Education system in Pakistan An attack on Madrassas INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR RIGHTS AND SECURITY Education system in Pakistan: An attack on Madrassas International Forum for Rights and Security Chairman Dr. Mario Silva Editor – in – chief Michael Giles 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 1902, Toronto, M4W 3R1, Canada Tel: +1 416 323 5776, Fax: +1 416 972 5071 Email : [email protected] Web : http ://www.iffras.org Copyright © 2017, International Forum for Rights and Security Contents Title Page No. Preface 5 1. Education System of Pakistan 7 2. Educating the Women of Pakistan 15 3. Pakistani education system and impact 23 of Madrassas 4. Madrassas as terror or jihadi factories 33 5. Madrassas with inflexible teaching curriculum 43 6. Islamic teachings and madrassas of Pakistan 50 7. What are the reasons for post 1980 Radicalisation 59 of madrassas in Pakistan? 8. How can we alter the education system 66 of Pakistan? 9. What role could be played by madrassas in 75 shaping the education system of Pakistan? Preface Education not only represents a major investment in human capital development but at a larger level bears a lasting impact on a nation’s moral, civil and cultural capabilities. Thus, it is clear that education structure of a nation plays a vital role in its national development. However, the education system in Pakistan has failed to play this role. The present volume lays down the challenges facing the Pakistani education system and shows how the policies being pursued with respect to education are leading to the creation of a society which is increasingly becoming extremist and fundamentalist in its outlook. The book specially delineates the characteristics of the Madrassa education system and shows how such Madrassa education flourishing in Pakistan is completely antithetical with the principles of diversity, tolerance, multi-cultural and secularism. The present volume argues that the extremist ideology being taught in the madrassa curriculum is the root cause of Pakistan becoming the hot-bed of terrorism activities and also encouraging prejudice, bigotry and discrimination towards the marginalised sections such as women and religious and sectarian minorities. The volume highlights how militancy and extremism have become ingrained in Pakistan’s educational system and this has resulted in Pakistan’s education system become a breeding ground for breeding Jihadist ideology. The present work also takes a look at some of the official policy measures such as the 2009 National Education Policy of Pakistan and argues that such measures and other policy initiatives have been largely unsuccessful in mitigating the spread of extremism and radicalism in Pakistan’s social fabric. 5 Chapter 1 Education System of Pakistan International Forum for Rights and Security Education, which, stands as the basic need for transforming a child’s future and also of the country one belongs to, should be made compulsory and free. This is the case with many western and Asian nations all over the world in which education to certain age groups is made free. Pakistan, a nation with a population of 200 million holds a belief of imparting education to its children from age group of 5 to 16 free. This indeed is a reflection of its vulnerability to not let the young blood to get attracted to the on-going terrorist activities in the nation. It is also done to increase literacy rate of the country. The constitution of the Pakistan provides for mandate for providing free education to children of age group 5 to 16. With the passing of 18th Amendment in Pakistan, the 47 concurrent list subjects including education were transferred to federating units as a move towards establishing provincial autonomy. 1 What is Education System? To better understand what all education and education policies are about, we need to have a look into what is the education system first. Education system is a mechanism which includes institutions which provide learning, textbooks, physical infrastructure, students, faculties etc. It has a main motive of providing formal education to anyone in need and according to the government policies. Education System of Pakistan: The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 260,903 institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384 students with the help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system includes 180,846 public institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31% educational institutes are run by private sector while 69% are public institutes.2 1. http://www.ipripak.org/education-system-of-pakistan-issues-problems-and-solutions/ 2. http://www.ipripak.org/education-system-of-pakistan-issues-problems-and-solutions/ 8 Education System of Pakistan Pakistan has been working on improving its education system from grass roots. But due to certain involvement in terror and other informal activities, it lags behind in implementing a stringent policy for education. It has collaborated with certain international organizations in order to facilitate funds and help from UN to get the education policy done. Even after the passing of the 18th amendment which made education a fundamental right, there has been no new trend to be seen in the education or literacy rate of the Pakistan. MDGs and EFA programmes are global commitments of Pakistan for the promotion of literacy. The fall in the literacy rate is not new for the nation. The colonial setup of education system followed by Islamic methods of imparting education has created a ruckus for the entire nation. A report published by UNICEF indicated that there is just 60% youth literacy rate and adult literacy rate is close to 50%.3 This trend if noticed carefully leads to demonstrate that education policies of Pakistan need a quick and formal check and also it should be made more effective. The female literacy rate is also below par. According to UNICEF, more than half of the population of young adult girls are not enrolled in schools. There is also the culture of same sex schools still prevalent in some rural areas. Where the education is on brink of devastation, the terror activities in the country make it more and more difficult to implement and act on the education policies. Terror influencing Education: The number of terrorist attacks on educational institutions within Pakistan has increased in recent years. The Washington Post reports there were 82 attacks from 2000 to 2008, and 642 attacks from 2009 to 2013. The Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP), established in 2007, has taken credit for many of these attacks. In 2014, 3. https://borgenproject.org/7-facts-education-in-pakistan/ 9 International Forum for Rights and Security seven gunmen killed over 150 people in a public school in Peshawar. The individuals responsible were found to have ties to the TTP. Through fear, these extremist organizations discourage people living within Pakistan from receiving education.4 Where these terror outfits discourage female education and even affect the education policies of the government, the leaders of the Pakistan get influenced by such terror organizations and put on a soft hand on education policies. Malala Yousafzai, a prominent face of the education system of Pakistan has started many initiatives to reform the education system of Pakistan. The UN even started a funding system in her name, ‘Malala Fund’, to provide aid to school going and also to sponsor the education policies. There are various other factors related to terrorism, such as spread of Islamic methods of education. The terrorist organizations are so stiff and radical in their thinking that they just do not let the western education system to prosper in the country. The several attacks which are inflicted upon the school children inside the schools are also one of the troubles they cause. Many social activist and NGOs have raised their voices against the government supporting the terror groups and funding them which indirectly affects the smooth functioning of the governmental policies including education. The need for reform is felt at a short distance. But if the education system has to be improved much is to be done against the country government supporting terror groups. Though, it has been seen that elementary education up to the age of 16 years is a fundamental right enshrined into the constitution, only 2% of the total budget of the country accounts for the education5. This is an alarming situation. Government needs to act swiftly to encourage the ratio of budget 4. https://borgenproject.org/7-facts-education-in-pakistan/ 5. https://borgenproject.org/7-facts-education-in-pakistan/ 10 Education System of Pakistan or funds allocated to the education policies. If not, then there will be lack of infrastructure and facilities and at all levels the children’s future will be at stake. The biggest problem of allocating a low profile budget towards education is the appointment of less competitive faculty and staff in the schools which would not be capable enough to provide quality education and indeed the future of country and children will be in shafts. Poverty and Education: One of the major factors, why the students either, drop out of schools at an early age, or are not even sent to schools for studying is poverty. The poverty levels in Pakistan are too below the par that each family faces shortage of working hands in the family. Plus the Islamic family rules of increasing birth rate has contributed indirectly towards the increase in number of people feeding on hunger. The poverty ridden class of Pakistan does not allow their children to go to schools for studying. Rather they believe that the children should start earning at an early age to support the family needs. This factor has created an imbalance in the society and its functioning. Where on one hand the government claims for education as a fundamental right, on the other hand the poverty crisis of the families living below poverty line restrict their children from schooling.