Madrassa reforms

[Al-zakir]

Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi of Jamia Naeemia in Lahore has been quoted by an American newspaper as saying, “The actions of a small minority have given a bad name to Islam and to a centuries-old educational system that can interface with a modern world”. He added, “It is the duty of the government to ‘find and crush’ madrassas that preach violence”. Jamia Naeemia is a not a nursery of militants but a training centre whose students are good for every field of life, he explained, “they can become engineers or imams”.

If true, this is very good news for Pakistan where people are becoming more and more scared of the madrassas for manufacturing religious extremists. The madrassas are now reacting to the popular fear by increasingly speaking out against terrorism conducted in the name of Islam. A much larger-than-before assembly of clerics has recently denounced the killings of fellow-Muslims through suicide-bombing. In the year 2008, it is the consensus in Pakistan that suicide-bombing is not allowed under Islam, and those who do it are not good or true Muslims.

The past has been different though, thanks to the perverse patronage of the state that used madrassa students as cannon fodder in the jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir. The past has also seen a rise in sectarianism and no one who favours madrassa education will deny that some of our great madrassa leaders were killed by other “believers” on the basis of sect rivalry and the trend of declaring each other non-Muslim. Other factors have added to the problem. Recently when the police went looking for “foreigners” in the madrassas of Gujranwala, it found, first, that the number of madrassas in the city was not 105 but 251; and, second, that most of the seminarians were Afghans who ran away before the police reached there.

There is no use in saying that Pakistan has 15,000-20,000 madrassas because some areas can’t be accessed for a census. For instance, when Maulvi Fazlullah was ruling the Valley of Swat he had opened scores of madrassas which were seen on TV but not counted officially. If Gujranwala can have more than double the number posted by the government, it must be true of all cities, including Islamabad where the figure keeps hovering around 80 to 100. As never before, the mosques are affiliated to the madrassas mostly for reasons of security in these days of intense sectarian feelings. An Islamabad doctor who has studied hundreds of jihad returnees in jails concludes that most of them were picked up from mosques.

Yet the truth is that there are numerous institutions like Jamia Naeemia of Lahore who stick to their traditional modes of imparting religious knowledge. Some of them even add modern subjects to enable their graduates to enter the job market instead of simply building another illegal mosque to give themselves something to do. The news from Islamabad is that illegal mosques are cropping up at great speed and that the government still doesn’t have a firm policy against these encroachments on public property. Even the good madrassas feel they have to be independent of state scrutiny and that introduces complications into the state obligation of maintaining normal accountability under law.

It is not exactly true that madrassas impart terrorist education. What makes the pupil vulnerable to indoctrination by some bad elements is the madrassa’s ability — through boarding and lodging — to isolate the seminarian from his parents and society at large. The confessional videos left behind by suicide-bombers give ample evidence of this sequestration from normal life and insulation from a comprehension of life in society. This is what is dangerous. There is little that is lethal in the syllabi taught at the madrassas. Researchers from Europe and America have found that out after visiting our madrassas.

Three men responsible for the Bali bombings in Indonesia in 2002 have been executed. Because the 202 people they killed in the bombing of a holiday resort also included innocent Indonesians, there is very little sympathy for the executed men, barring the cries of defiance on the part of the religious party to which they belonged. In Pakistan, too, terrorism in the name of Islam is losing public sympathy. The wave of extremism that had engulfed Pakistan, thanks to the role played by the state in jihad, may now be turning, as evidenced by the statement made by Mufti Naeemi who is no softie when it comes to upholding the true edicts of Islam. *

 

[fatman17]

Madrassa reforms in tatters

Thursday, 16 Jul, 2009

The project sought to introduce computer skills, science, social studies and English into the overwhelmingly religious curriculum at thousands of madrassas. — AP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has virtually shelved a US-aided, multi-million-dollar plan to reform seminaries considered nurseries of jihad, faced with uncooperative Islamists, as the military cracks down on the Taliban.

The government, allied to then US president George W. Bush's ‘war on terror,’ initiated the project in 2002 in a bid to introduce a more secular curriculum to madrassas, sensing a homegrown threat from extremism.

It was billed as a policy U-turn after military ruler General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s turned many seminaries into breeding grounds for jihad to help the United States raise a fighting force against Soviet invaders in Afghanistan.

The 2002 project sought to introduce computer skills, science, social studies and English into the overwhelmingly religious curriculum at thousands of seminaries or madrassas catering to the sons of the poor and conservative.

‘We had a huge budget of 5,759 million rupees to provide seminary students with formal education but we could not utilise it,’ education ministry spokesman Atiqur Rehman told AFP.

