Comparitive Analysis of Madrasa and College Education

In Pakistan

MADRASA:

The word madrasa is derived regularly from the triconsonantal root, which relates to "learning" or "teaching," through the wazn (form/stem), meaning "a place where X is done"; therefore, "madrasah" literally means "a place where learning/teaching is done". The word is also present as a loanword with the same innocuous meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Indonesian, Malay and Bosnian. In the Arabic language, the word implies no sense other than that which the word school represents in the English language, such as private, public or parochial school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether Muslim, non-Muslim or secular. Unlike the understanding of the word school in British English, the word madrasah is like the term "school" in American English in that it can refer to a university-level or post-graduate Islamic school. The correct Arabic word for a university, however, is jami’ah. The Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning.

A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a hifz course; that is memorisation of the Qur'an (the person who commits the entire Qur'an to memory is called a hafiz); and an 'alim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, Tafsir (Qur'anic interpretation), shari'ah (Islamic law), Hadith (recorded sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad), Mantiq (logic), and Muslim History. Depending on the educational demands, some madrasahs also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science and world history.

People of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ‘alim for example, requires approximately twelve years of study. A good number of the huffaz (plural of hafiz) are the product of the madrasahs. The madrasahs also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes and reside in dormitories. An important function of the madrasahs is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madrasahs may enroll female students; however, they study separately from the men. There are examples of all-female madrasahs.

In South Africa, the madrasahs also play an important socio-cultural role in giving after-school religious instruction to Muslim children who attend government or private non-religious schools. However, increasing numbers of more affluent Muslim children attend full-fledged private Islamic Schools which combine secular and religious education. Among Muslims of Indian origin, madrasahs also

used to provide instruction in Urdu, although this is far less common today than it used to be.

A History of MadrassasSeeking knowledge has been an integral part of the Islamic tradition. The early years of Quranic revelations to the Prophet were embedded in the oral tradition. Similar to theVerses of good poetry, revelations of the Koran inspired the people of Arabia and they memorized the verses. However, as Islam expanded and it became necessary to preserveThis vast knowledge, these verses were written down and compiled into various chapters.This compilation became to be the book of Islam, the Koran.From early on, Islam emphasized two types of knowledge, revealed and earthly –i.e.Revealed knowledge that comes straight from God and earthly knowledge that is to beDiscovered by human beings themselves. Islam considers both to be of vital importanceand directs its followers, both men and women, to go and seek knowledge 1. For Muslims,The Koran is the perfect word of God, sacred and therefore cannot be changed. It shouldbe memorized from start to finish. Once a person has memorized it, he/she must reflectOn these verses and have a detailed understanding of its meaning and interpretation overthe lifetime. A person who has mastered it would carry the knowledge of Islam in his/herheart and spread the word to the ones who encounter him/her. According to Islam,seeking earthly knowledge is also important because earthly knowledge compliments theknowledge revealed by God in the Koran and helps Muslims to live productive and goodlives in this world.Having understood the above logic one can understand why mosques came to be centralto the learning processes of Muslims in the early days of Islam and continue to do so tothis day. It was at the Mosque where Prophet Mohammad would convene people tolisten to his revelations and their interpretation2. Mosques were the places where Koran

was compiled. It was here where early Muslims seeking to solve their problems in thelight of the newly revealed knowledge would come to obtain answers. The mosque wasthe first school in Islam. In the early days of Islam, there was no hierarchy and every onewho could master the content of the Koran could lead the prayers and guide the people.The learned people would usually spent most of their time in the mosques debating andpolishing their knowledge of the Koran and others who could not accord much time tothis activity would simply seek their assistance in matters of daily lives.After the death of the Prophet, when Muslims faced situations for which no answer couldbe found in the revealed knowledge of the Koran and the Prophet was not there to guidethem, the Muslim scholars sought answers in the sayings and practical life of the Prophet.This led to the development of traditions of following the Sunna, the knowledge of deeds1 Boyle, Helen, Quranic School Strategy and Mini Needs Assessment, Trip Report to Nigeria, 20022 Ahmed, Munir, Islamic Education Prior to the Establishment of Madrassa, Journal of Islamic Studies,1987.3of the Prophet and Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet. The mosque continued to be thecenter of learning even after Prophet’s death. This mosque based understanding andacquisition of knowledge worked very well for the Muslims of the Arabian Peninsulabecause the tribal traditions combined with the teachings of the Koran were sufficient togovern the lives of people who spoke the same language and had the same culturalbackground.However, as Islam expanded to other regions and came into contact with otherindigenous traditions and languages, it became necessary to create a cadre of Muslimexperts who would develop sophisticated writings and textbooks on Fiqa - Islamicjurisprudence, Sunna – Prophet’s traditions, Hadith – Prophet’s sayings, and Tafseer - theinterpretation of the Koran, to cater to the needs of non-Arab Muslim populations. Thus

began the tradition of Madrassa, the center for higher learning the initial purpose ofwhich was to preserve religious conformity through uniform teachings of Islam for all.The first known Madrassa is said to have been established in 1005 AD by the FatimidCaliphs in Egypt. This Madrassa taught the minority Shi’ite version of Islam. It had allthe ingredients of an educational institution. It had a library, teachers for differentsubjects were appointed and students who were admitted were provided with ink, pensand papers free of charge. An interesting fact about this Madrassa is that a catalogue ofinventory of this Madrassa prepared in 1045 revealed that it had 6500 volumes ondifferent subjects, including astronomy, architecture and philosophy3. When the SunniMuslims conquered Egypt, they revamped the Shi’ite version of Islam in this Madrassaand replaced it with the Sunni version, destroyed the books and manuscripts that seemedcontrary to their version of Islam and preserved the volumes that related to the earthlyknowledge. A huge number of books were taken to Baghdad where a Seljuk Viziercalled Nizam- ul-Mulk Hassan Bin Al-Tusi, established the first organized Madrassa in1067.In the new Madrassa established by Nizam- ul-Mulk two types of education wereProvid red: scholastic theology to produce spiritual leaders, and earthly knowledge toproduce government servants who would be appointed in various countries and theregions of the Islamic empire. Later, Nizam-ul-Mulk established numerous Madrassas allover the empire that in addition to providing Islamic knowledge imparted seculareducation in the fields of sciences, philosophy and public administration and governance.Nizam- ul-Mulk is considered to be the father of the Islamic public education system4. Hehimself is the author of a renowned book (among early Muslims) on publicadministration called “Siyasat Nama”5 (the way to govern).Even though a majority of the Madrassas during the subsequent centuries would remainthe centers of Islamic learning, a large number of them produced renowned scholars and

