EU funding for schools in Pakistan
16.12.2024
Question for written answer E-002969/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR)
The EU has funded several initiatives in the field of education in Pakistan, including by allocating EUR 10 million to Sindh province in 2022 ‘to strengthen the implementation of provincial education policies’.
Pakistan’s own report on the EU Multi-Annual Indicative Programme 2021-2027 confirms that the country is using EU taxpayers’ money to fund education in Pakistan. However, there is no guarantee that this money is not being used in Islamic madrassas.
Several reports have revealed that the single national curriculum applied in state and other schools has primarily introduced a lot of religious/Islamic content in Urdu, English, civic education and even history lessons, which are all subjects to which non-Muslim children are exposed.
- 1.What mechanisms does the Commission have in place to determine which curricula have Islamic religious content that seeps into general subjects in state schools to which non-Muslim children may be exposed? And what restrictive measures or sanctions does the EU have at its disposal for such cases?
- 2.Does the Commission intend to make public any breaches of the provisions of the agreement signed with Pakistan, with a view to safeguarding the faith of non-Muslim children from any form of indoctrination in schools? If so, in what context and when will this be done?
Submitted: 16.12.2024