Overview / Axes
The instrument
Every scored book in this study is measured on the same seven properties, using bands fixed before any book was opened. This page is the bridge between the individual findings and the 167 catalogue records: pick an axis to see how it is defined, which books sit at each end of it, and how the 5 boards compare.
All axes run 1 to 5, and 1 is always the secular, pluralist, open or liberal pole. The poles are descriptive, not evaluative — a high score records a property of a text, not a judgement of a board, an author or a teacher. One axis, civic thickness, is reverse-scored by construction so that this rule still holds.
English-medium books only. Lowest figure in each row is marked, and every cell carries its own n. Cells with fewer than four books are marked in red and should not be quoted as board figures — several are means over a single volume. Coverage is uneven because each lens scored only the books where its question is live. Read with the vintage control in hand — several of these gaps are generational rather than provincial.
| Axis | Punjab | Sindh | KP | Balochistan | Federal | Books scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Religious saturation | 2.36 n22 | 1.82 n17 | 2.50 n16 | 2.10 n20 | 1.70 n10 | 119 |
| A2 Civic thicknessreverse | 3.73 n11 | 3.50 n8 | 3.71 n7 | 3.60 n10 | 3.00 n4 | 49 |
| A3 Inquiry vs received truth | 3.45 n11 | 3.00 n8 | 3.29 n7 | 3.00 n16 | 2.90 n10 | 55 |
| A4 National-narrative closure | 4.40 n5 | 5.00 n1 | 3.00 n2 | 3.40 n5 | 3.50 n2 | 18 |
| A5 Militarism | 2.67 n12 | 1.10 n10 | 1.43 n7 | 1.77 n13 | 1.17 n6 | 71 |
| A6 Othering intensity | 2.54 n13 | 1.57 n7 | 1.71 n7 | 2.54 n13 | 2.25 n4 | 56 |
| A7 Gender conservatism | 4.18 n22 | 3.53 n17 | 4.25 n16 | 3.80 n20 | 3.30 n10 | 113 |
How much religion does a pupil meet in subjects that are not religious education?
Religious content and framing in books that are not Islamiyat. 1 = No religious content beyond a conventional bismillah · 5 = Subject matter is subordinated to religious instruction
Is the pupil taught to be a citizen, or taught about a state?
Constitution, rights, elections, dissent — and whether the pupil is addressed as a citizen. 1 = Constitution, rights instruments, elections, civil society and dissent all taught · 5 = No civic content; ideology occupies the slot
Is the pupil asked to reach a conclusion, or to defend one?
Whether contested questions are presented as contested. 1 = Contested questions presented as contested; evidence weighed · 5 = Conclusions handed down to be defended or memorised
When something went wrong, is anyone inside the country responsible for it?
Whether internal fault is ever admitted, or blame is always external. 1 = Multiple actors; internal causes admitted; failure acknowledged · 5 = Externalised blame; no internal fault; providential inevitability
Is the pupil invited to admire sacrifice, or informed that wars happened?
Armed forces, martyrdom, and war outside the history classroom. 1 = Armed forces absent or purely institutional · 5 = Martyrdom taught as aspiration; forces in non-history subjects
Is the out-group an adversary in a story, or a kind of person?
How out-groups are characterised — India, Hindus, the West, religious minorities. 1 = Out-groups treated neutrally or warmly; shared heritage acknowledged · 5 = Essentialised hostility; group framed as inherently threatening
Does a girl reading this book see anyone like herself doing anything?
Women as agents, as subjects, or absent. 1 = Women as agents across roles, including intellectual and professional · 5 = Women largely absent, or roles prescriptively bounded
These seven axes combine into two composite indices that do not agree: a secularity index built from religious saturation alone, and a conservatism index averaging six axes. A board can be more secular and more conservative than another at the same time, and in this corpus one is. Any single ranking of these boards conflates two different questions — so the study reports both and names which is which. The full argument, with the vintage controls that reverse several rankings, is in the synthesis.
