History and Curriculum: Thoughts on the Pakistan Studies Books Taught in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

History as a field and historical events have been used for many different purposes for hundreds of
years. However, when nation states formed in former colonies in the 20th century, they opened up
new ways to "build nations." Scholars and writers began to write and explain history in order to
support "national sense" and "serve national interests." Each state tried to find things that the
different racial and social groups living in that area had in common. When Pakistan was formed in
August 1947, it was one of the few times that Islam was used to bring together people of different
racial groups. With the identity problem that came with being a colony, the spiritual fathers tried to
bring the Pakistani Nation together around shared values. To do this, the new state managers set up
different committees that gave writers of textbooks instructions on how to write them. Each new
government followed the strategy that put "historical content" into all texts to help people "build
images" of different groups, institutions, and religions. The "insertion" of historical facts into
textbooks may have helped promote the "Pakistani nation," but in the end, it turned people of
different races against each other and used history as a marketing tool. This paper tries to look
closely at the historical information in the Pakistan Studies books that are taught in public high
schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Two things would be looked at closely: a) the need; b) the
reliability of the information; and c) the way it was presented. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa school
board puts out books for grades 9 and 10. The paper would be about those books.