Education and Gendered Citizenship in Pakistan

Abstract

On March 11, 2004, the entire opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan walked out in protest over the omission of Quranic verses pertaining to jihad from biology textbooks for classes XI-XII. According to the text of the news report:

An opposition protest walkout from the National Assembly on Friday forced a government apology in what seems to be brewing controversy over how much jihad should be taught in the country’s schools and colleges. All opposition parties, despite their own known differences over Islamization, joined the MMA-led walkout to protest against a parliamentary secretary’s remarks during the question hour. …The inclusion of Quranic verses is not a requirement of curriculum,” said a written reply from Education Minister Zubaida Jalal in reply to a question from Laiq Khan (MMA, Sindh) about whether and why Quranic verses had been omitted from biology books for the intermediate first year. However, in this case, the Sindh Textbook Board has shifted Quranic verses from the book of biology for classes XI-XII to the book of biology for classes IX-X,” the minister said. While answering supplementary questions from MMA members, parliamentary secretary Jafar Hussain denied their charge that the government was omitting verses about jihad and Christians and Jews to meet what they called US conditions for helping the country’s education sector. (DAWN, March 12, 2004, online edition)