MOSQUE SCHOOLS IN BALOCILISTAN

PAMELA SEQUEIRA

PRIMARY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

JANUARY 1992 MOSQUE SCHOOLS IN BALOCIIISTAN

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Pakistan is considered to be one of the religious countries of the world where the influence of the Religious Institutions is significant in the minds of the people, especially those who are living in the rural areas. Keeping this in view the Government thought of using this factor in promoting female education in the rural areas through these religious institutions which are called "Mosques". The Government came up with a Policy of using the Mosque as Schools. The "Mosque School policy" which was implemented in 1978-79 was considering the illiteracy rate and the lack of educational opportunities in the rural areas of .

The Expansion of Primary Education was held back due to the following factors:

1. The insufficient number of school buildings in the villages, the lack of funds with the Government for building new Schools, and the lack of space available for building new Schools. 2. There are not enough facilities provided in the School. For instance, there are very few large rooms, no drinking water etc. 3. Parents reluctance in sending their daughters to a School where a male teacher is sanctioned. 4. The difficulty of finding qualified female teachers in rural areas.

Therefore, the Mosque School Policy was to be taken into consideration so that the literacy rate and the female enrollment of the rural areas of Pakistan could be increased

1.2 Rationale for mosque schools:

1. It was thought that Parents wouid feel more comfortable sending their daughters to a Mosque rather than to a Primary School because they associate a great amount of trust on these Religious Leaders. 2. The Mosque Schools, were to run for 4 hours each day leaving sufficient time for the children to work at home with their parents. 3. Teachers in small villages often tend to remain absent from the School, and therefore the students suffer. "Mosque School Policy" intended to eliminate this problem by giving the Pesh Imam a stipend to teach in the School. It was thought that the presence of the Pesh Imam would help prevent teachers from taking unauthorized leaves.

1 1.3 Features of Mosque schools:

1. A Mosque School was to be opened in those villages where no Primary Schools exist. 2. The Mosques are not in use during the mornings and they can serve the purpose of a School because Mosques are clean, spacious, have drinking water, better facilities and a Pesh Imam who can teach the children the Religious Subjects. 3. Each Mosque School was to be sanctioned a JV teacher who will teach in that School. In addition the Pesh Imam was to be given Rs. 150 per month for teaching Religion. 4. Schools were to follow the regular Government Primary School curriculum. 5. The Mosque Schools would normally be till class 3. Thereafter students would be eligible for admission in class 4 in any other Primary School. 6. Since the Pesh Imam would also be teaching in the School, mosque schools were to known as two teacher schools. 7. School timings were to be set up in such a way as not to conflict with the prayer timings.

2. HAVE MOSQUE SCHOOLS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN ?

According to one report, female enrollment in Mosque Schools is significant in sindh and Punjab but quite low in N.W.F.P and Balochistan.1

According to a report on Kashmir, Mosque Schools have not been successful in increasing female enrollment, but on the contrary they have been successful in increasing boys enrollment. The response of the education authorities in that province has been to encourage boys to attend mosque schools, while using provincial 2 government funds for the establishment of girls primary schools.

It is difficult tc, evaluate the success of the Mosque schools program prior to 1990 in Balochistan. Although a major objective of the Mosque Schools was to increase the female enrollment in the rural areas, fernale enrollment in Mosque schools has not been recorded in the Educational Statistical Yearbooks published by the Directorateof Education in Balochistan. However, during 1990 BEMIS (Balochistan Education Management Information System) conducted the first School Census which included gender-wise enrollments in every school in Balochistan.

Report # 7, Harvard University. " The Impact of the Mosque School policy on girls".

2. Report on Kashmir by Dr. William Darnell and Ms. Uzma Anzar.

2 2.1 Indicators of success

We will measure the Success of the Mosque Schools by examining the following factors: * Are Mosque facilities being utilized for mosque schools? * Do mosque schools encourage girls participation in primary education? * Other factors.

2.1.1 Are Mosque facilities being utilized for Mosque schools ?

One of the main justifications for the Mosque Schools was that since there is a lack of land available, lack of Financial Support, and insufficient facilities for building schools in each and every village, the Mosques can be used as Schools. The Mosque remains empty during the morning hours and sc a school can easily function during that time. Almost each and every village has a Mosque with spacious room and adequate facilities.

However, 1990 data shows that many Mosque Schools did not utilize the mosque facilities. Nearly 55% Mosque Schools are actually using the facilities of the Mosques. The remaining mosque schools are physically located in other facilities, often buildings owned by the provincial government.

