Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

and thus often in the classroom, too. This approach
also remains common, if not universal, in other
parts of South Asia, including India where patriotic
nationalist ideas take a militaristic tone in many
provincial textbooks, particularly with reference
to the wars that India has fought with Pakistan
and China (Benei, 2008). Clearly, conventional
approaches to citizenship education thus present a
key challenge to prospects for realising education
for peace (see Box 5.5 for an illustration of the
role assigned to schooling in developing national
identity in Bangladesh and Pakistan).
Patriotism constitutes
a paradigm that
permits evasion of
unresolved issues of
memory and identitybuilding
in curricula
and textbooks — and
thus often in the
classroom, too
Box 5.5 Developing national identity through education: The cases of education
policy in Bangladesh and Pakistan
A nationalist agenda is closely tied to identity-building and values education. Narratives of
war heroes are now as common in textbooks as biographies of the leaders of the anti-colonial
struggle used to be (and still are in most parts of South Asia). In Pakistan, narratives
of the various wars fought with India are commonly used for building a patriotic civic
identity combined with qualities such as loyalty to the nation and the spirit of sacrifice.
In Bangladesh, educational policy emphasises the importance of language in the movement
for independence from Pakistan. One of the key objectives of the Bangladeshi NEP
(2010) is ‘to inspire the students with the spirit of [the] war of liberation and develop patriotism,
nationalism and qualities of good citizens’. Moreover, a major objective of primary
education in Bangladesh is expressed using emotive language: ‘to ignite in [students]
the spirit of [the] national liberation movement and encourage them with patriotism to
dedicate themselves to nation-building’; ‘Knowledge of our national heritage, values and
glorious history will make our future generation proud and courageous, efficient in the acquisition
of knowledge and help them grow up into a true patriotic force’ (NEP, 2010, p. 6).
The education policy document also tries to ensure that this emphasis on national identity
is reflected in curricular materials, rather than serving a merely symbolic purpose: ‘Textbooks
of all levels will include in appropriate sections the context and spirit of language
movement and liberation war, the factual history related to them and the narratives of
heroism of the freedom fighters’ (p. 69).
Similarly, Pakistan’s NEP (2009) has many references to the need for creating a national
identity among students as expressed below:
Our education system must provide quality education to our children and youth
to enable them to realize their individual potential and contribute to the development
of society and nation, creating a sense of Pakistani nationhood, the concepts
of tolerance, social justice, democracy, their regional and local culture and history
based on the basic ideology enunciated in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan.
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Chapter 5: South Asia