How is history taught in Northwest Pakistan?

[Sarbani]

The reason I'm specifying Northwest Pakistan is because I assume Pashtuns are properly taught about their history in Afghanistan. If you're from Afghanistan and want to chime in though, then feel free to do so.

Anyways, I'm curious to know what materials are covered in textbooks in the Pashtun majority regions of Pakistan (in primary/secondary school), especially in regards to Pashtun history. Because I feel the textbooks are written by Pakistani nationalists who want to undermine Pashtun history.

Are Pashtun empires like that of Durrani, Hotak, etc. taught? If so, are they seen as foreigners in the textbook? Is it pro-Mughal and anti-Pashtun i.e. from the Mughal perspective?

What about the Gandharans, Scythians, Mauryans, Ghaznavi? How are they covered (if at all)?

How does the history taught in textbooks differ from KPK to Balochistan to FATA?

Is there a significant difference in the way history is taught in Pashtun and non-Pashtun regions of Pakistan?

[Samandri]

History is not a subject in schools (up to Matric)and higher secondary school education (F.Sc) . There is a subject by name of Mutala-i-Pakistan (Social studies in early classes of school), the initial chapters of which deals with history, but that history is of of Pakistan movement and covers some other topics which are about Hindi Musalman and are from their perceptive. In the topic about Shah Waliuallah, there is passing mention of Ahmad Shah Abdali that he crushed Marathas on invition of Shah Waliullah. Hotakis are not mentioned any where as they have nothing to do with history of Hind. Some space is dedicated to Mughals but Sher Shah is not even mentioned.In Pashto language topic of Mutala Pakistan, Amir Kror, Khushal Khattak and Rahman baba are mentioned. This was in my times , I don't know if any thing new is added. There are topics about local Pashtun personalities in Urdu and English text books of KP text book boards but I am not updated about that. Note that Mutala Pakistan subject is same all over Pakistan.

Recently there was an uproar about portrayal of Kalu Khan (a Yousafzai chief who destroyed a Mughal army of Alvar) as a dacoit in a topic of eighth grade English subject, in a fictitious story in which Kali Khan is outwitted by Mullah Dopiaza, the witty darbari of Akbar. Akbar is mentioned as just and kind ruler in that story. The author belongs to KPK. I

In Urdu literature of Indo-Pak, there is reverance for Mughals as they ruled India for three centuries, Urdu developed under them and the Indo-Muslim culture developed by Mughals became synonymous with Indian-Muslim identity. History of Lodis and Surs was forgetton. It was actually British and Hindu historians who revived the history of Sher Shah Sur and Lodi Afghanis. British were curious about Sher Shah and they dug out the information, proving that Akbar's greatness was actually legacy of Sher Shah and Islam Shah. And that Lodis by no means were failures, Sikander Lodi was a great adminsterotor. Hindu historians have asserted that Babur was no hero as depicted in Urdu literature, and Ibrahim Lodi was not exactly a villain and failure.

[kunatawar]

i was only in school in kpk for the earlier classes but from what i remember it was just basic pre history ( this is what cavemen lived like etc etc) then it moved on to the standard pak studies.

Like i said though i was only in school there for the earlier grades so someone else who has done more schooling there should explain better.

Also you have to keep in mind that the content taught in public schools and private schools is different... i think private schools would be more varied in what they teach.

Edit: Think about how educated the average paki pashtun is on their history, most identify closer with history of hindi musalman (mughals etc..) that their own, that should kind of answer your question. All in all Pak studies is taught mostly the same throughout the country

[Peacelove]

1) It is Khyber Paktunkhwa not Northwest

2) There is no specific subject with name History in Schools.Social studies is being taught every where

3) Yes, there is some mention of Ahmed sha abdali, Ghori , Khushal khattack and some other figures.

4) There is a difference between Private and Public School curriculum too.

5) At last what matters is that whether they are getting good education in Pakistan or in Afghanistan ?which help them to develop and excel in life

[Firdousi]

No idea, but I seriously believe it must be something like this: "Bharat is evil. We are Arabs, Afghans and Persians. We are the last fortress of Islam. CPEC." and so on.

Only this kind of brainwashing would explain why most of Pakistanis are such a simpleton brainless people.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

As Indic fairy tales

[Elite Pakhtun]

From class 4 to 7 is all I can tell you, as afterwards I wasn't exposed to standard curriculum since I did O levels and A levels.

It's basically Pak studies, and Islamic history. There was 1 chapter on khushal khan khattak in Urdu class.

No formal history class. When i did learn history, it was WW2 and some indo-pak war stuff. This was class 7 onwards.

[khushal]

How Pakistan grew from a primitive prostitute (1947) to a modern prostitute (today).

I dont know if they are teaching that but they should.

and how the Afghan gov envy's and aspires to be the kind of prostitute Pakistan is.

[єѕαρχαι]

It's mostly about "Do qomi nazriya".

A lot of propaganda there. Usually the Afghan/pashtun emperors and Mughals are venerated, to ease the process of naming their Missiles.

[Firdousi]

How Pakistan grew from a primitive prostitute (1947) to a modern prostitute (today).

I dont know if they are teaching that but they should.

and how the Afghan gov envy's and aspires to be the kind of prostitute Pakistan is.

Seems you are an expert when it comes to prostitutes. How fascinating. Please, tell us more.

[Porus]

From what I remember, though it was a long time ago, they skimmed over the Indus Valley Civilisation with a couple of pages on Mohenjo-Daro and Gandhara, briefly mentioned the Aryan migration in a paragraph or two. Then went straight to the Arab conquest.

Really, it also depends on who teaches you history. In 7th Grade our teacher would make us read the book and then give her point of view, so she'd say 'this is when the idea of Pakistan was first conceived'. But then I had another teacher, a man, who'd emphasise that our history is much longer than this and they're not teaching us enough about it.

Pashtun rulers are a part of the curriculum, they taught us that Sher Khan Suri was a good administrator. Ibrahim Lodhi was less praised as he couldn't suppress the Rajputs and later allied with them to try and defeat Babur, but failed. Ahmad Shah Durrani is mentioned briefly, especially the part about Shah Waliullah's invite to come and fight the Marathas.

But Pir Rokhan/Roshan, Khushal Khan Khattak, Mirwais Nikka etc. didn't get a mention. Far as I remember I had no idea who they were until I started reading history myself.