In other words, 1990 data shows that in Balochistan only 956 Mosques are being used as Schools, about 741 Mosque Schools are in buildings that belong to the Government. ( Table 1)

A similar conclusion is suggested by a Survey conducted in Loralai and Pishin, by the Deputy Director of Curriculum, Mr. Mobeen Shah. In asking the question whether the Mosque School is in Mosques or in other buildings, almost 90% of the mosque Schools survey are located in other buildings or in additional rooms built beside the Mosque . Once again it can be seen that the Mosque facilities are not being utilized.

Since 40% of all Mosque Schools are physically located in other buildings besides the Mosque, it can be said that the objective of using existing mosque facilities to promote primary education has not been accomplished successfully. If additional facilities are to be constructed for mosque schools then the Government may as well build regular government primary schools.

2.1.2 Do Mosque schools encourage girls participation in Primary education ?

Currently, there are about 2345 Mosque Schools in Balochistan Province. These comprise nearly 55% of the total number of Primary Schools in the Province. Out of these 1574 are boys, 12 are girl's and 759 are mixed Mosque schools.

3 a. Comparison of primary school vs mosque school enrollments

The enrollment in mosque schools is very low compared to Government primary schools. * The total enrollment in the Mosque Schools is 78932. 70538 are boys and 8394 are girls, whereas in the Primary schools the total enrollment, from class kachi-3 is 158396. 34116 are girls and 124280 are boys. * 32% of the total Primary enrollment of Boys go to the Mosque Schools and 68% to Government Primary schools. 18% of the total Primary enrollment of Girls go to Mosque Schools and 82% to Government primary schools. (See Table 2) * Mosque schools enrollment comprises only 10 % of girls and the remaining 90% are boys.

Thus, despite the fact that mosque schools comprise 55% of all primary schools in the province, they enroll only 32% of all primary boys and 18% of all primary girls. Since only 10% of mosque school enrollments are girls, it appears that the objective of using mosque schools to promote female enrollment has not been met.

Despite the fact that there are more Mosque schools than primary schools in the province the enrollment of boys in primary schools is 124280 (67.8% of the total), whereas the boys enrollment in Mosque Schools is 61000 (32.2%). The girls enrollment in Primary Schools is 34116 (81.9%) whereas, in the Mosque Schools it is only 7911 (18.1%). The Districts with high enrollments of boys are Loralai, Pishin, , and with the highest enrollment is Quetta , whereas in Mosque Schools the district with high enrollment is Khuzdar Jaffarabad and Loralai. The Districts with high enrollment of girls in Primary Schools is Quetta and Pishin with the highest in Quetta, whereas in the Mosque Schools the highest enrollment is in District. (Table 3 where the enroll) b. Differential enrollment district-wise

The enrollments in the Mosque Schools differ in various districts. The total student enrollment is the highest in (8759) whereas, the lowest is in Dera Bugti(677). One reason for this difference is due to the fact that most of the districts in Balochistan are under the influence of the Sardars and Maliks. If the Malik does not want a School to function in his village then it is very difficult for school to operate there.

The female enrollment in the Mosque Schools is very low. The highest female enrollment is in District Turbat with 1536 female students, (19.1%) and the lowest is in with 0 enrollment. The vast difference can be seen from the above

4 situation. For boys, the highest enrollment is in Pishin District and the lowest in Kohlu. The range is from 9591-803 (13.5% and 1.1%). The Mosque Schools purpose of increasing female enrollment seems to be successful in only a few districts, for instance Division Mekran has a significant female enrollment. (Table 4)

c. Completion rate of class 3 primary vs mosque

Comparing the proportion of students who completed class 3 in Primary vs Mosque Schools, for boys the completion rate in Primary Schools is 32.4% whereas in the Mosque Schools the completion rate is 28.5%. For girls the completion rate in primary schools is 23.4%, whereas, in the Mosque Schools the rate is only 14.3% . The completion rate for boys in Primary Schools is higher than that of the Mosque Schools. Similarly more Girls in Primary Schools have completed class 3 as compared to the Girls in Mosque Schools.

It can be seen that the completion rate for boys is much higher than that for girls in both Primary as well as Mosque Schools. The highest completion rate for boys in Primary Schools is in District Quetta , whereas in Mosque Schools the highest rate is in Lasbela. For girls the highest completion rate in Primary Schools is in Panjgur and for Mosque Schools it is in District Lasbela.

Overall the completion rate for both boys and girls is higher in the Primary Schools as compared to the Mosque Schools. But for the girls the difference in completion rates is much greater.

