“People who have actually opened up these textbooks and seen them, realize that there is a lot of propaganda which is based on a very selective reading of textbooks,” Chughtai told VICE World News. She cited examples of women represented as pilots, lawyers, famous historical figures and personalities such as Dr. Ruth Pfau, child prodigy Arfa Karim and former Pakistani cricketer Sana Mir.For educationist Abdul Hameed Nayyar, the new curriculum is indicative of an encroaching Talibanisation of gender roles in the education system.
VICE World News analysed gender representation in illustrations and photographs in 27 primary level textbooks across seven subjects. We found that from a total of 4,509 characters, 37 percent were female while 63 percent were male.
“You've got all kinds of people in this country, some people wear headscarves, some people don't,” said Baela Raza Jamil, CEO of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Center for Education and Awareness. “Similar books have been written ever since, but in this curriculum there is much more content that encourages people to wear a headscarf.”The textbooks also received backlash for featuring women and young girls in hijab or headscarves. Although women wearing hijab is common in Pakistani society, it is not indigenous to the local culture but a co-opted import from Gulf countries.
Sociology professor Nida Kirmani understands her concerns. “Textbooks are a key socialising agent for children. The images they see and the messages that are conveyed make a lasting impression on young minds. If textbooks reinforce gender stereotypes, as we have seen with some of those introduced as part of the SNC this could have a long-lasting detrimental effect on students and on society in general,” Kirmani said.“When I first saw the textbook images I thought it was a sick joke - the way they show women as these subservient homemakers instead of strong figures in charge of their own destinies. I don’t want my daughter to believe her only options in life are as someone’s wife or mother.”
Since its inception, the SNC has been mired in controversy. The initiative was created based on the ruling party’s manifesto of equalizing educational inequalities across socio-economic classes. The scheme aims to ensure the provision of high-quality education across the “education apartheid” that exists within Pakistan’s education system.“I don’t really see what all the fuss is about. What’s the harm in showing women as housewives completing household chores or cooking? It’s only a problem if you consider housewives as inferior to working women.”
Sindh provincial minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah tweeted that the provincial government’s rejection was in part due to the latest gender-based controversy. “What message do you want to give to innocent children by putting a mother and daughter on the ground? We should instead teach our future generations that women are the crowns of our society,” he said. According to Chughtai, the SNC is a living document that will undergo several revisions over the years. Education experts like Jamil however are exasperated that ongoing critiques of gender depictions in past educational curriculums have not already been incorporated. “The sad thing is why the hell are we still talking about this? Why haven't we been able to take care of it?” said Jamil. “The gender stereotyping critique in our textbooks has been coming from the 90s. This is not the first time. By 2021, we should have settled the matter.” Follow Rimal Farrukh on Twitter.“What message do you want to give to innocent children by putting a mother and daughter on the ground? We should instead teach our future generations that women are the crowns of our society."