3 Ahmed, Munir, Islamic Education Prior to the Establishment of Madrassa, Journal of Islamic Studies,19874 Haqqani, Husain, Islam’s Medieval Outposts, Foreign Policy Magazine, November 20025philosophers who contributed to earthly or secular knowledge too. Ijtihad – independentreasoning was a special feature of these Madrassas. This is especially true for Madrassasin Spain where the Muslims ruled for almost 800 years and which is usually referred to asthe Golden Age of both Islamic and Jewish advancement in science, technology andphilosophy. It was in Andalusia Spain that Islam is said to have given birth to a numberof scholars who combined spiritual knowledge with the earthly knowledge andcontributed to the preservation of Greek and European knowledge, which was at theverge of becoming extinct. ‘For Ibn Massara of Córdoba (883-931), man was responsibleof his own history; Ibn Hazm of Córdoba (994-1064) was a pioneer of the comparativehistory of religions; and Ibn Gabirol of Malaga’s (1020-1070) fundamental work was thesynthesis of the Jewish faith and the modern philosophy’6. Muslim scholars, along withtheir Jewish counterparts, pioneered the knowledge of rational sciences, mathematics andmedicine. Many of these scholars have become familiar to students in the west undertheir Latin names, men such as the philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd), themathematicians Arzachel (al-Zarqali) and Alpetragius (al- Bitruji), and the physicianAvenzoar (Ibn Zuhr) to name a few.At the same time, as Islam spread to further east, the Sufi orders of the Muslim faith wereestablishing Madrassas in the Indian Sub-Continent and Central Asia. In these SufiMadrassas grammar, poetry, literature, logic, math and other disciplines of Islam andgeneral knowledge were taught. As most of the knowledge about Islam was eitherrecorded in Arabic and Persian, the Madrassas in Indian Sub-Continent became places for

learning Arabic and Persian. Every student aspiring to reach the highest level of theMadrassa education had to learn these two languages whatever the mother tongue of thestudent. The most renowned poets of India at that time were, borrowing from the Sufitraditions of Persia and Central Asia, composing their poems in Persian.These days of learning and scholarship in Madrassas would not last.After the defeat of the Muslims empires one by one at the hands of the crusaders andpolitical rivalries among Muslim leaders, Muslim learning and scholarship went into astate of decay, from which unfortunately, it has not bounced back. The defeat and thehumiliation faced by the Muslims in terms of both the loss of material wealth and powerand spiritual integrity, resulted in the Muslim Ulema (literally meaning the scholar) of thelater days to shun any pursuit of worldly knowledge and go back to the basics. In otherwords, they closed the door to Ijtihad – independent reasoning. Going back to the basicsfor this cadre of Muslim scholars meant following those trends and gaining that level ofspirituality due to which the earlier Muslims were able to acquire great power and wealth.At the time of the European renaissance, the Muslim education structure was beginningto decline. There was depression, lamentation and nostalgia for the lost glorious days. Inthis state of total gloominess Muslim Ulema, slowly gained power by becoming thespiritual advisors and deliverers of whatever was left of the education and the politicalsystems. These murky times in the Muslim history had profound impact on the function6 Charafi, Abdul Latif, Once Upon a Time in Andalusia, taken from the website of Jamat-e-IslamiBangladesh http://www.jamaat-e-islami.org/rr/andalusia_charafi.html5and philosophy of the Madrassas all over the Muslim world. Many abandoned thepursuit of rational sciences and focused exclusively on the teachings of Islam asprescribed in the Koran. Ulema used the verses from the Koran to rationalize their stancethat the earthly or rational knowledge either should not be taught in Madrassas or should

only be studied in the light of the Koran, which for them had all the answers.The last nail in the coffin of advanced learning in Islamic schools came with theEuropean colonial powers taking over whatever was left of the Muslim lands. Withcolonialism came a new modern system of education that sought to replace the role ofMadrassas in any type of development. In the new schools, only those elite were invitedto obtain admission that could be used to run the machinery of colonialism. This resultedin a dichotomy of education system – secular education for the elite and religiouseducation for the poor. The new Western powers also brought the idea of separation ofstate and religion, which for the Muslim leaders was synonym to heresy. The new systemof governance did not require legitimization through religion and this was seen byIslamic scholars as a direct threat to the established code of conduct for the Muslim rulersand their own power7. They were not happy with the new changes.One particular region in which Madrassa went through a radical shift in ideology was theIndian Sub-Continent. When this region came under the British rule and a neweducational system was introduced, which was perceived to be a threat to the Islamicidentity of the Muslims, the Madrassa system in India took upon itself the task ofopposing the cultural and educational hegemony of the British. It is important to pointout, however, that the Madrassa system in the Indian Subcontinent was the only one thatunderwent drastic changes in terms of Islamic education curriculum and teaching stylesIII. Politics and Religion in MadrassasIndian Sub-Continent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), is perhaps the only region whereduring the last twenty years, politicians from different parts of the world have found aplatform in Madrassas to advance their political agendas. Now same thing is happeningin Indonesia where religious leaders are increasingly using the Madrassas as launchingpads to attack either their rivals or other interests. In the Arab world, such as in Egypt,Madrassas in general are, at least, not perceived to be playing any noticeable role in18

politics. The Muslim Brotherhood political movement in Egypt, which is considered tobe a terrorist group by the Egyptian Government, is not rooted in the Madrassa system ofEgypt. It began as a political movement on secular university campuses, which over theyears has used Islam to generate wider support. Most of the operatives of the MuslimBrotherhood have studied abroad and in secular universities in Egypt. While A-AzharUniversity is considered to be a conservative institution, there is no evidence that itsschools or institutions are the ‘breeding grounds’ for Islamic radicals. It is true for otherArab countries such as Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, and so on also.Madrassas in Pakistan present a unique example of what can go wrong with the religiouseducation system if it is not monitored and/or nurtured in a positive manner. They are theonly ones that came under immediate fire after the events of September 11, 2001. Why isit so? The following discussion addresses this question.In recent months, many articles and reports have pointed out with alarm the increase inthe number of Madrassas in Pakistan during the past 20 years. According to the 2002International Consultative Group Report, the Ministry of Education estimated that in1995 there were 3,906 Madrassas, which increased to 7,000 in 2000.29 According to aSeptember 2002 article in the Dawn newspaper30, the Ministry of Religious Affairs inPakistan reported the number of registered Madrassas at 6,528 enrolling about 1.2 millionstudents. Yet, in April 2002, Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs told the ICG that hebelieved that there were currently 10,000 Madrassas. However, he acknowledged thatbecause of the problem of definition, he suspects there could be more, with as many asone million to 1.7 million students attending classes at least for short periods.31 Nobodyknows for sure how many Madrassas currently exist in Pakistan but some analystsbelieve the number is higher than what was reported by the minister for religious affairs.

