The Anatomy of an Islamic Model: Citizenship Education in Pakistan

Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947. The main purpose of its creation as an autonomous state was to protect the political rights of the Muslim population in South Asia. Since the founders of Pakistan were a Western educated elite, they envisaged that the new state would uphold the values of individual liberty, civic equality and religious diversity. They did not aspire to Islamic theocracy (Aziz, 1993; Jalal, 1994; Munir, 1979). However, for five decades a confluence of domestic and global forces and events has impinged upon the social, political and cultural ethos of Pakistan, catapulting the religious parties to political power.

Simply put, the current national policy debate on citizenship education curriculum in Pakistan epitomises the tempestuous character of that nation’s polity itself. Therefore, a dispassionate examination of the status of citizenship education warrants understanding the ideological perspectives of the competing interest groups that have been in the vortex of this struggle. Essentially, these groups seek to foster their visions of what a good citizen needs to know, what knowledge is of most worth, what kind of society is desirable, and what curriculum policies are to be implemented in the nation’s schools. Thus, this paper focuses on three themes. First, it examines the contemporary ideological debate on citizenship education in Pakistan. Second, it analyses the goals of Pakistan’s national policy on citizenship education curriculum. Third, it reviews the Pakistani school textbooks on civics and history to evaluate how the national curriculum guidelines are being followed.