EWU Institutional Repository

Shaping Minds through ‘Ignorance’: Politics in Bangladeshi School Textbooks

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Islam, Farhana
dc.date.accessioned 2018-02-27T07:00:11Z
dc.date.available 2018-02-27T07:00:11Z
dc.date.issued 7/2/2017
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.ewubd.edu/handle/2525/2560
dc.description This thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in English Language and Literature of East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh en_US
dc.description.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 produce ‘ignorance’ by excluding crucial facts regarding history and rights of the citizens. 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 education policies adapted during the period. Furthermore, in two subsequent chapters, it is observed, how in Bangladesh’s context politically engineered ‘ignorance’ helps the powerful political parties to keep the citizens ignorant about their religious history and current human rights, and allows to push forward a Muslim majoritarian narrative for winning maximum number of votes. The findings of this research, in two subsequent chapters, calls for teachers and general people alike to recognize ‘ignorance’ as an active tool of political power embedded in the school textbooks en_US
dc.language.iso en_US en_US
dc.publisher East West University en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries ;ENG00156
dc.subject Ignorance’: Politics in Bangladeshi School Textbooks en_US
dc.title Shaping Minds through ‘Ignorance’: Politics in Bangladeshi School Textbooks en_US
dc.type Thesis en_US


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search DSpace


Advanced Search

Browse

My Account