Waheed Akhtar
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Understanding Madrassah Education and Its Impacts. A Case Study of Chach (Attock) region in Pakistan Item Type Thesis Authors Akhtar, Waheed Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 30/09/2021 14:24:21 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5659 University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. Understanding Madrassah Education and Its Impacts Waheed Akhtar PhD 2012 Understanding Madrassah Education and Its Impacts A Case Study of Chach (Attock) region in Pakistan Waheed Akhtar Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bradford Centre for International Development University of Bradford 2012 Declaration © Waheed Akhtar No part of this thesis may be reproduce without the permission of the author I declared that this thesis is substantially my own original work and has not been submitted in any form for an award at any other academic institution. Where material has been drawn from other sources, this has been fully acknowledged i Abstract Understanding madrassah education and its impact A case study of the Chach (Attock) region in Pakistan In recent years, madrassahs and their education systems in many developing countries - and specifically in Pakistan - have attracted much attention from researchers and policymakers at the local and international level. The main focus has been on the reform of madrassahs, their political activism and, more specifically, studies which attempted to investigate their alleged links with militancy. Moreover, madrassah education has been questioned for its relevance to the contemporary needs of individuals and societies. However, despite focusing on many dimensions of madrassahs, few studies have tried to understand madrassah education within the economic, socio-religious and cultural context of Pakistan. A number of publications have reached generalised conclusions about the madrassah education system in Pakistan. Inspired by this, and by adopting qualitative research methods, this study focused on two main research questions:(a) Why do people prefer a madrassah education and what type of factors shape their preference? (b) What are the socio-economic impacts of a madrassah education on individuals and at community level? Researcher conducted a field study of more than six months in the Chach (Attock) region of Pakistan. Different students, parents, madrassah teachers and key informants were interviewed to collect required informations. The findings of the study revealed that different economic backgrounds, parental religious interests, individuals’ personal religious interests, and social norms and cultural values shape preferences for a madrassah education. Moreover, this study also revealed that there exist various socio-economic impacts of a madrassah education on individuals and at community level. However, a madrassah education has often caused conflict in communities. The study shows that while a madrassah education creates barriers to achieving modern skills and incomes, its social benefits are valuable for those living within socio-cultural constraints in rural areas. Specifically, it enhances the social status and agency of women. The study also shows that madrassah education is an opportunity for those who otherwise would have no other option to study. This study concludes that there is a need to re-think madrassah education within the economic, social, cultural and religious context of Pakistan. This study has practical implications for practitioners, madrassahs and researchers, and it also suggests further research related to madrassah education. Key Words: Madrassahs, education, Islamic education, socio-economic impact, qualitative research, community, education and development, community, Chach, Pakistan. ii Dedication To all my family & Atifa Khan & Amna Khan for your love and patience iii Acknowledgements First of all praise and thanks to Almighty Allah - the most merciful and the most beneficent; who provided me chance for doing this study and gave me strength and skills to complete this thesis. For the completion of this thesis I am greatly thankful and offer my deepest gratitude to many individuals and organisations, without their help and guidance long journey of this research was not possible. First and foremost I would like to say special thanks to my supervisor Dr P.B. Anand for providing me step by step guidance and giving me valuable suggestions and critical comments for my work. I would never forget his kindness, patience and immense contributions for enhancing my writing ability and improving my skills in conducting empirical research. Truly, I am privileged to get a chance to have worked with him; it was a pleasing and rewarding experience for me and I believe it will be a great asset for my life. My gratitude also goes to my Associate supervisor Dr Anna Mdee for her comments and guidance throughout my research studies. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to the academic faculty and members of the staff at the School of Social Sciences and International Studies and Bradford Centre for International Development for providing me assistance during this research. I am also indebted to individuals and madrassahs for their support, help and participations for the completion of field work for this study. I owe a lot of appreciations to several great friends for their moral support and also to all my classmates and friends for their endless support for the writing process of this thesis. Finally, a special thanks to all my family members for their encouragement, love, financial help, and prayers throughout my study periods. An earnest thanks to my mother whose sincere prayers have been a great moral support at each and every step of this long journey. iv Table of Contents Declaration.........................................................................................................i Abstract............................................................................................................. ii Dedication........................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements.......................................................................................... iv Table of Contents..............................................................................................v List of Tables.....................................................................................................x List of Figures ...................................................................................................x Acronyms......................................................................................................... xi Chapter one.....................................................................................................1 Introduction .......................................................................................................1 1.1 The madrassah debate: background of the study .......................................1 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study.................................................................7 1.3 The research questions ..............................................................................8 1.4 Significance of the study .............................................................................9 1.5 Limitations of the study .............................................................................11 1.6 Structure of the thesis ...............................................................................12 Chapter Two ..................................................................................................16 Madrassah education: A literature review, theoretical and conceptual framework ........................................................................................................................16 2.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................16 2.2 Conceptualising madrassah education .....................................................17 2.2.1 Defining the madrassahs ....................................................................17 2.2.2 An Islamic concept of education .........................................................19 2.2.3 Philosophy of Islamic education: an overview ....................................22 2.2.4 Inadequacies in modern education from Islamic perspectives............26 2.2.4 Questioning the Islamic education from secularist perspectives.........29 v 2.3 Contextualising the madrassah education in developing countries...........32 2.4 Rethinking madrassah education in contemporary perspectives ..............41 2.4.1 Traditional madrassah education and challenges to modernity ..........41 2.4.2 Madrassahs in education provision: possibilities and issues ..............45 2.4.3 The socio-economic dimensions of madrassah education .................46 2.4.4 Demand for madrassah education......................................................48