ISSN : 1997-1052 (Print)
2227-202X (Online)
Call for paper
INSEARCH 2025: 10th International Integrative Research Conference on Governance in... Read more...
Call for Papers for Academic Journals Read more...
Webmail Login
‘Ignorance’ of Rights: Politics of Religious Sentiments vs Human Rights in Bangladeshi School Textbooks
Farhana Islam
Abstract

School textbooks are assumed correct and unbiased in their narrative, and most often prescribed to the young minds without questioning. However, due to the increasing interference of political parties in the government funded public education sector, the school textbooks must be critically analyzed before being considered as rightful sources of knowledge. Hence, this study posed two questions: i) how politics influences the narrative of the textbooks in Bangladesh, and ii) how these books play roles in managing ignorance about Constitutional Laws and Human Rights among the learners by excluding crucial knowledge and information. To seek the answers, the research evaluated NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board) authorized books in Bangladesh, Social Science (Choudhury et al.) and Bangladesh and Global Studies (Patwari et al.), followed in class 6 and 7 from 1996-2017, and observed how the issue of Human Rights was dealt differently by governments over this time period. The findings of this paper call for teachers and general people alike to recognize ignoranceas an active tool of political agenda embedded in the school textbooks.

Full Text: PDF