Madressah matters
Monday, May 11, 2009
The News International, Pakistan
Monday, May 11, 2009
In Washington, President Asif Ali Zardari has spoken of a possible plan to introduce reforms within madressahs. In doing so he has touched on an important point. While it is true, as we hear so often from those that defend them, that all madressahs do not train militants the fact is they often create a mindset that gives support to the cause of extremists. The few studies carried out into their role in society indicates the extent to which madressah pupils oppose a role for women in the public sphere and see non-Muslims as unequal citizens. In laying down any new policy for madressahs the failures of the past need to be kept in mind. An elaborate madressah reform plan under the Musharraf regime never quite got off the ground. We need to consider why this did not work and why the vast majority of madressahs today remain unregistered with no details available of the kind of learning they are imparting. We also need to identify those madressahs that are recruitment grounds for militants and determine how to shut them down.
All this must be tied in to a broader scheme of thinking. The fact is that madressahs have proliferated because the public education system has collapsed. Parents see no sense in sending children to government schools from which teachers are often absent and the standards of education are dismally low. In such circumstances, madressahs which also offer shelter and meals, offer the only viable alternative for many families. Reforms must also be aimed at reviving public-sector education. Indeed this is where donor money should go, rather than to madressahs in the hope that installing computers will help ‘modernise’ them. It is time to move beyond the madressah, rescue our children from them and offer them all the education of better quality that they deserve and yearn for.
Monday, May 11, 2009
In Washington, President Asif Ali Zardari has spoken of a possible plan to introduce reforms within madressahs. In doing so he has touched on an important point. While it is true, as we hear so often from those that defend them, that all madressahs do not train militants the fact is they often create a mindset that gives support to the cause of extremists. The few studies carried out into their role in society indicates the extent to which madressah pupils oppose a role for women in the public sphere and see non-Muslims as unequal citizens. In laying down any new policy for madressahs the failures of the past need to be kept in mind. An elaborate madressah reform plan under the Musharraf regime never quite got off the ground. We need to consider why this did not work and why the vast majority of madressahs today remain unregistered with no details available of the kind of learning they are imparting. We also need to identify those madressahs that are recruitment grounds for militants and determine how to shut them down.
All this must be tied in to a broader scheme of thinking. The fact is that madressahs have proliferated because the public education system has collapsed. Parents see no sense in sending children to government schools from which teachers are often absent and the standards of education are dismally low. In such circumstances, madressahs which also offer shelter and meals, offer the only viable alternative for many families. Reforms must also be aimed at reviving public-sector education. Indeed this is where donor money should go, rather than to madressahs in the hope that installing computers will help ‘modernise’ them. It is time to move beyond the madressah, rescue our children from them and offer them all the education of better quality that they deserve and yearn for.
Labels: Extremism, Madrassas, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism
posted @ 5:25 PM,
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