Prejudice is a common behavioural trait resulting from the dictum that is designed on the principle of exclusiveness. Anything that goes against the preset principles of a nationally accepted narrative is bound to be met with aggressive opposition and even with attempts to diminish dissent and free thought. The same is the case with the dissemination of education here where children — the most feeble and impressionable minds — are the direct victims of a system that is moulding their perceptions and outlook towards the world with certain state-endorsed limitations. The curriculum being taught in schools shows the tumultuous history of how narratives have been conjectured in Pakistan and how they have created relevance to the circumstance of Pakistan’s internal and external policies. The connotations of material carried in the textbooks were put there to serve the purpose of safeguarding vested interests rather than to educate children. What was once a more secular syllabus has now become more Islam-centric and sectarian. Little is done for the growth of intellectual and academic abilities of students where they are disciplined against asking questions and made to follow intrigue. The authoritarian culture permeating in schools and the environment this creates defy the natural ability to teach and to learn.
National policies, though absent before, created more burden on education instead of facilitating it. The first national education policy was planned in 1970 by General Yayha Khan but it could not go through because of the 1971 war. In 1972, the second national policy was authored by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the nationalisation of educational institutions, which damaged the educational fabric of Pakistan. It was during his time that Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies were introduced as compulsory subjects, which was the beginning of the inculcation of nationalist ideologies in young minds. There was a semblance of radicalisation in the textbooks when India-phobic content was included. The third education policy, and perhaps most brutal, was devised by general Ziaul Haq in 1979, who rampantly changed the curriculum and replaced it with jihadist literature to inculcate a good ‘Muslim character’ in students. This, coupled with Bhutto’s nationalist ideology, presented a dangerous experiment gone wrong. Islam itself became a nationalist tool, which was given precedence over the Pakistani pluralistic identity. The ideology of Pakistan as indoctrinated with the Two Nation Theory has little practical relevance in Pakistan unless the radicals want to promote puritanical beliefs by cleansing Pakistan of its minorities, which absurdly is a direct contradiction to the principle of why Pakistan came into being.
Textual concepts (a confused jingoism of Islam and nationalism) carried on unhindered in successive educational reforms during Nawaz Sharif’s stint. During Musharraf’s era in 2006, ‘Education in Pakistan: a white paper’ clearly reiterated the principle of inculcating Muslim values in the child. It was again reasserted in 2007 that the national education policy should be determined by Islamic ideology. This insertion in the policy making of education and the curriculum is painful, as it shows how priorities are being set in the interests of the child who has the right to an unbiased education.
In Islamic Studies’ books, concepts that are even hard for grownups to understand were introduced to children in primary or middle schools. To cite an example, there is a hadith in a primary class Islamiyat textbook, which states that one cannot become a true believer unless one loves Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) more than one’s parents. A child of eight years will interpret this very differently than a child of 15, and could understand it to mean hating one’s parents in order to be a true believer. The lack of rationality on the part of the textbook’s author to place such doctrines while being inconsiderate to the age of the child means that the noble meaning of Islam is lost due to the confusion it causes in children.
Feeble minds also get negative impressions if they belong to a minority group. With ethics books not available to all schools (particularly in rural societies), minority students are taught the tenets of Islam, which can be insulting to their own religious beliefs. Imagine what a Christian child goes through every time he/she is taught the first kalma, by which, whatever his/her beliefs are, are false by virtue of Islam. It is for these very reasons that many non-Muslim families do not prefer to send their children to schools where they are not taught religiously neutral studies.
With damaging educational policies, negative attitudes in pedagogical dissemination have discouraged questioning in students. Instead of focusing on ways to improve quality, a limited sphere of knowledge is accepted and appreciated by the education sector. Objectively, the subjects of studies, in particular the science subjects, were amalgamated with Islamic ideologies in their dissemination, resulting in the omission of topics that are believed to be in contradiction to Islamic interpretations. This has created a spiral of poor education quality, with students graduating with shameful intellect and becoming teachers in the future. That is the reason why academic development here has stalled or has been replaced by plagiarised research.
With the rising radicalisation of society, the blame for this is accredited to the educational institutes and their curriculum. The need for liberal studies is finally being realised but the intention to do so must be sincere in reforming education here. However, to date, there have been no serious steps taken by the government to address the issue of poor educational output in the country despite the vain cries for reforms by civil society organisations and academics. Though the 18th Amendment has activated provincial autonomies over education to suit educational dynamics, unless the roots of the problems in education are addressed and education is imparted as education (not as a tool of political or religious indoctrination) the future of our future scholars remains dark and without hope.
The writer is a freelance columnist and may be contacted at [email protected]