Seeing that a primary objective of the Mosque Schools was to increase the female enrollment, it appears that this policy has not been effective : 1. There are far fewer females in the Mosque Schools than in Primary schools. 2. There are far fewer females who actually complete class 3 as compared to the females in Primary Schools. (Table 5). d. DIFFERENTIAL AGE

Most of the children usually join the school at the age of 4. This can be said for both the primary as well as the mosque schools. In kachi the average age is 4. Comparing the age of the kachi students, in Primary as well as in mosque Schools, there is not much difference in the age besides the high enrollment figures in the primary schools. However, the kachi enrollment is much higher in primary schools as compared to the mosque schools for both boys as well as girls.(Table 6).

COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE MOSQUE SCHOOLS

5 The Mosque Schools started to serve its purpose really well but with the passage of time there came discrepancies:

* The Pesh Imams started objecting on the fact that the teachers were paid a lot more than they were. * The Pesh Imams and the village leaders also objected that the mosque has lost the dignity of being a sacred and religious place. Moreover, the schools were not given enough materials. The parents had to buy the books for the children which they did not approve of. Another reason was that the mosque schools were only up till the third grade which was another problem because after class three there was no school near by, where the children could go to.

CONCLUSION

The main aim of these Mosque Schools was to target the female population of Pakistan in the rural areas and to provide the parents security by associating primary education with a religious institution under the supervision of a religious leader. However, as successful in achieving their set objectives this report has shown, mosque schools have not been a success. According to the criteria that we have established as a measure for success, we see that :

1. Only 40% of mosque schools are physically located in mosque facilities. 2. Girls represent only 10% of mosque school enrollment, and most of them are concentrated in Panjgur and Cawadar districts. The majority of mosque schools have only a nominal enrollment of girls. 3. Class 3 completion ratio is lower in mosque schools than in primary schools for both boys and girls. This difference is very great among girls, suggesting that mosque schools do not encourage girls participation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Almost 90% boys are going to the Mosque Schools and only 10% girls. Therefore, the Mosque Schools can be used for the boys in those areas of Balochistan where the Mosque schools have not been successful for girls, and new Government schools should be opened for Girls with a trained female teacher sanctiored there. 2. Encourage Mosque Schools where they are successful for both Boys and Girls, such as in Division Mekran where the female enrollment is high. 3. Create educational awareness among the parents and encourage them to allow their females to schools. This can be done with the help of the community leaders and the teacher.

6 TABLE 1

BUILDING OWNERSHIP OF MOSQUE SCHOOLS

DISTRICT 0 PROV FED PRIVATE PRIVATE ARMED GOVT GOVT RENTED FREE FORCES OTHER TOTAL LORALAI 12 73 6 6 212 KILLA SAIFULLAH 3 28 0 1 83! 0 01 310115

ZHOB 20 I 22 I 0 0 74 1 1 118 DERA BUGTI 9 10 0 0 1 0 0 20 KOHLU 1 14 0 0 27 0 0 42 SIBI 2 32 0 2 21 0 0 57 ZIARAT 2 7 0 0 24 0 0 33 CHAGHI 4 17 3 2 20 0 30 77 PISHIN 11 81 0 0 168 0 3 263 QUETTA 31 28 1 2 52 1 1 116 JAFFARABAD 6 83 0 1 8 0 82 180 KACHI 15 42 1 0 42 0 13 113 TAMBOO 20 26 0 0 8 0 49 103 KALAT 11 39 0 1 125 0 2 178 KHARAN 54 20 0 0 21 0 2 97 KHUZDAR 68 48 0 1 54 0 0 171 LASBELA 22 64 0 0 7 0 24 118 GAWADAR 5 33 0 0 4 0 3 45 PANJGUR 36 41 0 0 4[ 0 1 82 TURBAT 0 23 0 0 11 0 84 108 TOTAL 332[ 731T 11 1 16 9561 2 296 2346 TABLE 2

NUMBER OF MOSQUE SCHOOLS WITH ENROLLMENT

BOYS _ _GIRLS MIXED DIST MOSQ ENRL IENRL DIST MOSQ ENRL 1ENRL DIST MOSQ ENRL ENRL NAME BOYS BOYS GIRLS TOT NAME G[;LS BOYS GIRLS TOT NAME MIXED I BOYS GIRLS TOT

