Pakistan: Curriculum

(asked on 16th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Pakistan on the new single curriculum, regarding discrimination of religious minorities; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the monitoring of UK aid promotes freedom of religion or belief in school syllabus and text books.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 11th January 2021

The new Single National Curriculum has the potential to be a significant step forward on inclusion and tolerance by introducing an inclusive, standards-based curriculum across all schools in the country. Work is still ongoing to reform textbooks to reflect this curriculum, and we are engaging with the Provincial and Federal Governments to ensure that the new textbooks promote diversity and inclusion.

The Minister for South Asia raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 16 November and with Pakistan's Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for the Interior, Shahzad Akbar, on 7 December. In addition, he met with Pakistan's Minister for Education, Mr Shafqat Mahmood on 1 October, and on 8 September with the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, to discuss inclusive and tolerant education.

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