Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington (HL12024), whether they will now answer the question put: namely, what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, Review of Pakistani Textbooks, published in August; and what discussions they have had with the government of Pakistan about reports of harmful and discriminatory content in the curriculum.

As I stated in my response to Question HL11399, all our education programmes in Pakistan are subject to due diligence, and any materials provided under those programmes are reviewed for equity across gender, ability, ethnicity, and religion before being shared with government counterparts.

On the broader issue of textbooks used in Pakistani schools, we are clear that any incitement to hatred or violence is unacceptable and has no place in education, and we urge the Pakistani authorities to ensure that all teaching materials used in their schools meet the relevant United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) standards.