CHAGHI 41 1428 0 1428 D.BUGT! 1 41 0 41 CHAGHI 36 1310 373 1683 D.BUGTI 19 768 0 768 PISHIN 1 25 1 4 29 AWADA 31 958 531 1489 GAWADAR 14 669 0 i 669 QUETTA 3 58 28 86 J.ABAD 104 3531 543 4074 J.ABAD 76 2660 0 ! 2660 TAMBOO 1 0 22 22 KACHI 15 436 95 531 KACHI 98 2617 10 2627 TURBAT 6 15 242 257 KALAT 10 220 61 281 KALAT 168 4784 175 4059 i KHARAN 54 1181 410 1591 KHARAN 43 1210 5 1215 1 TOTAL 12 139 296 435 'KHUZDA 68 2507 619 3126 KHUZDAR 103 3967 136 4103i K.SAIF 33 995 181 1176 K.SAIF 82 1413 52 1465 KOHLU 9 242 55 297 KOHLU 33 561 14 575 LASBEL 50 1148 285 1433 LASBELA 68 1456 102 1558 LORALAII 65 1084 256 1340 LORALAI 245 5041 30 5071 PANJGU 59 1940 1291 3231 PANJGUR 23 659 0 659 PISHIN 60 1687 424 2111 PISHIN 202 7879 8 7887 QJETTA I 23 1504 269 1773 QUETTA 89 3854 19 3873 SlBI 6 211 81 292 SIBI 51 1588 39 1627 TAMBOO 40 1309 217 1526 TAMOO 62 2444 12 2456 TURBAT 60 1 1947 1370 3317 TURBAT 42 1565 0 1565 ZHOB 12 463 72 535 ZHOB 106 2205 0 2205 ZIARAT 24 730 363 1093 ZIARAT 9 228 0 228 TOTAL 759 23403 7496 30899

TOTAL 1574 146996 602 47598 _ _ I TABLE 3

DIFFERENTIAL ENROLLMENTS IN MOSQUE SCHOOLS DISTRICT BOYS GIRLS RATIO TOTAL BOYS:GIRLS LORALAI 5221 275 21 5496 KILLA SAIFULLAH 2082 224 10 2306 ZHOB 2502 69 37 2571 DERA BUGTI 677 0 0 677 KOHLU 706 68 12 774 SIBI 1539 116 15 1655 ZIARAT 755 333 3 1088 CHAGHI 2361 343 7 2709 PISHIN 8347 412 22 8759 QUETTA 4875 301 17 5176 JAFFARABAD 5240 505 11 574b KACHHI 2569 99 29 2668 TAMBOO 3130 235 15 3365 KALAT 4422 228 21 4650 KHARAN 2108 397 6 2505 KHUZDAR 5705 720 9 6425 LASBELA 2053 351 7 2404 GAWADUR 1454 510 3 1964 PANJGUR 2175 1184 2 3359 TURBAT 3079 1536 2 4615 TOTAL 61000 7911 8 68911 TABLE 4

COMPARISON OF ENROLLMENTS PRIMARY SCHOOL MOSQUE SCHOOLS DISTRICT BOYS GIRLS DISTRICT BOYS GIRLS

LORALAI 9317 1730 LORALAI 5221 275 KILLA SAIFULLAH 2653 996 KILLA SAIFULLAH 2082 224 ZHOB 5095 606 ZHOB 2502 69 DERA BUGTI 4977 182 DERA BUGTI 677 0 KOHLU 2769 420 KOHLU 706 68 SIBI 2566 805 SIBI 1539 116 ZIARAT 1036 694 ZIARAT 755 333 CHAGAI 3033 1376 CHAGHI 2361 348 PISHIN 14016 2656 PISHIN 8347 412 QUETTA 24939 11835 QUETTA 4875 301 JAFFARABAD 7368 1558 JAFFARABAD 52t'0 505 KACHHI 6738 878 KACHHI 2669 99 TAM800 3225 359 TAMBOO 3130 235 KALAT 7310 1450 KALAT 4422 228 KHARAN 2490 546 KHARAN 2108 397 KHUZDAR 10007 1606 KHUZDAR 5705 720 LASBELA 4971 1318 LASBELA 2053 351 GAWADUR 2302 634 GAWADUR 1454 510 PANJGUR 2105 1169 PANJGUR 2175 1184 TURBAT 7363 3298 TURBAT 3079 1536 TOTAL 124280 34116 TOTAL_ 61000 7911 TABLE 5 COMPLETION RATE IN MOSQUE SCHOOLS BOYS GIRLS DISTRICT KACHI PAKKI CLASS2 CLASS3 COMPLETE' KACHI PAKKI CLASS2 CLASS3 COMPLETE _ _ _ __ F i % LORALAI 2437 1114 952 718 1 29.5 200 40 19 16 8.0 KILLA SAIFULLAH 1006 432 336 308 30.1 14 36 23 11 7.1 ZHOB 1237 627 396 242 19.6 36 20 10 3 8.3 DERA BUGTI 303 151 117 106 34.9 0 0 0 0 0 KOHLU 403 138 92 73 18.1 F 42 16 6 4 9.5 SIBI 665 314 309 251 37.7 65 29 13 9 13.8 ZIARAT 325 171 133 126 38.7 151 76 59 47 31.1 CHAGHI 1018 548 461 334 F 32.8 194 74 47 33 17.0 PISHIN 3996 2003 1323 1025 25.6 240 88 55 29 12.1 QUETTA 2106 1169 901 699 33.2 157 62 53 29 18.5 JAFFRABAD 2672 891 855 822 30.7 295 98 66 46 15.6 KACHI 1324 445 4401 360 1 27.2 67 12 14 6 8.9 TAMBOO 1501 533 574 522 34.8 159 42 18 16 10.1 KALAT 2260 1010 668 484 21.4 144 48 21 15 10.4 KHARAN 1166 406 298 238 20,4, 256 79 42 20 7.6 KHUZDAR 2745 1316 950 694 25.3 431 159 90 40 9.3 LASBELA 717 517 450 369 51.4 141 89 65 56 39.7 GAWADAR 674 311 300 169 25.1 250 140 91 9 11.6 PANJGUR 889 549 418 319 35.8 585 259 233 107 18.3 TURBAT 1434 752 513 380 26.5 844 349 227 116 13.7 TOTAL 28878 13397 10486 82391 28.5 4411 1716 1152 632 14.3 TABLE 5 COMPLETION RATE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS BOYS GIRLS

