Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of work by the Punjab Curriculum and Textboard Board on the content of textbooks relating to women, LGBT people and people of other faiths and nationalities.

With support from DFID, the Government of Punjab is revising and improving primary and secondary textbooks through the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board. This process aligns textbooks with the 2006 National Curriculum and removes content that promotes prejudice and discrimination against religious or other minorities. New textbooks promote a positive portrayal of women and girls. These revisions continue across subjects and grade textbooks. An independent evaluation of the reformed curriculum in 2013 confirmed it to be based on the values of democracy and pluralism. DFID carries out an assessment of the effectiveness of Board’s work every year during the Annual Review of the overall Punjab Education Sector Programme.