Some say that it may be as high as 33,00032.Madrassas in Pakistan are a product of Soviet-Afghan war. For most of Pakistan’shistory, Madrassas numbered in the low hundreds and focused on training the nextgeneration of religious leaders. Beginning in the mid 70’s, the number of Madrassasbegan to grow. The reason was that the government of Pakistan failed to provideeducation to the growing number of students. The rise of Jamat-e-Islami (an Islamicpolitical party), and the active support from the Bhutto Government to essentiallydeclaring Pakistan a theocracy, led to the expansion of Madrassas where children couldcome for religious education free of cost. At the same time, the events in neighboringIran were also influencing the process of Islamization of Pakistan.The number of Madrassas grew at an even greater rate in the mid-80s under Zia’s regime,with financing from the Pakistani government, and the CIA. Large theological seminarieswere established along the Afghan-Pakistan border to create a cadre of religiously29 Pakistan: Madrassas, Extremism and the Military, International Crisis Group, 2002, p. 2.30 Ali, Zulifiqar, EU Ready to Help Madrassas, Dawn News, September 2, 200231 Pakistan: Madrassas, Extremism and the Military, International Crisis Group, 2002. p. 2.32 Gill, K.P.S, Politics of Islam in Pakistan, Hindu Vivek Kendra, March 2001,http://www.hvk.org/articles/0301/11.html19motivated Mujahidins to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Students in these seminarieswere taught to fight the ‘Godless’ Russians and ensure that Afghanistan is freed to beestablished as a good religious state33. Students learned basic mathematics by countingdead Russians and hand grenades.Religious fervor, support from the super-powers resulted in the defeat of the SovietUnion in Afghanistan. Then the military dictatorship fell in Pakistan. As subsequentgovernments in Pakistan, who were engaged in inter-political bickering, were unable tofully control these Madrassas financially, additional funds started flowing in from private

individuals and Islamic charities. At the same time, CIA abandoned these institutions andthought that now that the Soviet Union is gone so will all the lessons from the minds ofthe Madrassa students who were trained to fight the Soviets. In addition, the inability ofthe Government of Pakistan to provide education for all and the precarious politicalsituation in Afghanistan kept the Madrassa system alive in Pakistan. More and moreMujahidins were recruited to fight for the ouster of the corrupt governments inAfghanistan and holy wars in other places such as Kashmir, Bosnia etc. In addition toMadrassas that were established to support the Afghan conflict, other sectarian Madrassas,flourished during the same time in Pakistan. The main purpose of these sectarianMadrassas was to guard and spread their version of Islam.An interesting product of this transition in the Islamic education system in Pakistan is thatafter the fall of the Russian empire, the focus of hatred in Madrassas shifted from Russiato the West in general. The boundary of hatred that was earlier limited to Russia, theGodless enemy, expanded to include the West in general and the United States inparticular. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was used as a pre-curser by the Arabfinanciers from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to create a cadre of Muslim fighters who wouldnot only, somehow, restore the land to the Palestinians but also strengthen Islam byrestoring it to its original state – the puritanical Wahabi version. Those Madrassas thattried to propose the teaching of secular subjects so that their students would have somemarketable skills were strictly forbidden to do so by the patrons in Saudi Arabia andKuwait34. Thus, Pakistani Madrassas came under a vicious circle from which there wasno way out.In summary, the inability of the Pakistani government to meet the demand of educationby young Muslim males; economic deterioration in Pakistan; the events in Afghanistan;open financial support for expanding religious education by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait;

and U.S. interests in terms of using mujahidins for the fall of the Soviet Union; played acrucial role in bringing the Madrassa system in Pakistan to where it is now. As the sayinggoes, too many chefs can destroy the cake. The same thing happened to the religiouseducation in Pakistan – there were too many players who were following their ownrecipes and not paying attention to the final product.

verses of good poetry, revelations of the Koran inspired the people of Arabia and they memorized the verses. However, as Islam expanded and it became necessary to preservethis vast knowledge, these verses were written down and compiled into various chapters.This compilation became to be the book of Islam, the Koran.From early on, Islam emphasized two types of knowledge, revealed and earthly –i.e.,revealed knowledge that comes straight from God and earthly knowledge that is to bediscovered by human beings themselves. Islam considers both to be of vital importanceand directs its followers, both men and women, to go and seek knowledge 1. For Muslims,the Koran is the perfect word of God, sacred and therefore cannot be changed. It shouldbe memorized from start to finish. Once a person has memorized it, he/she must reflecton these verses and have a detailed understanding of its meaning and interpretation overthe lifetime. A person who has mastered it would carry the knowledge of Islam in his/herheart and spread the word to the ones who encounter him/her. According to Islam,seeking earthly knowledge is also important because earthly knowledge compliments theknowledge revealed by God in the Koran and helps Muslims to live productive and goodlives in this world.Having understood the above logic one can understand why mosques came to be centralto the learning processes of Muslims in the early days of Islam and continue to do so tothis day. It was at the Mosque where Prophet Mohammad would convene people tolisten to his revelations and their interpretation2. Mosques were the places where Koranwas compiled. It was here where early Muslims seeking to solve their problems in thelight of the newly revealed knowledge would come to obtain answers. The mosque wasthe first school in Islam. In the early days of Islam, there was no hierarchy and every onewho could master the content of the Koran could lead the prayers and guide the people.

The learned people would usually spent most of their time in the mosques debating andpolishing their knowledge of the Koran and others who could not accord much time tothis activity would simply seek their assistance in matters of daily lives.After the death of the Prophet, when Muslims faced situations for which no answer couldbe found in the revealed knowledge of the Koran and the Prophet was not there to guidethem, the Muslim scholars sought answers in the sayings and practical life of the Prophet.This led to the development of traditions of following the Sunna, the knowledge of deeds1 Boyle, Helen, Quranic School Strategy and Mini Needs Assessment, Trip Report to Nigeria, 20022 Ahmed, Munir, Islamic Education Prior to the Establishment of Madrassa, Journal of Islamic Studies,1987.3of the Prophet and Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet. The mosque continued to be thecenter of learning even after Prophet’s death. This mosque based understanding andacquisition of knowledge worked very well for the Muslims of the Arabian Peninsulabecause the tribal traditions combined with the teachings of the Koran were sufficient togovern the lives of people who spoke the same language and had the same culturalbackground.However, as Islam expanded to other regions and came into contact with otherindigenous traditions and languages, it became necessary to create a cadre of Muslimexperts who would develop sophisticated writings and textbooks on Fiqa - Islamicjurisprudence, Sunna – Prophet’s traditions, Hadith – Prophet’s sayings, and Tafseer - theinterpretation of the Koran, to cater to the needs of non-Arab Muslim populations. Thusbegan the tradition of Madrassa, the center for higher learning the initial purpose ofwhich was to preserve religious conformity through uniform teachings of Islam for all.The first known Madrassa is said to have been established in 1005 AD by the Fatimidcaliphs in Egypt. This Madrassa taught the minority Shi’ite version of Islam. It had all

