A/68/296 others, and history should never be manipulated to indoctrinate pupils into believing in mutually exclusive antagonistic identities. 57. Practices where the aim of history teaching appears to be less about transmitting adequate information about the past and more about establishing historical continuity of the current dominant order with past so-called “golden ages” are of particular concern. More generally, assigning a political agenda to history teaching, such as the promotion of patriotism, the strengthening of national pride and the construction of national or regional identities, appears to be common in most States. It is time to question this practice, which is not in accordance with history understood as an academic discipline. 58. It is true, however, that entirely disconnecting history teaching from political objectives is difficult. Positive examples are where the aim of history teaching is more clearly oriented towards the reduction of conflicts within and among societies, the peaceful articulation of social and political controversies and the promotion of democratic principles underpinned by an approach based on human rights. Such goals are attainable only when teaching includes critical thought and analytic learning, thereby encouraging debate, stressing the complexity of history and enabling a comparative and multiperspective approach. B. Ratio between local, national, regional and global history 59. The relationship between general, regional, national and local history in textbooks is usually determined by the State at the ministerial level, by education commissions or by pedagogical institutes. 60. The recommendations by UNESCO and the Council of Europe to include a balanced ratio of national and general history are rarely implemented. Most often, a marked domination of national history promotes an ethnocentric image of the past that accords centrality to one’s own nation, producing a distorted world view. 61. At the other end of the spectrum are situations in which local history is omitted altogether and the emphasis placed on regional, continental or world history. Challenging local historical events may be avoided by studying general history; very small countries may lack a critical mass to develop local historical narratives of their own and/or have them incorporated into the curriculum (see A/HRC/23/34/Add.2, paras. 48-50). C. Political and other histories 62. History teaching is often limited to political narratives, suggesting to pupils the pre-eminent place of politics in human society. Moreover, political history itself is often reduced to the history of wars, conflicts, conquests and revolutions. This suggests that periods of peace and stability are unimportant and opens space for glorifying war and promoting a military-oriented education. When other histories are taught, such as the history of science, engineering and the arts, and information provided on how developments in these fields affected societal developments, including politics, people learn of the complexities of both the past and the present. Understanding that people make decisions within specific contexts and particular 16/27 13-42291