Med911
October 7, 2014, 3:58pm
47
Re: Radicalization of education in Pakistan
If they can first get regular non-religious education right.
Make basic education and literacy available for everyone, including villagers, and those working the land (the serfs of Pakistan). Make it available for those living in slums in Karachi and the slums of Lahore, and the slums of every other urban area in Pakistan. Give people easy access and channel charity money into books, pencils, etc, and then you will see the country will change.
At that point, you wont need to worry that the wrong religious ideas are being taught to anyone, because people will think critically and wont fall for inaccurate ideas that are currently being propagated in SOME madrassas and religious circles.
Because they’ll open the Quran, read it for themselves, and say “Wait, but this is what Allah says”…
Problem is people are not literate, they can’t read, and they have zero critical thinking skills when it comes to reading. The ones who can read have at most achieved a 5th grade education and are working for zamindaars, so even they can’t open the Quran and actually read it for themselves. Because it’s read in Arabic and rarely translated into proper Urdu that common folk can understand (even I can’t understand it when Urdu translations are used and my Urdu is pretty decent).
How many times have I read passages in the Quran and said to myself…“wait no one told me this”…or “wait I had no idea I had this right as a female”, and I’m an educated urban female from liberal educated Parents who are practicing muslims. So what do you think the average Pakistani knows about his own religion apart from myths passed down from generation to generation.
This is why the meaning of Islam for so many muslims even today is just to the extent of hijab/burqa/niqab and beard. They have no idea what the Quran even says, and if you asked them about a random passage or piece of information from the Quran they would exhibit a lack of knowledge and understanding.
So I don’t think you even need to teach religion in schools. You just need to teach people how to read, and how to think critically then tell them to read the Quran on their own, and you’ll see what happens. All of a sudden many well held ideas in Pakistan will disappear.
Understand Islam also means understanding the context. Otherwise, they will take commandments that tell people to fight and kill and not to trust the Jews and Chirstians as something that applies to all people and all times.