the ingredients of an educational institution. It had a library, teachers for differentsubjects were appointed and students who were admitted were provided with ink, pensand papers free of charge. An interesting fact about this Madrassa is that a catalogue ofinventory of this Madrassa prepared in 1045 revealed that it had 6500 volumes ondifferent subjects, including astronomy, architecture and philosophy3. When the SunniMuslims conquered Egypt, they revamped the Shi’ite version of Islam in this Madrassaand replaced it with the Sunni version, destroyed the books and manuscripts that seemedcontrary to their version of Islam and preserved the volumes that related to the earthlyknowledge. A huge number of books were taken to Baghdad where a Seljuk Viziercalled Nizam- ul-Mulk Hassan Bin Al-Tusi, established the first organized Madrassa in1067.In the new Madrassa established by Nizam- ul-Mulk two types of education wereprovided: scholastic theology to produce spiritual leaders, and earthly knowledge toproduce government servants who would be appointed in various countries and theregions of the Islamic empire. Later, Nizam-ul-Mulk established numerous Madrassas allover the empire that in addition to providing Islamic knowledge imparted seculareducation in the fields of sciences, philosophy and public administration and governance.Nizam- ul-Mulk is considered to be the father of the Islamic public education system4. Hehimself is the author of a renowned book (among early Muslims) on publicadministration called “Siyasat Nama”5 (the way to govern).Even though a majority of the Madrassas during the subsequent centuries would remainthe centers of Islamic learning, a large number of them produced renowned scholars and3 Ahmed, Munir, Islamic Education Prior to the Establishment of Madrassa, Journal of Islamic Studies,19874 Haqqani, Husain, Islam’s Medieval Outposts, Foreign Policy Magazine, November 20025 www.Islamicweb.com4

philosophers who contributed to earthly or secular knowledge too. Ijtihad – independentreasoning was a special feature of these Madrassas. This is especially true for Madrassasin Spain where the Muslims ruled for almost 800 years and which is usually referred to asthe Golden Age of both Islamic and Jewish advancement in science, technology andphilosophy. It was in Andalusia Spain that Islam is said to have given birth to a numberof scholars who combined spiritual knowledge with the earthly knowledge andcontributed to the preservation of Greek and European knowledge, which was at theverge of becoming extinct. ‘For Ibn Massara of Córdoba (883-931), man was responsibleof his own history; Ibn Hazm of Córdoba (994-1064) was a pioneer of the comparativehistory of religions; and Ibn Gabirol of Malaga’s (1020-1070) fundamental work was thesynthesis of the Jewish faith and the modern philosophy’6. Muslim scholars, along withtheir Jewish counterparts, pioneered the knowledge of rational sciences, mathematics andmedicine. Many of these scholars have become familiar to students in the west undertheir Latin names, men such as the philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd), themathematicians Arzachel (al-Zarqali) and Alpetragius (al- Bitruji), and the physicianAvenzoar (Ibn Zuhr) to name a few.At the same time, as Islam spread to further east, the Sufi orders of the Muslim faith wereestablishing Madrassas in the Indian Sub-Continent and Central Asia. In these SufiMadrassas grammar, poetry, literature, logic, math and other disciplines of Islam andgeneral knowledge were taught. As most of the knowledge about Islam was eitherrecorded in Arabic and Persian, the Madrassas in Indian Sub-Continent became places forlearning Arabic and Persian. Every student aspiring to reach the highest level of theMadrassa education had to learn these two languages whatever the mother tongue of thestudent. The most renowned poets of India at that time were, borrowing from the Sufitraditions of Persia and Central Asia, composing their poems in Persian.

These days of learning and scholarship in Madrassas would not last.After the defeat of the Muslims empires one by one at the hands of the crusaders andpolitical rivalries among Muslim leaders, Muslim learning and scholarship went into astate of decay, from which unfortunately, it has not bounced back. The defeat and thehumiliation faced by the Muslims in terms of both the loss of material wealth and powerand spiritual integrity, resulted in the Muslim Ulema (literally meaning the scholar) of thelater days to shun any pursuit of worldly knowledge and go back to the basics. In otherwords, they closed the door to Ijtihad – independent reasoning. Going back to the basicsfor this cadre of Muslim scholars meant following those trends and gaining that level ofspirituality due to which the earlier Muslims were able to acquire great power and wealth.At the time of the European renaissance, the Muslim education structure was beginningto decline. There was depression, lamentation and nostalgia for the lost glorious days. Inthis state of total gloominess Muslim Ulema, slowly gained power by becoming thespiritual advisors and deliverers of whatever was left of the education and the politicalsystems. These murky times in the Muslim history had profound impact on the function6 Charafi, Abdul Latif, Once Upon a Time in Andalusia, taken from the website of Jamat-e-IslamiBangladesh http://www.jamaat-e-islami.org/rr/andalusia_charafi.html5and philosophy of the Madrassas all over the Muslim world. Many abandoned thepursuit of rational sciences and focused exclusively on the teachings of Islam asprescribed in the Koran. Ulema used the verses from the Koran to rationalize their stancethat the earthly or rational knowledge either should not be taught in Madrassas or shouldonly be studied in the light of the Koran, which for them had all the answers.The last nail in the coffin of advanced learning in Islamic schools came with theEuropean colonial powers taking over whatever was left of the Muslim lands. Withcolonialism came a new modern system of education that sought to replace the role of

Madrassas in any type of development. In the new schools, only those elite were invitedto obtain admission that could be used to run the machinery of colonialism. This resultedin a dichotomy of education system – secular education for the elite and religiouseducation for the poor. The new Western powers also brought the idea of separation ofstate and religion, which for the Muslim leaders was synonym to heresy. The new systemof governance did not require legitimization through religion and this was seen byIslamic scholars as a direct threat to the established code of conduct for the Muslim rulersand their own power7. They were not happy with the new changes.One particular region in which Madrassa went through a radical shift in ideology was theIndian Sub-Continent. When this region came under the British rule and a neweducational system was introduced, which was perceived to be a threat to the Islamicidentity of the Muslims, the Madrassa system in India took upon itself the task ofopposing the cultural and educational hegemony of the British. It is important to pointout, however, that the Madrassa system in the Indian Subcontinent was the only one thatunderwent drastic changes in terms of Islamic education curriculum and teaching stylesIII. Politics and Religion in MadrassasIndian Sub-Continent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), is perhaps the only region whereduring the last twenty years, politicians from different parts of the world have found aplatform in Madrassas to advance their political agendas. Now same thing is happeningin Indonesia where religious leaders are increasingly using the Madrassas as launchingpads to attack either their rivals or other interests. In the Arab world, such as in Egypt,Madrassas in general are, at least, not perceived to be playing any noticeable role in18politics. The Muslim Brotherhood political movement in Egypt, which is considered tobe a terrorist group by the Egyptian Government, is not rooted in the Madrassa system ofEgypt. It began as a political movement on secular university campuses, which over the

years has used Islam to generate wider support. Most of the operatives of the MuslimBrotherhood have studied abroad and in secular universities in Egypt. While A-AzharUniversity is considered to be a conservative institution, there is no evidence that itsschools or institutions are the ‘breeding grounds’ for Islamic radicals. It is true for otherArab countries such as Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, and so on also.Madrassas in Pakistan present a unique example of what can go wrong with the religiouseducation system if it is not monitored and/or nurtured in a positive manner. They are theonly ones that came under immediate fire after the events of September 11, 2001. Why isit so? The following discussion addresses this question.In recent months, many articles and reports have pointed out with alarm the increase inthe number of Madrassas in Pakistan during the past 20 years. According to the 2002International Consultative Group Report, the Ministry of Education estimated that in1995 there were 3,906 Madrassas, which increased to 7,000 in 2000.29 According to aSeptember 2002 article in the Dawn newspaper30, the Ministry of Religious Affairs inPakistan reported the number of registered Madrassas at 6,528 enrolling about 1.2 millionstudents. Yet, in April 2002, Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs told the ICG that hebelieved that there were currently 10,000 Madrassas. However, he acknowledged thatbecause of the problem of definition, he suspects there could be more, with as many asone million to 1.7 million students attending classes at least for short periods.31 Nobodyknows for sure how many Madrassas currently exist in Pakistan but some analystsbelieve the number is higher than what was reported by the minister for religious affairs.Some say that it may be as high as 33,00032.Madrassas in Pakistan are a product of Soviet-Afghan war. For most of Pakistan’shistory, Madrassas numbered in the low hundreds and focused on training the next

