Daily Times

Sir: This is with reference to Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s meeting with the heads of various madrassa systems, and the agreement reached regarding the implementation of “modern education” at the madrassas. Some are hailing this as a major step in the process of mainstreaming madrassa education. I fail to see why.

The fact of the matter is that including subjects like mathematics, science, computers and English in the madrassa curriculum will in no way lessen the negative repercussions of having a generation of students steeped in dogma and the jihadi tradition. It is true that the students of these schools will be more educated, but it is a false assumption that they will be more “aware” or that their fundamentalist fervour will be any less. They will continue to subscribe to the same dogmatism rife within most madrassas. These schools will continue to be recruitment centres for all types of militant organisations, and will continue to churn out brainwashed students who will crush any ideological dissent given half the chance. There is no doubt that every one of these schools ultimately preaches that democracy is un-Islamic, and must be replaced with their interpretation of sharia law at any cost.
There are, of course, plenty of arguments to the effect that madrassas provide poor families with an opportunity to educate their children, and granted the madrassas charge no fees, but that doesn’t mean this education doesn’t come at a very steep price. This price is the heart and soul of the child that gets moulded into whatever shape the madrassas wish, with no consideration for the welfare of the child. These children become pieces in a political and ideological game as was seen in the Lal Masjid episode.
Pakistan needs an educated and capable youth, and for that our education sector must be brought up to the mark. However, no amount of madrassa modernisation will ever change the fact that they are created programmed automatons with little or no capacity for new, independent and constructive thought.
HASSAN KILDE BAJWA
Lahore