Decolonizing Sindh’s Curriculum: A Focus on Religion and Religious Minorities

Abstract

According to the population, Sindh is the second largest province of Pakistan. The same province is also known as the “land of Sufia (the moral people). Sindh is considered as a rich tapestry of culture and religion. On the other hand, its education system has inherited the curricula molded by colonial legacies. Moreover, after the creation of Pakistan, the post-colonial nation-building was dependent of the ideologies. It is also reality that the education policy introduced by Lord Macaulay remained very famous during the British India. It was the best example of education system during colonization period. After the freed of united India (1947) and its partition, the process of decolonization in education system was also managed in both sates India and Pakistan. This paper looks at decolonizing the curriculum in Sindh which means the critical revision of educational contents to eliminate biases of colonial-era. It also includes the dominant narratives as well as to embrace the local culture, languages and diverse histories. In the case of Sindh province, this especially entails re-examining how the curriculum represents religion as well as religious minorities. The main objective is to promote a inclusive historical narrative and social outlook that reproduces multi-religious heritage of Sindh and also fosters inter-faith harmony, rather than continuing bias. This paper explores the existing situation of curriculum in Sindh through the lens of religion, the representation of religious minorities in the province of Sindh, and the steps needed to “decolonize” it in both school and higher education settings.