After a 'critical review', the Punjab Curriculum Textbook Board has banned at least 100 books being taught in private schools over 'anti-national' and 'blasphemous' content, said Managing Director Rai Manzoor Hussain Nasir on Friday.
Nasir told reporters that the books that were banned contained texts printed by 31 publishers, including Oxford and Cambridge.
The PCTB MD said that the District Education Authorities (DEAs) across Punjab will visit private schools to check if these books were still being taught. He said FIRs would be registered against the publishers for violations under the provisions of the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board Act 2015.
The PCTB MD said that the board had formed 30 committees for this purpose. He said it was 'sad' that nobody checked these books earlier and had no idea what was being taught to our kids in private schools against hefty fees.
He said the banned books had distorted facts about Pakistan and its creation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal while these books also carried blasphemous content.
He said Pakistan was 'portrayed as an inferior country to India while Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) was also shown as part of India' in maps in some of these books.
The PCTB MD also said that books contained sayings of Mahatma Gandhi instead of Jinnah and Iqbal. Another reason for a ban on these books was the use of the picture of pigs to explain Maths concepts, he added.
A day earlier, a bill was passed by the Punjab Assembly that gave the government sweeping powers to ban and confiscate any text that it deemed offensive to Islam and Pakistan.
Nasir told reporters that the books that were banned contained texts printed by 31 publishers, including Oxford and Cambridge.
The PCTB MD said that the District Education Authorities (DEAs) across Punjab will visit private schools to check if these books were still being taught. He said FIRs would be registered against the publishers for violations under the provisions of the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board Act 2015.
The PCTB MD said that the board had formed 30 committees for this purpose. He said it was 'sad' that nobody checked these books earlier and had no idea what was being taught to our kids in private schools against hefty fees.
He said the banned books had distorted facts about Pakistan and its creation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal while these books also carried blasphemous content.
He said Pakistan was 'portrayed as an inferior country to India while Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) was also shown as part of India' in maps in some of these books.
The PCTB MD also said that books contained sayings of Mahatma Gandhi instead of Jinnah and Iqbal. Another reason for a ban on these books was the use of the picture of pigs to explain Maths concepts, he added.
A day earlier, a bill was passed by the Punjab Assembly that gave the government sweeping powers to ban and confiscate any text that it deemed offensive to Islam and Pakistan.