according to 2008 statistics.
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