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A scary educational divide in Punjab?
Lahore, Aug 25: Students topping Punjab's Intermediate and Degree exams - results
announced on 15th and 22nd August - draw an ideological map that is worth
interpreting to see if there is conflict brewing in our "normal" educational
system. The apparent pattern is that, at the Intermediate level, almost all the
toppers show sensitivity to the negative effects of Islamisation; while at the
Degree level, there is insistence on more Islamisation; and the toppers there
announce their ideological affiliation with hijab and flowing
beards.
Most of the graduating candidates who topped in Punjab presume
that Islam is not properly in force in the country and recommend a stricter
implementation. Madiha Manzoor, a student from Madina Town Government College
Faisalabad, who took the first position in BSc, said: "I know that implementing
Islamic laws would be in the best interest of the country". Bearded Muhammad
Ahmad from Government Islamia College, Lahore, who was fourth in BSc, stated: "I
feel Islamic laws will benefit us all". Burqa-clad Asima Tabassum of Government
College, Jhang, who secured second position in BA, said: "I think Islam should
be applied in running the country". Remarkably, there was no support among them
for democracy.
Earlier, top position-holders in the Intermediate results,
declared on August 15, 2007, mostly favoured democracy while denigrating rule by
the army in Pakistan. Some of them actually commented on the phenomenon of
religious extremism in the country and thought it was a danger to democracy. For
instance, Kinnaird College, Lahore, student Wafa Sohail, first position in
general science, thought: "Religious extremists are ruining the name of Islam".
Sentiments of the same kind are expressed by the other girls topping in
pre-medical. The most distinguishing feature among them was the consensus on
democracy, while Islam was less of a problem among the boys.
One should
concede at the outset that conclusions drawn out of the topping students will
not reflect the feelings of all the 171,000 students who sat for BA/BSc exams
this year, or all the 97,000 who took their Intermediate. But those who stand at
the peak of educational merit do send a message that can't be ignored. They are
the ones who carry the promise of also distinguishing themselves in the
professional fields. If their worldview is carried into the job market, they are
sure to clash. There are also other observations that can be tentatively
made.
It seems that that students who reached maturity during the early
part of the Musharraf government are more determined to adhere to their Islamist
faith; while those who approach maturity during the later part of the Musharraf
government are a little apprehensive of what religious extremism may result in.
What is striking is that the younger generation passing their Intermediate exams
is convinced that the country must go back to democracy. Within the consensus
against military rule, therefore, there is a divide over the role of Islam in
governance.
One must be sure to separate this analysis from the
conclusions drawn from the proliferation of madrassas in the country - said to
be, inaccurately, between 20 and 30 thousand in number because of counting
difficulties. The madrassa is an aggressive institution recommending an Islamic
system based on the concept of amr and nahi leveraged by vigilante action
against munkiraat (prohibited practices). While a sense of the madrassa mindset
is visible among the graduating toppers, the top Intermediate students seem to
be against it. One can say that a convergence between the graduates of the
normal system and the graduates of the madrassa is possible.
This stream
of education is quite separate of the private sector English-medium stream that
takes Cambridge exams. A study already conducted by the country's language
expert Dr Tariq Rehman in 2002 has determined that madrassa students are the
most intolerant, Urdu-medium students less intolerant and English-medium
students are completely tolerant (pluralist) and in tune with the demands of a
modern state. Dr Rehman however bemoans the fact that English-medium students
are alienated from Pakistani culture. One can say that the English-medium stream
taking Cambridge exams - which is most of the private sector system - prepares
Pakistanis for a domestic job market that is increasingly globalised.
The
exam results in the present case tell us, however inaccurately, of another clash
of mindsets developing within the "normal" stream of education in the country.
Will the Intermediate graduates carry their consensus on democracy with them to
the Graduate level education? Or will they become inclined to accepting a more
stringent implementation of Islam while challenging Article 203(C) of the
Constitution saying that sharia is already in force under the self-legislating
Federal Shariat Court? At present, their protest against religious extremism
clearly sees "consensual" democracy as being under threat from it.
*
Second Editorial: Lesson to learn from
Bangladesh
Pakistan should perhaps be chastened by the popular reaction
to the imposition of emergency in Bangladesh. The students of Dhaka University
have clashed violently with the police over the presence of the army on their
campus under rules of Emergency. Bangladesh postponed elections earlier this
year and the army is making the country "suitable for democracy", which is
scheduled to return in December, 2008. The GHQ in Bangladesh has been far more
careful after its disastrous 16-year rule there, but its announced date for
elections in late 2008 may prove unrealistic.
Emergency doesn't work. It
actually leads to more conflict between the state and an increasingly awakened
population. The other more serious lesson to learn is that democracy doesn't
work if the electorate is polarised and politicians spend their careers
obstructing each other's government. Impoverished Bangladesh repeatedly suffered
crippling strikes and unrest over the last two years, which finally led to the
imposition of a state of emergency in January. The conservative-liberal divide
has become bloody and street violence doesn't point to democracy but to the
withdrawal of the army so that the politicians can be at each other's throats
again. Daily times
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| Education News | | Updated: 23 May, 2012 |
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