CATHOLICS
urging education reform have hailed last week’s US commission report on
religious intolerance in schools.
“We totally agree with the
findings of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Our surveys
have also pointed the prejudices and biased in textbooks; a major factor in
prevalent wave of terrorism,” said Anjum James Paul, chairman of the Pakistan
Minorities Teachers’ Association PMTA based in Samundri, Faisalabad diocese.
The study states that text
books in Pakistani schools foster prejudice and intolerance of Hindus and other
religious minorities, while most teachers view non-Muslims as “enemies of
Islam.”
Researchers this year visited
37 public schools and 19 madrassas (Islamic seminaries) to interview pupils and
teachers.
The PMTA has been struggling
for the rights of non Muslims students for seven years and has sent numerous
recommendations to government officials for a balanced syllabus.
Paul referred to “maximum
emphasis on Islamic way of life” in compulsory subjects taught from first to
tenth grade. “There is disinformation, disrespect and propagation against
religions other than Islam in the textbooks of Pakistan,” he added.
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