DISTRICT KACHI PAKKI CLASS2 I CLASS3 COMPLETE CHI 1 PAKKI CLASS2 FCLASS3 COMPLETE _ _ _ O K OMLT% LORALAI 4502 1932 1514 1 1369 30.4 984 377 214 155 15.7 KILLASAIFULLAH 1394 530 414 r 315 22.6 511 238 168 79 15.5 ZHOB 2421 1272 777 625 25.8 317 140 94 55 17.3 DERA BUGTI 2212 1231 8341 7001 31.6 78 56 36 12 15.4 KOHLU 1512 543 414 3001 19.8 299 56 52 13 SIBI 4.3 1242 527! 428 369 29.7 1 440 214 97 54 12.3 ZIARAT 491 i 211 186 148 30.1 I 354 155 112 73 20.6 CHAGHI 1373 697 541 422 30.7 726 296 212 142 19.5 PISHIN 6614 31451 2400 1857 i 280 1373 626 384 273 19.9 QUETTA 8716 6073 5332 4818 55.3 I 4658 2949 2386 1842 39.5 JAFFARABAD 3930 1307 1106 1025 1 26.1 985 262 184 127 12.9 KACHI 3645 1166 1050 877 24.1 555 156 1 66 11.9 TAMBOO 1662 593 482 488 29.4 226 53 47 33 14.6 KALAT 3654 1617 1128 911 24.9 893 280 163 114 12.7 KHARAN 1374 529 341 246 17.9 308 110 78 50 16.2 KHUZDAR 4635 2348 1685 1339 28.8 925 366 180 135 14.6 LASBELA 1996 1214 934 827 41.4 608 336 221 153 25.2 GAWADAR 1015 576 403 308 30.3 395 129 55 55 13.9 PANJGUR 840 610 379 276 32.8 396 229 191 48.2 TURBAT 320" 1755 1314 1093 34.1 1734 747 505 312 17.9 TOTAL 56429 27876 21662 18313 [ 32.4 16765 -7899 5518 3934 23.4 TABLE 6

COMPARISON OF AGE IN PRIMARY VS MOSQUE SCHOOLS OF KACHI STUDENTS PRIMARY MOSQUE AGE BOYS GIRLS TOTAL AGE BOYS GIRLS TOTAL 01 1 0 1 01 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 03 1 0 1 03 7 0 7 04 4590 1245 5835 04 2136 369 2505 05 20848 5964 26812 05 10000 1753 11753 06 16588 4482 21070 06 8302 1262 9564 07 7920 2453 10373 07 4589 499 5088 08 3549 1217 4766 08 2076 260 2336 09 1524 548 2072 09 913 95 1008 10 838 406 1244 10 456 52 508 11 419 138 557 11 197 19 216 12 165 62 227 12 91 4 95 13 67 19 86 13 35 3 38 14 28 10 38 14 2 1 3 15 11 3 14 15 c 0 9 TOTAL 56549 16547 73096 TOTAL 28813 4317 33130