The government needs to remove religious content from a compulsory subject, otherwise it will be extremely difficult for non-Muslim children to read," from the new curriculum being prepared for schools in Pakistan.

This is the opinion of Peter Jacob,

 an educationist based in Lahore, who was included in the consultation by the government of Pakistan last year while making the syllabus of its program 'Unique Curriculum'.

According to him, the new curriculum prepared by the government is also a violation of the part of the constitution which guarantees the rights of minorities.

He says that in this curriculum it seems that Islam is being taught in the subject of Urdu.

It should be remembered that in March of this year in Pakistan, the new curriculum will be implemented for the education of students from the first to the fifth grade.

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Peter Jacob was given English textbooks for grades 1 to 5 and Urdu for grades 2 to 4 to review, but when Jacob saw the final textbooks earlier this month, he was shocked. gone.

Speaking to BBC Urdu, he said that this is very alarming and a violation of the constitution.

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What does the constitution of Pakistan say about the education of religious minorities?

Peter Jacob says that this constitution is a violation of Article 22 of Pakistan which guarantees the rights of minorities.

According to the said provision, "No person studying in any educational institution shall be compelled to receive religious education, if such education is related to a religion other than his own."

Peter Jacob says that in the new curriculum, it seems that "instead of studying Urdu in an Urdu subject, you are learning Islam".

What is the complaint of the Christian community?

Peter Jacob and other experts pointed out that in the recently introduced uniform curriculum for the second grade in Pakistan, on the first page of a model Urdu textbook, students were asked to do the following exercise: What blessings have been given to us?'

On page 11 of the same book, the teachers are instructed to 'listen to the children

Apart from this, on another page, the students are asked to read the article titled 'Allah Ta'ala Hamara Maalik Hai' with correct pronunciation and fluency in one minute.

Not only this, but public policy expert Peter Jacob and other academicians have indicated the presence of Islamic content by placing red circles in the second grade students' Urdu book.

Apart from Urdu, 

the presence of Islamic content is seen in other subjects as well.

He pointed out that the first page of the fourth grade English model textbook describes the qualities of a leader followed by a detailed essay on the four Caliphs.

Government schools of Pakistan

According to UNICEF, Pakistan ranks second in the list of countries with the highest number of illiterate children between the ages of five and 16 in the world.

Peter Jacob, in a review of textbooks, writes that more than 23 percent of the content of a fourth-grade English textbook contains content that violates Article 22 of the Constitution on the rights of minorities.

Similarly, more than 21 percent of such violations were observed in the fifth grade English textbook.

"It seems that instead of progress, we have gone back 20 years."

Nargis Ijaz's children, who belong to the Christian community, study in a medium-sized private school in Lahore, and the new curriculum under the government's uniform curriculum has brought back memories of their childhood when they were forced to learn Islam in their school. Had to study.

Talking to BBC Urdu,

 Nargis says that at that time she had no choice but now it seems that instead of progressing, we have gone back 20 years.

The experts who prepared this new curriculum also probably realized that there is a lot of religious content in them and that is why the emphasis is written in the margin of each page of the model Urdu book that 'Teachers should not read Islamic material to non-Muslim students. Don't force it.'

On this, the researcher and historian Yaub Khan Bangash says that it is a good decision that it is written on every page, but he adds that if 40% of the curriculum in the Urdu subject is based on Islam, then you How to teach children? For example, if there are 30 students in a class and two of them are non-Muslims, what would you call them? That you go out and sit?'

According to Yakub Bangash, the more troubling question is why Islamic material is present in Urdu or English textbooks from the beginning.

Those who oppose it do not necessarily mean that they are against any religion. You should teach Islam absolutely and teach it well, but what is the point of making the education of religion a part of another subject?'

Government's position

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood does not agree with the objections raised by parents and educationists.

On the presence of religious text in Urdu and English textbooks, he said that only Urdu book has a text on Hamad, Naat and Seerat-ul-Nabi