PORTRAYAL OF SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN PAKISTANI PUBLIC-SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS AND THEIR POTENTIAL FOR FOSTERING STUDENTS' PEACEBUILDING CITIZENSHIP CAPACITIES

Pakistan is experiencing multifaceted socio-structural conflicts that often lead to direct, structural, and cultural violence. The majority of children in Pakistan attend public schools. Textbooks are most often the only source of information and knowledge on social, political, economic, and cultural issues in Pakistani public schools. Textbook narratives can be the catalyst for peace or violence. Using Galtung’s theory of peace and Freire’s critical theory of education, this study investigated how the textbooks of General Knowledge for grades 1-3, Social Studies for grades 4-5, and History for grades 6-8 based on Single National Curriculum 2020 in Pakistan portray social conflicts. It also looked at their role in fostering students’ capacities for peacebuilding citizenship to critically engage with social conflicts. The findings revealed that the textbook narratives predominantly promote negative peace through transmission of compliance values such as tolerance, patience, honesty, responsibility, and empathy to encourage harmony and peace between individuals. They mostly omit discussion on equity and justice conflicts, which are part of students’ daily realities in Pakistan. They do provide some opportunities for peacemaking through interactive activities, involving dialogue, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making with respect to some current and largely past social conflicts. However, they do not provide relevant information and capacity building opportunities to acknowledge and contextualize these socio-structural conflicts in the current landscape of Pakistan. Furthermore, these textbooks promote a singular narrative, based on Islam, which assimilates all religious, cultural, and ethnic differences and reproduces and reinforces cultural and gender stereotypes against Hindus and women. To safeguard this Muslim Pakistani identity, the texts also encourage militarism and Jihad against non-Muslims, especially Hindus.