generation of religious leaders. Beginning in the mid 70’s, the number of Madrassasbegan to grow. The reason was that the government of Pakistan failed to provideeducation to the growing number of students. The rise of Jamat-e-Islami (an Islamicpolitical party), and the active support from the Bhutto Government to essentiallydeclaring Pakistan a theocracy, led to the expansion of Madrassas where children couldcome for religious education free of cost. At the same time, the events in neighboringIran were also influencing the process of Islamization of Pakistan.The number of Madrassas grew at an even greater rate in the mid-80s under Zia’s regime,with financing from the Pakistani government, and the CIA. Large theological seminarieswere established along the Afghan-Pakistan border to create a cadre of religiously29 Pakistan: Madrassas, Extremism and the Military, International Crisis Group, 2002, p. 2.30 Ali, Zulifiqar, EU Ready to Help Madrassas, Dawn News, September 2, 200231 Pakistan: Madrassas, Extremism and the Military, International Crisis Group, 2002. p. 2.32 Gill, K.P.S, Politics of Islam in Pakistan, Hindu Vivek Kendra, March 2001,http://www.hvk.org/articles/0301/11.html19motivated Mujahidins to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Students in these seminarieswere taught to fight the ‘Godless’ Russians and ensure that Afghanistan is freed to beestablished as a good religious state33. Students learned basic mathematics by countingdead Russians and hand grenades.Religious fervor, support from the super-powers resulted in the defeat of the SovietUnion in Afghanistan. Then the military dictatorship fell in Pakistan. As subsequentgovernments in Pakistan, who were engaged in inter-political bickering, were unable tofully control these Madrassas financially, additional funds started flowing in from privateindividuals and Islamic charities. At the same time, CIA abandoned these institutions andthought that now that the Soviet Union is gone so will all the lessons from the minds ofthe Madrassa students who were trained to fight the Soviets. In addition, the inability of

the Government of Pakistan to provide education for all and the precarious politicalsituation in Afghanistan kept the Madrassa system alive in Pakistan. More and moreMujahidins were recruited to fight for the ouster of the corrupt governments inAfghanistan and holy wars in other places such as Kashmir, Bosnia etc. In addition toMadrassas that were established to support the Afghan conflict, other sectarian Madrassas,flourished during the same time in Pakistan. The main purpose of these sectarianMadrassas was to guard and spread their version of Islam.An interesting product of this transition in the Islamic education system in Pakistan is thatafter the fall of the Russian empire, the focus of hatred in Madrassas shifted from Russiato the West in general. The boundary of hatred that was earlier limited to Russia, theGodless enemy, expanded to include the West in general and the United States inparticular. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was used as a pre-curser by the Arabfinanciers from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to create a cadre of Muslim fighters who wouldnot only, somehow, restore the land to the Palestinians but also strengthen Islam byrestoring it to its original state – the puritanical Wahabi version. Those Madrassas thattried to propose the teaching of secular subjects so that their students would have somemarketable skills were strictly forbidden to do so by the patrons in Saudi Arabia andKuwait34. Thus, Pakistani Madrassas came under a vicious circle from which there wasno way out.In summary, the inability of the Pakistani government to meet the demand of educationby young Muslim males; economic deterioration in Pakistan; the events in Afghanistan;open financial support for expanding religious education by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait;and U.S. interests in terms of using mujahidins for the fall of the Soviet Union; played acrucial role in bringing the Madrassa system in Pakistan to where it is now. As the sayinggoes, too many chefs can destroy the cake. The same thing happened to the religious

education in Pakistan – there were too many players who were following their ownrecipes and not paying attention to the final product.

Madrasahs in Pakistan

Main article: Madrassas in Pakistan.

There are more than 10,000 madrasahs currently (as of 1998?) operating in Pakistan.[9] It is estimated that one to two million children are enrolled in madrasahs.[10] Some media reports say that only 0.3 percent[citation needed] of Pakistani school age children are enrolled in traditional madrasahs. This is according to Pakistan's 1998 Population Census The World Bank Group. The 1998 Population Census found only 150,000 children.[citation needed] Orphans, migrants, and part-time students may explain the discrepancy. Regardless, percentage wise, the madrasah enrollment is relatively insignificant. There has been considerable intellectual disagreement about the linkages of madrasahs to conflict in Pakistan. A study conducted in 2005 by Saleem Ali for the United States Institute of Peace attempts to clarify some of these concerns by providing a detailed empirical comparison of rural and urban madrasahs (currently this study is being updpated and expanded as a book (expected to be completed in 2007), though an earlier draft is available online [11]. The project also included a web video on such schools titled Children of Faith.[12]

and quality and abandoning of the earthly science studies. The Madrassas in the Arabworld also changed a little in terms of the orientation of the Islamic curriculum but theycarried essentially the same system of education that was established in the earlydevelopment of the Madrassa in Baghdad, and to this day accommodate the teaching ofthe secular subjects. This is especially true for Egypt where, under the Al-AzharEducation system, the secular subjects compliment the Islamic education.

Structure of the System

Education is organized into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, culminating in matriculation); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to an F.A.

diploma in arts or F.S. science; and university programs leading to undergraduate and advanced degrees. Preparatory classes (kachi, or nursery) were formally incorporated into the system in 1988 with the Seventh Five-Year Plan.

Academic and technical education institutions are the responsibility of the federal Ministry of Education, which coordinates instruction through the intermediate level. Above that level, a designated university in each province is responsible for coordination of instruction and examinations. In certain cases, a different ministry may oversee specialized programs. Universities enjoy limited autonomy; their finances are overseen by a University Grants Commission, as in Britain.

Teacher-training workshops are overseen by the respective provincial education ministries in order to improve teaching skills. However, incentives are severely lacking, and, perhaps because of the shortage of financial support to education, few teachers participate. Rates of absenteeism among teachers are high in general, inducing support for community-coordinated efforts promoted in the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993-98).

In 1991 there were 87,545 primary schools, 189,200 primary school teachers, and 7,768,000 students enrolled at the primary level, with a student-to-teacher ratio of forty-one to one. Just over one-third of all children of primary school age were enrolled in a school in 1989. There were 11,978 secondary schools, 154,802 secondary school teachers, and 2,995,000 students enrolled at the secondary level, with a student-to- teacher ratio of nineteen to one.

