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Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan: an Exploration

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Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan: an Exploration Independent • International • Interdisciplinary PRIO PAPER 7 gate Hausmanns Address: Visiting Norway Oslo, NO-0134 Grønland, 9229 PO Box Peace Research Institute Oslo(PRIO) Religious Institution Building in Afgha- Religious Institution Building in nistan: An Exploration Afghanistan: An Exploration Visiting Address: Hausmanns gate 7 7 gate Hausmanns Address: Visiting Norway Oslo, NO-0134 Grønland, 9229 PO Box Peace Research Institute Oslo(PRIO) (CSCW) War Civil of Study the for Centre The findings in this report are Section three outlines a num- stitutions’, which is available mainly based on interviews ber of alternative models for from www.prio.no. conducted with madrasa and institution building in the Af- government representatives in ghan madrasa sector. 2010. Section four brings out the Section one takes a closer look conclusions and proposed at the current status of madra- next steps. sas registration, the govern- ment motivations and strategy This PRIO Paper forms part of for introducing the measure a project entitled ‘Religious ISBN: 978-82-7288-383-5 978-82-7288-383-5 ISBN: www.prio.no and how it is received by the Institution Building in Afgha- madrasas. nistan: An Exploration’, which is funded by the Royal Norwe- Section two outlines and dis- gian Ministry of Foreign Af- cusses the key elements in a fairs. The project has also pro- madrasa reform and identifies duced a PRIO Policy Brief en- the main opportunities and titled ‘Building Trusts and In- challenges to reform. Cover Photo: M. Osman Tariq Tariq Osman M. Photo: Cover Mohammed Osman Tariq Mohammed Osman Tariq Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan: An Exploration Mohammed Osman Tariq 2 | Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Hausmanns gate 7 PO Box 9229 Oslo NO-0134 Oslo, Norway Tel. +47 22 54 77 00 www.prio.no This PRIO Paper forms part of a project entitled ‘Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan: An Exploration’, which is funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project has also produced a policy brief entitled ‘Building Trusts and Institutions’, which may be downloaded at http://www.prio.no. Acknowledgement: The author is grateful to all the people contributing to making this research project possible; the numerous people willing to be interviewed, and the teams conducting interviews. The author thanks the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for funding the project. The author also thanks PRIO Director Kristian Berg Harpviken and PRIO researcher Kaja Borchgrevink for valuable inputs and support during the design and write up of this research. The author himself, however, bears full responsibility of any mistakes or omissions in this report About the author: Mohammad Osman Tariq is a consultant with diverse experience ranging from being a fighter (Mujahid) in 1980s against the USSR invasion to working with various national and international development organizations in Afghanistan. Tariq holds a Master in Governance and Development from University of Sussex. His earlier research has been published online. Tariq can be reached at [email protected] PRIO encourages its researchers and research affiliates to publish their work in peer- reviewed journals and book series, as well as in PRIO’s own Report, Paper and Policy Brief series. In editing these series, we undertake a basic quality control, but PRIO does not as such have any view on political issues. We encourage our researchers actively to take part in public debates and give them full freedom of opinion. The responsibility and honour for the hypotheses, theories, findings and views expressed in our publications thus rests with the authors themselves. © Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. Stored in a retrieval system or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). ISBN 978-82-7288-383-5 Cover design: www.studiosju.no Cover Photo: M. Osman Tariq PRIO Paper (2011) | 3 Contents Contents Overview of the report _________________________________________________ 5 Summary______________________________________________________________ 6 1. The institutional landscape ___________________________________________ 6 Registration __________________________________________________________ 6 Recognition of religious degrees _________________________________________ 6 Curriculum reform _____________________________________________________ 6 2. Opportunities and challenges to madrasa reform ________________________ 7 3. Institution building __________________________________________________ 7 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 10 Background to the study ______________________________________________ 10 The new government strategy __________________________________________ 10 A note on methodology _______________________________________________ 11 1. Mapping the institutional landscape of madrasas in Afghanistan today ___ 12 1.1. Madrasa registration ______________________________________________ 12 Uncertainty about what makes a madrasa ‘official’ ________________________ 13 Receive little in return from registration _______________________________ 13 Pressured to register _____________________________________________ 14 Need for enhancing the capacity of the MoE ____________________________ 14 1.2. Recognition of madrasa degrees and certificates ______________________ 15 Introducing government exams for all madrasa graduates ___________________ 15 Graduates from official madrasas _____________________________________ 15 Graduates from private madrasas ____________________________________ 16 Reception of the exams by the madrasa sector __________________________ 16 1.3. The curriculum reform process _____________________________________ 16 The process for developing a new official madrasa curriculum ________________ 17 Other initiatives to reform the madrasa curriculum _______________________ 18 By institutions supported by donors’ funds______________________________ 18 Madrasa-led initiatives _____________________________________________ 19 2. Opportunities and challenges to madrasa reform ______________________ 20 2.1. Key elements of madrasa reform ____________________________________ 20 2.1.1. Reform of the curriculum: _____________________________________ 20 Sectarian or non-sectarian curriculum? ________________________________ 21 2.1.2. Class-based tuition __________________________________________ 21 2.1.3. Standardized criteria and fixed exams _____________________________ 21 2.1.4. Financial support to madrasas___________________________________ 22 2.2. Major constraints to madrasa reform ________________________________ 22 Focus on registration and regulation __________________________________ 22 Lack of trust in government systems and intentions _______________________ 22 No recognition of private madrasa degrees _____________________________ 23 Little appreciation of religious education and religious leaders ________________ 23 Lack of interest and commitment to reform in the MoE ____________________ 23 Limited financial resources _________________________________________ 23 Foreign funding _________________________________________________ 23 Corruption ____________________________________________________ 23 Religious actors afraid of losing authority and influence _____________________ 23 Security threats and lack of protection ________________________________ 24 2.3. Opportunities for reform __________________________________________ 24 4 | Religious Institution Building in Afghanistan 3. Alternative models for institution building ____________________________ 26 3.1. Roles and responsibilities of a madrasa board _________________________ 26 3.1.1. Coordination, communication and cooperation between madrasas _______ 26 3.1.2. Voice and advocacy __________________________________________ 26 3.1.3. A platform for communication, coordination and cooperation ___________ 27 Benefits _______________________________________________________ 27 Challenges _____________________________________________________ 27 3.2. Organization _____________________________________________________ 28 3.2.1. Independent body ___________________________________________ 28 Lack of trust in the government _____________________________________ 28 Madrasas wants independence _______________________________________ 28 Lack of government capacity to take on this task _________________________ 29 3.2.2. Semi-governmental institution __________________________________ 29 3.2.3. Government body ___________________________________________ 29 3.3. Centralized or decentralized? _______________________________________ 29 3.3.1. A national level body with provincial level branches ___________________ 29 3.3.2. A national level body _________________________________________ 30 3.3.3. Requires further consultation ___________________________________ 30 3.4. Sectarian or non-sectarian bodies? __________________________________ 30 3.5. Experience from other countries ____________________________________ 31 Experience from Pakistan: __________________________________________ 32 Afghan led process – for the Afghan context ____________________________ 32 Support to the process ____________________________________________ 32 4. Conclusion and proposed next steps __________________________________
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