Pakistani Curriculum Pits Bile Vs. Nation-Building

Critics of Pakistan’s mandatory school curriculum say it promotes fear and hatred in children, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “It sounds like the blueprint for a religious fascist state,” said one professor. “You have a country where generations have grown up believing they are surrounded on all sides by enemies, they are the only righteous ones, and the world is out to get them.”

Themes of a fifth-grade social-studies class: “Acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan,” “Make speeches on Jihad,” and “India’s evil designs against Pakistan.” But the Ministry of Education plans to unveil a new curriculum in 2010. “If there is any objectionable material, it would certainly be removed,” said a spokesperson. (More Pakistan stories.)