Primary school dropout rates remained fairly consistent in the 1970s and 1980s, at just over 50 percent for boys and 60 percent for girls. The middle school dropout rates for boys and girls rose from 22 percent in 1976 to about 33 percent in 1983. However, a noticeable shift occurred in the beginning of the 1980s regarding the postprimary dropout rate: whereas boys and girls had relatively equal rates (14 percent) in 1975, by 1979-- just as Zia initiated his government's Islamization program--the dropout rate for boys was 25 percent while for girls it was only 16 percent. By 1993 this trend had dramatically reversed, and boys had a dropout rate of only 7 percent compared with the girls' rate of 15 percent.

The Seventh Five-Year Plan envisioned that every child five years and above would have access to either a primary school or a comparable, but less comprehensive, mosque school. However, because of financial constraints, this goal was not achieved.

In drafting the Eighth Five-Year Plan in 1992, the government therefore reiterated the need to mobilize a large share of national resources to finance education. To improve access to schools, especially at the primary level, the government sought to decentralize and democratize the design and implemention of its education strategy. To give parents a greater voice in running schools, it planned

to transfer control of primary and secondary schools to NGOs. The government also intended to gradually make all high schools, colleges, and universities autonomous, although no schedule was specified for achieving this ambitious goal.

Reform Efforts

Three initiatives characterized reform efforts in education in the late 1980s and early 1990s: privatization of schools that had been nationalized in the 1970s; a return to English as the medium of instruction in the more elite of these privatized schools, reversing the imposition of Urdu in the 1970s; and continuing emphasis on Pakistan studies and Islamic studies in the curriculum.

Until the late 1970s, a disproportionate amount of educational spending went to the middle and higher levels. Education in the colonial era had been geared to staffing the civil service and producing an educated elite that shared the values of and was loyal to the British. It was unabashedly elitist, and contemporary education--reforms and commissions on reform notwithstanding--has retained the same quality. This fact is evident in the glaring gap in educational attainment between the country's public schools and the private schools, which were nationalized in the late 1970s in a move intended to facilitate equal access. Whereas students from lower-class backgrounds did gain increased access to these private schools in the 1980s and 1990s, teachers and school principals alike bemoaned the decline in the quality of education. Meanwhile, it appears that a greater proportion of children of the elites are traveling abroad not only for university education but also for their high school diplomas.

The extension of literacy to greater numbers of people has spurred the working class to aspire to middle-class goals such as owning an automobile, taking summer vacations, and providing a daughter with a once-inconceivable dowry at the time of marriage. In the past, Pakistan was a country that the landlords owned, the army ruled, and the bureaucrats governed, and it drew most of its elite from these three groups. In the 1990s, however, the army and the civil service were drawing a greater proportion of educated members from poor backgrounds than ever before.

One of the education reforms of the 1980s was an increase in the number of technical schools throughout the country. Those schools that were designated for females included hostels nearby to provide secure housing for female students. Increasing the number of technical schools was a response to the high rate of underemployment that had been evident since the early 1970s. The Seventh Five-Year Plan aimed to increase the share of students going to technical and vocational institutions to over 33 percent by increasing the number of polytechnics, commercial colleges, and vocational training centers. Although the numbers of such institutions did increase, a compelling need to expand vocational training further persisted in early 1994.

Pre-school

A child may begin his/her schooling at a pre-school at the age of 3. Over the last few years, many new kindergarten (sometimes called montessori) schools have sprung up in Pakistan.and many peple came

[edit] Primary Education

A Primary student in Pakistan in uniform

Formal education in Pakistan starts from around age 5. The first 5 years of school are referred to as Primary. Thereafter, the next 3 are referred to as Middle and the 2 after as Highschool.

[edit] Secondary Education

At the completion of Highschool or 10 years of schooling, students are required to sit for board examinations referred to as Secondary School Certificate examinations or matriculation examinations or more commonly as "Matric". These are administered by area boards. Those that receive passing marks (normally 33%) on this examination are awarded a Secondary School Certificate or SSC. Students may then choose to undergo 2 years of additional schooling (offered both a schools and some colleges) after which they sit for the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC), more commonly referred to as 'Intermediate' exams. There is a wide choice of subjects that students can choose from during their 'intermediate' years many of which are technical subjects. Students normally read about 5 subjects in a chosen stream such as pre-medical, science, humanities, pre-engineering etc. and then sit for the Higher Secondary School Certificate exam in those subjects which are also administered by area boards. Those that receive passing marks (normally 33% of all subjects cummulative) are awarded a Higher Secondary School Certificate or HSSC.

[edit] Technical Education

Students can enter a plethora of technical institutes for technical certificates and degrees. The entrance requirements for these courses varies greatly with some such as carpentry requiring the applicant to be literate whereas others such as B.Tech in automation requires HSSC.

[edit] Post-Secondary

Pakistani education system

Students can then proceed to a College or University for Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Science (BSc) or Commerce/Business Administration (BCom/BBA) degree courses. There are two types of Bachelor courses in Pakistan namely Pass or Honours. Pass constitutes two years of study and students normally read three optional subjects (such as Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Statistics) in addition to almost equal number of compulsory subjects (such as English, Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies) whereas Honours are three or four years and students normally specialize in a chosen field of study such as Biochemistry (BSc Hons. Biochemistry). It is important to note that Pass Bachelors is now slowly being phased out for Honours throughout the country. Students may also after earning their HSSC may study for professional Bachelor degree courses such as engineering (B Engg), medicine (MBBS), vetrinary medicine(DVM) law (LLB), agriculture (B Agri), architecture (B Arch), nursing (B Nurs) etc. which are of four or five years duration depending on the degree

Some Masters Degrees also consist of 1.5 years. Then there are PhD Education as well in selected areas. One has to choose specific field and the suitable university doing research work in that field. PhD in Pakistan consists of minimum 3-5 years.

Pakistani universities churn out almost 1.2 million skilled graduates annually. The government has announced a $1 billion spending plan over the next decade to build 6 state-of-the-art science and engineering universities. The scheme would be overseen by the Higher Education Commission.

Private Institutions

The increasing prevalence of private schooling

Government schools in Pakistan having fallen short in the provision of quality education, many parents have enrolled their children in private schools. Before the 1990s, private schools were seen as a luxury only the rich could afford. From the 1990s to the present, there has been a phenomenal rise in private education, according to research by scholars at Harvard University, the World Bank, and elsewhere. A Harvard/World Bank report states:

First, the extent of private schooling in Pakistan is striking. In 2000, 35 percent of children enrolled in school at the primary level were in private schools, and this number falls by a third for middle and high schools to 25 percent. Private schooling in Pakistan at the primary level is large, widespread and increasing over time. Second, Pakistan is the only low-income country, to our knowledge, that has a high quality census of all private schooling facilities in the country. These data allow us to understand the structure of private schools throughout the country; the large sample size permits useful comparisons even in regions where the extent of private schooling is smaller. Using this census of private schools in addition to representative household surveys from 1991 and 2001 and data collected by the authors, we document several patterns about the private schooling phenomenon in the country.

The growth in private schooling is higher in rural compared to urban areas and is high even among the poorest segments of the population. What is equally remarkable is that these schools are overwhelmingly for-profit enterprises —they have sprung up around the country without much state regulation or subsidy.

