Daily Times

Extremism turns to violence in any country/area when innocent people are exploited by non-state actors, and extremist organizations from within and without in the name employment, business, and progress. With abysmal quality of life indicators; prolonged neglect; repression; and exploitation of its resources, Pakistan’s most green province holds the key to the success or failure of Pakistan’s economy on larger part. Lopsided policies regarding making a separate province and resource allocation along with regional developmental projects has created sense of deprivation among the people. But mere temporary efforts may not result in reliable future. Menace of extremism has to be curbed from its roots while imparting its education to the community as an essential part of curriculum. Education is integral component to create responsible citizens for a resilient and robust community.

Looking for peaceful society authorities needs to find linkage of extremism and education. A lot of incidents and referral happenings are present across country however South Punjab is a region of immense potential, but it has been plagued by terrorism, religious extremism, and ethnic separatism for decades, leading to vulnerable population. Education is essential to creating a resilient and responsible society, and South Punjab is no exception. Region is served by the School Education Department and the Higher Education Department, which oversee public and private institutes. As per PMIU data due to unforeseen reasons, enrollment rate decreased by 6.5 lac children in 2022-2023 as compared to the 2021-2022 session in the government sector institutes with 2.1 % less enrollment in private institutes. Despite more than 16 initiatives by SED and 10 by HED for uplift of education system targets are not achieved. Question arises why these initiatives cannot contribute to long term, how narratives shape society and what is future of youth in South Punjab in particular. Moreover, would cauldron of violence and extremism will be kept boiling?

Educational institutes are first learning place after domestic environment to build personality of an individual. Whereas socio-economic, political, and religious factors start contributing slightly to learning age of 1- 16 years but not directly. As per interview discussion with SED and HED Punjab representatives, Intelligent Quotient (IQ) is focused rather than Emotional Quotient (EQ) in education system currently in Pakistan. Resultantly, information /knowledge is passed to students, but their behavioural grooming is neglected.

However, study of criminals’ psychology in Pakistan (2020) says that two different student product is received in society one from formal schools and other from religious madrassahs. They behave differently towards social happenings. It is further reported that domestic to religious intolerance are sowing seed in the innocent minds which later experience specific teacher’s behaviours and learning pedagogies in educational institutes turning into violent behaviours. If one says that P/CVE initiatives at colleges/university level can do a miracle, then it is near to impossible. Because from 1-16 years of age child develop his/her personality and learn to respond social behaviours.

Curriculum is also important aspect of shaping individual behaviour and social environment. Curriculum is not only textbooks but whatever material is incorporated into young minds through verbal and non-verbal communication. It can be moderated according to assessment report of education system population. It embraces cultural sensitivity and promotes inclusion that helps to create an environment where students feel respected and valued. Teamwork, empathy and decision-making aspects can be used for positive youth development. Media literacy and digital citizenship could be incorporated through curriculum moderation. Bullying prevention and conflict resolution can be promoted as essential learning skills through social and emotional learning. Integrating violence prevention education into the curriculum can teach students about the consequences of violence and nonviolent communication skills.

Moreover, continuous evaluation of initiatives (either taken by federal, provincial or by local governments) is missing. These initiatives could not have long lasting impact because of no evaluation of these projects/initiatives. Not in numerical or concrete terms but behavioural and personality development impact is also needed which is not possible without teacher’s evaluation in domains of personality, education, psychology, and aptitude because they are dealing with most innocent minds with sheer carelessness. Personal communication with victims of violent extremism reveals that teachers are also coming form same social environment then how they cannot be affected by intolerance and social violence. These all aspects need to be considered while developing policy for P/CVE.

Violent extremism endangers peace and tolerance. Society must not only combat it, but also prevent it. Because violent extremists are not born but are created and fuelled. Disarming the radicalization process must begin with discussion and adherence to human rights and the rule of law. Education is a great instrument for increasing learners’ resilience to violent extremism and reducing the causes of this phenomenon. It contributes to their commitment to nonviolence and peace by challenging bigoted and violent narratives. This critical task begins as early as possible, in school classrooms.

Efforts for conducive and peaceful environment in classroom with positive mind of teacher will help to build a resilient society. Learning from the past lessons, in 1971 war between Pakistan and India long impacting strategies were adopted by the adversaries to separate west and east Pakistan. Most considerable strategy was deploying Hindu teachers in east Pakistan’s schools under monetary support to educate children in schools. What those teachers did; they created anti-east-Pakistan sentiment, wrote literature that instilled fear in the minds of Bengalis about the inhabitants of West Pakistan. Later this hatred filled innocent minds were used by ‘Mukti Bahini’ fighters in guerrilla activities and creating situation of worst law and order in east Pakistan.

Here, aim to remind this painful reality is to realise need of the hour that short-term policy and strategy may result in temporary positive impact but if long lasting impact is needed to rebuild society, then long term policy and strategy is required to revisit potential dimensions with most important dimension of education system. Innocent minds should be given in sensible hands and groomed teachers for strong nation.

The writer is a freelance columnist.