Many people ask why the Education system in Pakistan is inclined to extremism and polarization in society. In March 2017 the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif appealed to the religious leaders to issue a counter-narrative to rid the nation of extremism and terrorism. However, he did not mention what factors play a role in shaping a nation’s narrative. The curriculum or education system plays a fundamental and important role in making a narrative of a nation or state where other factors are involved.
The curriculum is the ideological apparatus of the state. When designing the curriculum, states take into account which thinking may be useful for the state so that this thinking can be promoted with the help of the curriculum. An education system is created to implement the curriculum so that the desired results can be achieved. A major change in Pakistan’s curriculum was brought about under Zia-ul-Haq and the element of religiosity was added to it. The aim was to create a large number of fighters or their like-minded people so that they could fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
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Since then, our curriculum has been aimed not at creating a peaceful and humane citizen with a balanced mindset, but at creating a warrior, the consequences of which we are experiencing today when young people graduating from rural educational institutions are involved in events like Safura Chowrangi which occurred back May 13, 2015 where a highly educated lot of youth was involved. In a very recent incident Ms.
Shari Baloch a highly educated female having an M. Phil and MSc and wife of a doctor reportedly blasted herself at Karachi University as a result Chinese language teachers and their Pakistani drivers were killed. The blast ripped through a van, injuring at least four others near the Confucius Institute at Karachi University. A debate has again opened in Pakistan as to why highly educated lots is inclined to extremism and terrorism.
Division in the education system
The curriculum and education system is outdated in Pakistan. It is not the same for all the citizens of the state. Parallel to the state’s own education system and curriculum. There are many other systems and curricula in the country that are contributing to the good of dividing the nation. At present, there are six types of schools or madrassas available for the education of the children of the nation. Each of which is free to choose. This system and curriculum is the work of mind building in the process of dividing the nation.
Religious seminaries
First of all, if we talk about religious seminaries, there are two types of power. One is that in which only a particular sect is taught. During this time. Special care is taken to instill in the child the poison of hatred towards other sects and religions. The history of any other religion or sect is not taught. In these madrassas and no positive thing is said about them. The emphasis of such madrassas is that everyone except their sect is m.sguided. The second type of madrassa is that which teaches a particular profession but also some computer skills.
But the method of religious education is the same for both of them. The only difference is that the students graduating from the latter are more likely to get employment. Because of their skills than the former. But the number of these madrasas who teach skills is like salt in flour. Both types of Madras graduates look at all aspects of life through the lens of their faith. They do not consider it wrong to exclude from the realm of humanity those whose views they find contrary to their faith.
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According to an estimate. The number of students studying in these two types of religious seminaries in Pakistan is 3.5 million. From an estimated 150 at Pakistan’s independence in 1947. There are now some 32,000 madrassas attended by some 2.5 million students. According to Azmat Abbas, author of Madrassah Mirage: A Contemporary History of Islamic Schools in Pakistan. (Other estimates range as high as more than 60,000 madrassas).
After graduating from these madrassas, how will these children of the nation get employment? How will they support the house what will be their role in building and developing the society? Above all where will be their consumption? To date, policymakers have not thought about this.
There are two types of government schools. A tot government school located in a remote village or hamlet where education department officials are never seen. It is not even possible for the Department of Education itself to get accurate information about it. Whether cows and buffaloes are tied up or teachers, including students, are engaged in various unnecessary activities.
Education system in Pakistan (Govt. schools)
The second type of government school is the model school. Which is found in a district headquarters, a city or a rural population consisting of some enlightened people. Here the children of the headmaster or the surrounding employed professionals are studying. The standard of these schools is slightly better than tot schools but the medium of instruction is Urdu. The official curriculum is in full swing here. So the traditional kind of people are born here. Who often mention the two national ideologies and the fourteen points of Quaid-e-Azam in their written speeches. When talking about a subject, they also have some religious references.
These children are put in a special template, so they do not think much of other things. But take the traditional approach to the practical field, but sometimes some people are born here. Who share their experiences and observations. They are aware of the irony of the system in the light which they express in poetry, writing and speech.
Private schools
The third type of school is private schools. There are also two types of schools in them. One is the street coaches in which young and less educated women or men teach at a monthly salary of ten or twenty thousand rupees. Some of these schools have government curriculum, some have religious curriculum and some have secular curriculum. The children who come out of them are badly stuck between Urdu and English. Their condition is like ‘Dhobi ka kuta na ghar ka na ghat ka’. The second category of private schools is modern and expensive private schools. They are expensive and hence they are called English medium schools.
Different way of thinking in different schools
There is no room for the children of the poor but the children of the elite are educated in the modern schools. The language, style and dress here is English. The common man sits next to them for a few moments and realizes that they are not one of us and they themselves continue to harass the mentality and manners of ordinary Pakistanis all day long. It is as if these six types of schools produce six types of people with different mindsets whose thinking, understanding, observation and way of thinking are different from each other. These schools and the curriculum taught in them play an important role in the process of polarization.
Some of them consider Muhammad bin Qasim, Khalid bin Waleed, and Mahmud Ghaznavi as their heroes, some consider Buali Sina, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Quaid-e-Azam and Sir Aga Khan, some Einstein and Newton, some Karl Marx, Lenin, and Maze Tung. Some consider Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Edhi, Malala, etc. as benefactors of humanity, some are influenced by America, some are influenced by China and Japan, some are influenced by Iran and Saudi Arabia and some consider India as best friend. Few consider Afghanistan to be the fifth province of Pakistan and some weep over our domestic and foreign policy. Any attribute terrorism to our policies, some to our friendship with the United States, and some to our national formula of good and bad Taliban.
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Some consider Qadri right and some are fans of Salman Taseer. Serval feel sorry for Qandil Baloch and some frightens women by referring to its dire consequences. Some consider women as their property and some argue that they should be given equal status with men. As human beings. They are clean-shaven extremists and some like rain, some like music, dance and mixed education system. Some are committed to fasting and prayers while they consider making music, dance, picture etc. as a sin.
This series of divisions is not limited to extremist ideologies but also expresses this difference in practice.
Sometimes it is expressed in the form of abusive language, and sometimes in the form of murder. Sometimes in the form of siege, sometimes in the form of bomb blasts, sometimes in the form of sit-ins and sometimes in the form of religious and sectarian riots. But even today the state is not ready to accept. All this is the result of our education and training.
Single national curriculum
The purpose of our curriculum and education system is not to create peaceful and humane citizens, our curriculum is not to train all citizens equally. A single national curriculum (SNC) introduced by PTI Govt. doesn’t serve the purpose as only SNC is enough to change the whole environment of an educational institute nor can it be considered a whole school development plan.
Way forward
There is no religious or sectarian harmony in our curriculum, and there is no harmony of thought in our curriculum to promote human rights and a pathway to development in society, so how can we as a nation think and be united above all that How can we compete with the world in science, technology, and research without getting rid of the current outdated education system? And above all, how can we make a new narrative against extremism? These are the questions without which we will continue to weep for division and extremism, but we will never be able to become a united, civilized, and progressive nation until the core reason is not catered.
The contributor is a Gilgit-based human rights activist and columnist