‘The interior ministry held talks with various madrassas...but many of them refused to accept government intervention,’ said Mufti Gulzar Ahmed Naimi, a senior official in the mainstream Sunni clerics alliance, Jamat Ahl-i-Sunnat.

As a result, the government failed to meet its target of reforming 8,000 religious schools within five years.

‘We reached 507 seminaries only, spending 333 million rupees and the rest of the (money) — 5,426 million has lapsed,’ Rehman said.

According to government records, there are at least 15,148 seminaries in Pakistan with more than two million students — around five per cent of the 34 million children in formal education.

But officials suspect thousands more go unregistered, providing sons of Pakistan's poverty-stricken majority the only affordable education.

The majority get their funds from local businessmen and traders, along with Islamic foundations, charities and Pakistanis living abroad.

The education ministry says it introduced the ‘latest computer technology’ to 30 madrassas and paid the salaries of 950 teachers on a three-year scheme.

‘We will pay these teachers until June 30 in 2010 and then this project will be closed because no more madrassas are being included in the reform project,’ said the education ministry spokesman.

Teachers who participated in the scheme are desperately worried about the future of their pupils if their new lessons are scrapped.

Israr Ahmed is studying for a masters in computer engineering. He hails from a moderate family on the outskirts of Islamabad and teaches students at Naimi's madrassa in his free time.

‘This programme must be continued. The madrassa students are getting real benefits out of it and are entering the field of formal education and computer technology,’ Ahmed said.

He comes from Pakistan's educated middle class. His father has a university degree in English and lectures at a state-owned college. His sister finished secondary school and will go to college.

‘I'm paid 3,000 rupees by the government for this job. My contract ends on June 30 in 2010 but I plan to continue this duty. This is really national service,’ Ahmed said.

Besides, the salary is paltry. A domestic servant can earn more money, but his reward is children who are eager to learn and dream of better futures.

‘I'm happy to learn English and Mathematics. I can now do a job in formal organisations after completing my studies,’ said Abdul Habib, a fourth-grade student at Jamia Masjid Naimia.

In the well-off Satellite Town in Rawalpindi, along the busy Murree road, Syed Haseenuddin Shah remembers one of his students who switched from the Quran to computer science and ended up with a degree.

‘There are so many students following him who regularly attend computer classes in the madrassa,’ said Shah, head of Madrassa Riazul Ulum.

‘There are 650 students in my madrassa and most of them are inclined to formal education, but I am unable to facilitate that without government support.’

Some analysts say Pakistan's latest military onslaught against the Taliban, which appears to be making headway, could improve prospects for reviving plans to reshape the role of seminaries.

‘Any effort by the government at this point will show they are determined to curb terrorism by all ways and means,’ defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP, calling on Islamabad to relaunch the program and provide free education.

‘This would help poor parents who send their children to madrassas because of free education and board,’ he said.

http://www.dawn.com

 

[BanglaBhoot]

No one doubts that the key to impacting the hearts and minds of Pakistan's rising generation of leaders starts with educational reforms in the grade schools and high schools.

However, all U.S. assistance currently is going toward improvement of the secular schools and not to Pakistan's 20,000 madrassas, i.e. religious schools, reputed to be hotbeds of radicalism. The fact is, however, that efforts to turn madrassas away from radicalism are succeeding and need U.S. support.

Stories in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have emphasized the ties of madrassas to terrorism and their resistance to change. At the other end of the spectrum, the June issue of Foreign Policy magazine argued that the madrassas have less impact than previously thought and are largely irrelevant to the turmoil that is taking place. So which is it: a lost cause or a fool's errand?

Actually, it is neither. There is an untold side to this story. These schools are very influential, and reform of their curricula is not only possible, it's happening. The fact that it is needs the attention of the U.S. Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development as well as the international donor community. To prevent Pakistan's slide toward a failed nuclear state, broad educational enhancement of the madrassas will be essential.

It is estimated that about 15 percent of the madrassas preach violence or militancy. Since there may be more than 1 million madrassa students, this clearly represents a potent force. Much greater, however, is the untapped potential of the less militant madrassas to contribute to peacemaking if properly encouraged.

In addition to the respect that madrassa leaders command among their students, they enjoy significant influence as religious authorities through their Friday sermons in the mosques. With this in mind, the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, has engaged a number of Pakistan's madrassas for the last five years, training more than 2,200 madrassa leaders and senior faculty from some 1,450 madrassas, including a sizable number in the more radical areas of the country.

