Pakistani textbooks controversy

The Pakistani textbooks controversy refers to claimed inaccuracies and historical denialism. The inaccuracies and myths promote religious intolerance and Indophobia and lead to calls for curriculum reform. According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated anti-Indian discrimination through historical omissions and deliberate misinformation since the 1970s.

The revisionism can be traced back to the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who instituted a program of Islamization of the country. His 1979 education policy stated that the highest priority would be given to the revision of the curricula with a view of reorganizing the entire content around Islamic thought and giving education an ideological orientation so that Islamic ideology permeates the thinking of the younger generation to help them with the necessary conviction and ability to transform society according to Islamic tenets. In March 2016, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani from the upper house of the Pakistani Parliament addressed that since then, Pakistani textbooks have taught children more about the benefits of dictatorship than a democracy.

According to Dr. Naazir Mahmood, textbooks on journalism in Pakistan fail to cover the subjects of critical thinking, knowledge development, freedom of speech, gender studies, minority rights, human rights, developmental studies, democracy and constitutionalism. He suggests that instead of engaging in critical inquiry, Pakistani journalists end up parroting jingoistic, insular and narrow-minded narratives. Such journalists end up condoning or even promoting hate speech and sectarian violence toward religious minorities in Pakistan.