Private schools charge (very) low fees. A typical private school in a rural village of Pakistan charges Rs.1000 ($18) per year, which represents 4 percent of the GDP per capita for the country. In the US, private schools (elementary and secondary) charged $3524 in 1991. At 14 percent of GDP per capita, the relative cost of private schooling is almost 3.5 times as high in the US compared to Pakistan.

The key to charging low fees is keeping costs down. Since teachers’ salaries constitute the bulk of educational budgets around the world, lowering wages significantly reduces the overall cost of providing education. Private schools employ young, single, moderately educated and untrained local women. Since alternative employment opportunities for these women are limited, they are paid considerably lower wages than their male counterparts.

These mechanisms define the possibility of private schools as well as their limits. Where private schools arise, the use of locally educated women and the structure of the labor market allow them to charge low fees. Where they exist, they are affordable. However,

private schools do not exist everywhere; in particular they are constrained by the availability of teachers and potential demand side considerations reflecting the size of the village. Private schools are therefore not accessible to all. Since available teachers in rural areas are typically (just) secondary-educated, privates schools are also by necessity limited to the primary schooling market.

— From A Dime a Day: The Possibilities and Limits of Private Schooling in Pakistan, World Bank, November 2006.

Surveys from the late 1990s had found surprisingly high levels of private-school enrollment in Pakistan's urban areas.One survey reported that 59 percent of households earning less than Rs 3,500 had children who were enrolled in private schools in the city of Lahore. Similarly, in the low-income and economically-deprived Orangi district of Karachi, a surprising 60 percent of all enrolled children went to private primary schools. The findings of this study are given added support by a 1996 study conducted in the urban areas of five districts in the province of Punjab. This study found that even among low-income households, there was a private school enrolment rate of 50 percent.

More than 36,000 private institutions attend to the educational needs of 6.3 million children.

Cambridge-system schools

There is a parallel education system in place in some private schools, i.e. the 'O' level and 'A' level system. The curricula are set by the University of Cambridge of the UK. Students studying in this system do not follow the syllabi set by the Pakistan government, but subjects such as Islamiyat and Pakistan studies are still compulsory for most high school students. The Ministry of Education also keeps an eye on what is being taught in these private schools. In recent years, the number of students enrolled in these schools has increased considerably. Many of these Cambridge-system schools charge high fees, catering to the children of elite professionals and those who can afford them. However, during recent years, the phenomenon of appearing for the Cambridge exams "privately" has been rising. Students attend private tutoring sessions, register for the British exams via the British Council, and do not attend any school to prepare for their exams.

Madrassas

Ever since the start of the War on Terror, the attention of the world's media has been focused on the madrassas operating in Pakistan which are mainly attended by children living in rural areas. Popular worldwide beliefs are that a significant number of students in Pakistan are a part of these religious schools. This myth was debunked by a Harvard/World Bank study that examined statistical data to

more precisely determine madrassa enrollment in Pakistan. [7] [8] The findings were that enrollment in Pakistani madrassas is relatively low, with less than 1 percent of all students enrolled in a school attending madrassas. [7] [8] There are as much as 100 times as many children in public schools as there are in madrassas and almost 40 times as many children in private schools as there are in madrassas. [7] For the average Pakistani household, the choice of going to a madrassa is simply not a statistically significant option. Even in areas which surround Afghanistan, which are considered to be hotbeds of madrassa activity, madrassa enrollment is actually less than 7.5 percent. [7]

Outside this region madrassa enrollment is thinly, but evenly, spread across the rest of the country. There was no evidence of a dramatic increase in madrassa enrollment in recent years. [7] [8] [9] Examining time trends it was found that madrassa enrollment actually declined in Pakistan from its creation until the 1980s. [7] It increased somewhat during the religion-based resistance to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets in 1979 and the subsequent rise of the Taliban. However, in the last few years, the data does not suggest that there is any dramatic increase in madrassa enrollment.

School EducationPrimary and secondary education is provided by public and private schools as well as byIslamic madrasahs (see chapter 5 for more information about Islamic madrasahs). Schooleducation is organised in a 5+3+2+2 model: Primary stage (5 years); middle stage (3 years);lower secondary stage (2 years); and upper secondary stage (2 years).Education starts at the age of five. Pre-school classes known as Katchi were discontinuedduring the 1980s. They were reintroduced with the National Education Policy 1998-2010.According to information from the Ministry of Education, Pakistan has passed a law oncompulsory education (eight years of schooling). Some provinces also have laws regardingthis. Implementation of the law is dependent on support from all the provinces, which has notbeen secured so far.Schools normally close for ten weeks from the beginning of June until mid/late August.Winter holidays usually run from mid-December to early January.School education is organised by the Ministry of Education. The Curriculum Wing within theministry formulates the national framework curriculum through a wide stakeholderconsultation. The present curriculum was revised and updated in the year 2000 and 2002 for

science subjects and social science subjects respectively. A new revision of the nationalcurriculum for sciences and social science subjects/humanities at the primary, secondary andhigher secondary education levels is planned for the years 2005/2006 in order to make thecurriculum more responsive to modern needs and comparable with international standards.The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) controls the 26 boards of intermediate andsecondary education. The boards, one federal and the remainder provincial, affiliate schools,implement, regulate and monitor schemes of studies and curricula, and hold SecondarySchool Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) exams. Threetechnical boards are responsible for vocational and technical education. A list of the boards ispublished by IBCC on their website at http://www.ibcc.edu.pk/default.asp.Four textbook boards develop and print books for schools. Pakistan has introduced textbookderegulation for Classes 9-12 and is prepared to expand the initiative to the primary sector toallow for more efficient and competitive printing and publishing of textbooks.The boards are autonomous institutions financed by fees from the affiliated schools and fromstudents allowed for examination. Urdu is generally the medium of instruction within theeducation system.Enrolment in schoolPakistan had a total of around 155,000 primary schools in 2003-04 with an enrolment ofaround 19.8 million pupils and 432,000 teachers. Boys' schools comprise around 74,000institutions, while girls' schools and mixed schools make up the remaining 81,000 institutions.In government schools in urban areas 51% of the pupils are boys, while the rate in privateschools is about 60% and 69% in rural areas.8Although the general enrolment of girls in education is progressing, nevertheless the ratio ofgirls to boys still favours boys, with 72% in primary education and 64% in secondaryeducation. The current policy encourages the enrolment of girls by supplying them with

scholarships and free textbooks.Private educationBefore 1972, private educational institutions constituted a substantial proportion of the totaleducational system of schools and colleges. In 1972 the Pakistan government nationalised allprivate educational institutions.Because of a lack of funding for public education, private educational institutions were againpermitted to operate from 1979. The government even encouraged private enterprises to openeducational institutions in rural areas. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) couldcontractually take over government schools for a prescribed time-period.Enrolment in private schools is now in the order of 42% of total enrolment and 37% at themiddle school level. At the secondary and higher secondary level, the enrolment in privateeducation is 30% and 64% respectively.Permission to set up educational institutions is granted either by the Ministry of Education orthe respective Provincial Education Department. Registered private schools have to follow agovernment-prescribed curriculum.Enrolment in private schools is predominant among urban middle and upper income families.Private schools are considered in general to exhibit better performances than government andstate schools, but the quality of education varies.In some areas government schools are non-functioning or nonexistent and parents send theirchildren to low-cost private schools with basic facilities or to local maktabs or madaris(religious schools).Sources:- Education Sector Reforms: Action Plan (2001/2- 2005/6), Ministry of Education,Pakistan- Inter Board Committee of Chairmen http://www.ibcc.edu.pk/default.as- Ministry of Education. Advertisement (new curriculum)http://www.moe.gov.pk/Advertisement.doc.- Pakistan, World data on education. UNESCO- Pakistan. International comparisons. UK NARIC- Pakistan, education: Report of the EC Rapid Reaction Mechanism AssessmentMission, 2002- The State of Education in Pakistan 2003-4. Ministry of Education, Pakistan9

