Punjab Outlaws Pakistan History Textbook for O-Level Students

For unclear reasons, the O-level book “The History and Culture of Pakistan,” written by Nigel Kelly, has been immediately banned by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board.

All District Education Authority chief executive officers have received a notification from the Schools Education Department directing them to implement the prohibition. This June 13 notification was sent without providing an explanation for the ban.

A private news outlet was contacted by Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat and other officials to confirm the ban. According to an official, the first restriction was put into effect in May of last year, and the purpose of the most recent notification is to ensure that the ban is followed.

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Five additional government officials and the provincial minister of school education have affirmed the notification’s release.

Geo Fact Check was notified via messages by Punjab’s Minister for School Education, Rana Sikandar Hayat, that the announcement was made by the department on June 13.

The district education authority of Bahawalpur’s chief executive officer, Muhammad Akram Chaudhary, attested to receiving the notice prohibiting the textbook.

Javed Awan, the head of the district education authority in Gujranwala, affirmed this.

On the official WhatsApp group of the education department, Kashif Zia, the chief executive officer of the district education authority in Faisalabad, received the notification.

The district education authority of Multan’s chief executive officer, Faiz Abbas, attested to the notification’s legitimacy as well.

Additionally, the prohibition was put in place by the Punjabi department of school education last May, according to Naveed Shahzad Mirza, the director of the curriculum and textbook board, who spoke with Geo Fact Check over the phone.

Reiterating that the June 13 notification is a reprint intended to guarantee adherence to the prohibition, he shared the June 13 notification from the previous year for context.