Indian and Pakistani secondary school teachers’ attitudes towards Indo-Pakistani relations and their pedagogical response to it

• In Event: Border crossings and hybridity in education for sustainable development

Proposal

Since the 1947 partition of British India along the lines of religious identities, India and Pakistan have been in a perpetual state of conflict. Partition was a historical event in which a million or more were estimated to have died, 75,000 women were raped, families were separated, and homes destroyed on both sides of the divide. The two nations went to war in 1947, 1965 and 1971 and had a major conflict in 1999–2000 over a boundary area, Kargil. To date, the disputes over Kashmir, water, terrorism, border confrontation and trade continue to be sources of the perpetual conflict.

Education is a major source of identity formation in India and Pakistan. Policymakers in both countries devise educational policies and curricular content in line with their respective ideological positions. Scholars have identified that national curricula have been used to shape the mindset of the new generations vis-à-vis their neighbour. There appear to be efforts to undermine the collective historical connections between the people on both sides of the border, the two cultures, and their histories are often presented as antagonistic to each other.

Teachers have often played the role of silent implementers of this agenda on both sides of the border. Teachers matter because in the classroom they make the final decision on what to teach and how to teach it. It is important to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the other country/Indo-Pakistani relations as central agents of socialisation, transmission and construction of personal/social identities. However, little attention has been paid to the views of teachers of social sciences about the other country and Indo-Pakistani relations, as many researchers have only focused on education policies and curriculum concerning negative comments about the other country and biased reviews of history.

This paper explores the attitudes of Indian and Pakistani schoolteachers in respect of Indo-Pakistani relations as well as their pedagogical response to it. The data sources include textbook analysis, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations took place in 21 schools each in New Delhi (India) and Lahore (Pakistan) in 2015. The fieldwork started with semi-structured interviews with teachers, conducted face-to-face, in private and one-to-one. Classroom observations were carried out to explore how teachers teach and whether what they say they do corresponds with their actual behaviour in their lessons. Teachers’ attitudes are examined through the semi-structured interviews, while their pedagogical responses are analysed through classroom observations.

The key findings of the research reveal a close relationship between the Socio-economic status (SES) of a school and teachers’ attitudes. Importantly, there are significant differences in teachers’ attitudes mediated by the SES of the school, regardless of the individual teacher SES. Teachers’ pedagogical responses are multifaceted. In both countries, they find it difficult to articulate and develop critical thinking among students. In the classroom, teachers construct their attitudes in response to the expectations and assumptions of their school.

There are two interpretations of the findings. First, it exposes the claim that the textbook could contest the societal narratives of memories of partition and the perceptions of the other country and Indo-Pakistani relations. Second, regardless of the textbook change and teachers’ individual SES, the SES of schools negates teachers’ attitudes and determine their pedagogical decisions to depict the other country and Indo-Pakistani relations. Based on the findings of this research, it can be interpreted that the SES of the school heavily influences the development of critical historical consciousness and understandings of the other country and Indo-Pakistani relations.

This paper will have significant impact to society and governments both in India and Pakistan. First, the insights and analysis discussed in this paper could be used constructively for educational policymaking and future scholarship with regard to how teachers in schools in India and Pakistan contribute to the identity formation of students through their conceptions of ‘self’ and ‘others’. By attempting particularly to improve attitudes towards the other country and Indo–Pakistani relations, the integration of teacher attitudes into policymaking processes could prove instrumental in enhancing students’ learning outcomes. Policies designed largely by government officials, and based on the empirical literature that focuses predominantly on their political agendas, will have limited effect on teachers’ attitudes and schools’ prescribed pedagogies for history teaching (and pupil learning).

Second, this study has revealed the significance of school-type on teachers’ individual attitudes to Indo-Pakistani relations and their pedagogical responses to it. An informed approach towards drafting policies based on this analysis would entail gathering empirical evidence from the teachers’ and children’s perspectives. This research might benefit the future research on teachers’ day-to-day lives inside and outside of school, as well as how they form their classroom and school experiences. Such a focus on teachers’ attitudes and experiences would help elucidate how schools and communities could nurture learner-centred experiences for pupils and better academic performance.

Third, pertaining to the findings, national policy initiatives could acknowledge the SES of schools when formulating pedagogical policies. The current norm within the policy discourse would not result in the anticipated improvement in teaching and learning in low and middle SES schools. The design of an educational policy that appreciates the uniqueness of local practices might in turn lead to more practical improvements in pedagogical practices in both India and Pakistan. This research also presented a tangible image of what is incorporated into the idea of teacher agency, and what applied interventions could be adopted to improve teachers’ rational agency in schools in India and Pakistan, thereby addressing a significant gap in the literature on teachers in India and Pakistan.

Lastly, this paper might stimulate more positive attitudes towards the other country and Indo– Pakistani relations, improving social cohesion and enhancing cultural enrichment. This might result in the development of a more politically amenable neighbourhood and a more progressive and peaceful South Asia.

Author

• Kusha Anand, UCL Institute of Education