National CurriculaPrimary educationPrimary education comprises Grades I-V. The language of instruction is either Urdu or theregional language. The curriculum includes reading, writing, arithmetic, general science,social studies, Islamic education, and physical education.Middle level educationMiddle level education lasts from Grades VI-VIII. The curriculum includes the compulsorysubjects of Urdu, English, mathematics, sciences, social studies, and Islamic studies. Non-Muslims are exempt from Islamiyat-Islamic Studies. Instead they are taught Moral Education.Secondary EducationSecondary Education lasts from Grades IX through X. Students can specialise in science,humanities, or technical streams. Compulsory subjects for all are English, Urdu, Islamiyat,Pakistan studies and mathematics. In addition, students study the following subjects withinthe different streams:Science stream: Physics, chemistry and biology/computerscience/technical subjectHumanities stream: General science and two elective subjects/oneelective subject and one technical subjectTechnical stream: General science and two technical subjects.However, rural areas often offer a limited choice of subjects due to lack of staff and facilities,such as science labs in science streams. Only 35% out of 9,200 secondary and highersecondary schools in Pakistan meet the minimum requirements of an equipped laboratoryaccording to official statistics published in the Education Sector Reforms: Action Plan for2001/2002 to 2005/2006. The government plans to construct new science labs in about 3,000schools during 2001-2011.The technical education stream was introduced at the beginning of this century. The aim is forthe technical stream to be available in 1,200 secondary schools, 10 in each district, preferablyfive male and five female schools. The technical education stream addresses itself to thosepupils who enter the labour market after Grade X. 34 emerging technology streams are

planned for introduction along with appropriate teaching materials.Students passing the examination at the end of Grade X are awarded the Secondary SchoolCertificate.Higher secondary educationHigher secondary education, sometimes referred to as the "intermediate stage", lasts fromGrades XI to XII. It often takes place at university colleges or similar. According to the UKNARIC, army public schools, divisional public schools, autonomous colleges and someprivate sector institutions are commonly recognised as being more prestigious thangovernment schools. The earlier term faculty of arts/sciences for higher secondary educationis still often used, e.g. in admission materials from higher education institutions.Regional Boards are granted some autonomy on the subjects and combinations they mayoffer.10The students are offered the following subjects and streams by, for example, the FederalBoard of Secondary and Intermediate Education (FBISE):Compulsory subjects for all groups: English, Urdu, Islamiceducation and Pakistan studiesPre-engineering group: Mathematics, physics and chemistryPre-medical group: Biology, physics and chemistryScience general group:o Mathematics, physics and statisticso Mathematics, economics and statisticso Mathematics, computer studies and physicso Mathematics, computer studies and statisticso Mathematics, computer studies and economicsHumanities group: Three subjects out of 23 elective subjectsCommerce group:o Part one: Principles of accounting, principles of economics,principles of commerce, business mathematicso Part two: Principles of accounting, commercial geography,statistics, computer studies/banking/typingMedical technology groupo Part one: Elementary chemistry and chemical pathology,elementary anatomy and micro-techniques, micro-biology Io Part two: Haematology and blood banking, clinical pathologyand serology, micro-biology II.Girls are also offered the possibility of home-economics. Dars-i-Nizami Group (Koran

reading) is introduced at secondary and higher secondary levels to bridge the gap betweenMadrasah education and the formal education system in Pakistan.Central Boards of Madrasahs in PakistanName Sub-sect Place EstablishedWafq-ul-Madaris-al-SalafiaAhl-i-Hadith Faislabad 1955Wafaq ul Madaris Deobandi Multan 1959Wafaq ul Madaris(Shia) PakistanShia Lahore 1959Tanzim ul Madaris Barelvi Lahore 1960Rabta-tul-Madaris-al-IslamiaJamat-i-Islami Lahore 1983Sources:- Le Monde Diplomatique, March, 2006- Pakistan, education: Report of the EC Rapid Reaction Mechanism AssessmentMission, 2002- Rahman, Tariq: The Madrassa and the State of Pakistan Religion, poverty and thepotential for violence in Pakistan. Islamabad Policy Research Institute, 2004School Education27Madrasah primary schools, called maktabs, are usually attached to mosques and provide basicIslamic education, e.g. reading and memorisation of the Koran. Secondary school madrasahsprovide advanced instruction in Islamic education.As for teaching modern subjects, the Ahl-i-Hadith madrasahs have been teaching Pakistanstudies, English, mathematics and general science for a long time, according to Tariq Raman,2004. The Jamat-i-Islami as well as the larger Deobandi, Barelvi and Shia madrasahs alsoteach secular subjects. Urdu and Arabic are the languages of instruction in the madrasahs.Madrasahs have their own examination system and award certificates called sanadscorresponding to the formal system:Hifz/Tajweed-wa-Quiraat/Ibtedayia = Primary SchoolMutawassita = Middle SchoolSanviya Aama = Secondary School CertificateSanaviya Khassa and above = Higher Secondary School Certificate

Holders of the Sanaviya Khassa can either continue to higher education within the madrasahsystem or in the formal sector.Madrasahs are mostly run on a charitable basis, the fees charged being small or non-existent.Some madrasahs provide free room and board as well. The Pakistan government givesfinancial assistance to madrasahs in order to modernise textbooks, including secular subjectsin the curriculum such as English, mathematics and introducing computers.In order to bring the madrasah schools into the mainstream, in 2002 General PervezMusharraf's military government tried to impose reform on the schools in the form ofprescription of foreign students, introduction of modern subjects and the creation of modelmadaris. Only about 4,350 schools (about one tenth) agreed to register.The Pakistan government however continues the reform of the madaris and the introduction offormal education that started with the National Education Policy 1998-2010At the end of 2005, the Pakistan government made it mandatory for madrasahs to beregistered, and they have declared that all unregistered madrasahs will be closed, beginning inDecember 2005.Sources:- Education Sector Reforms: Action Plan (2001/2- 2005/6), Ministry of Education,Pakistan- Rahman, Tariq: The Madrassa and the State of Pakistan Religion, poverty and thepotential for violence in Pakistan. Islamabad Policy Research Institute, 2004