Book Review Prejudice and Pride: School Histories of the Freedom Struggle in India and Pakitan
The piece of work which is being reviewed is authored by an eminent educationist Krishna Kumar. The title of the book is Prejudice and Pride which has been published by Penguin Books India Limited,Viking in the year 2001. The subtitle of the book ‘School Histories of the Freedom Struggle in India and Pakistan’ reflects major concern as well as the prime area of investigation in this book by the author. It is a comparative study between the school history textbooks of the neighboring countries India and Pakistan. The impetus to take up this path of exploration by Krishna Kumar can also be seen somewhere as his response to the several decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The writer takes this despair further and observes the general gloom prevailing in the education system of both the countries. However, according to him this becomes clearer by looking on the situation of children’s education in both India and Pakistan, which can be seen as a recipient of a certain degree of despondency giving it a low priority. Moving on to history teaching more specifically we can see that this problem aggravates as the focus of teaching history only arises political concern without translating it as a concern for the children who are at the receiving end. Therefore with the study of school history textbooks of both the countries Krishna Kumar seems to be tracing different trajectories of ideological presentation of a shared past. This can be seen as also adding up to the hostile attitude of both the countries towards each other.
This study is thus based on a comparative study of the school history textbooks of India and Pakistan. Out of this comparison the author brings forth a number of concepts and ideas where both countries who share a common historical background have different takes on its account and staging. However the basic question which the author enquires into is the perception of the past that Indian and Pakistani children encounter at school.
This study is thus based on a comparative study of the school history textbooks of India and Pakistan. Out of this comparison the author brings forth a number of concepts and ideas where both countries who share a common historical background have different takes on its account and staging. However the basic question which the author enquires into is the perception of the past that Indian and Pakistani children encounter at school.