The training emphasizes critical thinking skills, religious tolerance and human rights -- especially women's.

This initiative has been well-received by madrassa leaders because they effectively "own" the enhancement process. These leaders are reminded of madrassas' institutional history, and of the pioneering breakthroughs in the arts and sciences -- including religious tolerance -- that took place under Islam 1,000 years ago.

In fact, from the Middle Ages through the 16th century, these religious schools were without peer as institutions of higher learning, drawing pilgrims from the West and making important contributions to math, science and the humanities.

Further, all suggested changes in the curricula are grounded in Islamic principles, enabling participants to feel they are becoming better Muslims in the process. When thus engaged, a number of madrassa leaders have stepped forward as effective agents for peace. For example: One of our madrassa partners played an instrumental role in securing the release of 21 Korean Christians held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the summer of 2007. He organized an informal delegation of religious leaders who engaged the captors on the basis of Islamic principles.

During a workshop in 2008 at a madrassa known to be a major al Qaeda feeder, another madrassa partner persuaded the participants that the jihad they were waging in Kashmir was politically motivated, but not religiously sanctioned. These same madrassa leaders are now toning down the militancy of their graduates.

At a more recent workshop involving leaders from 16 madrassas surrounding the Swat Valley, one of the participants, a commander of a well-known terrorist group, stood up at the end and declared he had attended in order to discredit everything the workshop was teaching. But as a result of his participation, he said, he now felt that for the first time in his life, he understood the peaceful intent of the Koran. He repeated this message to a CNN camera crew for a forthcoming documentary.

ICRD is now receiving more requests for training than it can accommodate from individual madrassas across the country -- including those that trained the current Taliban leadership and which are now seeking guidance for teaching a more enlightened curriculum to the children of Taliban members.

Madrassa leaders also seek assistance in enriching their offerings with basic subjects such as math, science, and English -- disciplines either not now being taught or being taught with too little expertise. Ignoring opportunities for positive engagement with the madrassas could prove fatal to U.S. interests over time.

The will to improve their education, to counter extremism by promoting authentic religious values, and to contribute to the stability and prosperity of their country already exists within the madrassa community. The key to unleashing this is to engage selected madrassa leaders as partners in providing the best possible future for their students, rather than marginalizing or denigrating them.

To do so, the support and commitment of the Obama administration will be needed. Courageous madrassa leaders are stepping up to the challenge. The question is, will we?

Future aid funding should be made contingent upon doing what's best for all of Pakistan's students, including those in the madrassas.

Madrassa reform key - Washington Times

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Govt, 5 schools of thought agree to modernise madrassas​

* Modern syllabus to be introduced under new agreement, degrees offered by madrassas to be recognised by all educational institutions

By Tahir Niaz

ISLAMABAD: The government and clerics from five schools of thought on Tuesday agreed to modernise the madrassa education system.

The decision was made during a meeting at the Ministry of Interior, chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Representatives of the Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahle-Sunnat Pakistan, Wafaq-ul-Madaris Arabia Pakistan, Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Salfia Pakistan, Wafaq-ul-Madaris Shia Pakistan and Rabta Al Madaris Pakistan were present at the meeting, along with Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman.

Under the agreement, a modern syllabus will be introduced in all madrassas operating in the country, alongside religious instruction. The degrees offered by these madrassas will be standardised and recognised by all educational institutions.

Malik told reporters after the meeting that it had been agreed that the educational boards of all five schools of thoughts would be registered in order to give recognition to the degrees.

Apart from these measures, an Inter-Madaris Board, superior to the boards of the five schools of thought, would be set up to attest degrees as well as to review the educational standards in the madrassas.

Malik said under the agreement, all madrassas would register themselves with the Inter-Madaris Board and those failing to do so would be shut down.

Malik said around 15,000 madrassas had registered themselves with the government while 5,000 others would soon be registered under the new agreement.

He said madrassas would function like private educational institutions under the new agreement.

He said the step had been taken on the directives of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, adding that all the political parties would also be taken on board regarding the matter.

Malik said all provincial chief ministers and other stakeholders would also be consulted in this regard.

Those who attended the meeting included Dr Attaur Rehman, Maulana Salimullah Khan, Qari Hanif Jalandri, Afzal Haideri, Jawad Haideri and Yasin Zafar.

The government has been attempting to bring madrassa education into the mainstream through the introduction of modern subjects for several years, but madrassa organisations have been resisting such efforts, claiming they were a plan by foreign countries to make their students secular.

It was earlier reported that the government was considering emulating the Turkish model to modernise madrassa education.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan