PROBLEMS AT PAKISTAN SCHOOLS
Classes at Pehlvi High School, near Islamabad, are canceled when it rains because the roof leaks badly. Griff Witte wrote in the Washington Post: “With a curriculum that glorifies violence in the name of Islam and ignores basic history, science and math, Pakistan's public education system has become a major barrier to efforts to defeat extremist groups. Western officials tend to blame Islamic schools, known as madrassas, for their role as feeders to militant groups, but Pakistani education experts say the root of the problem is the public schools. [Source: Griff Witte, Washington Post, January 17, 2010]
“Pakistan's public education system includes thousands of "ghost schools," which exist on paper and receive state funding. But in reality, the schools do not function: A local landlord gets the money, and either pockets it or dispenses it to individuals who are on the books as teachers, but in fact are associates or relatives who do nothing to earn their salaries. School buildings are often used for housing farmworkers or livestock, not for education.
“Those buildings that do operate lack basic facilities — a 2006 government study found that more than half do not have electricity and 40 percent have no bathrooms. About a third of students drop out by the fifth grade. Teachers, meanwhile, earn as little as US$50 a month, less in many cases than that of a domestic servant. The low pay mirrors teachers' perceived value in Pakistani society. “The social status of teachers is low, compared with other professions," said Rehana Masrur, dean of the education department at Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad. "If someone is doing nothing and has no future, people say, 'Why doesn't he become a teacher?' "
Islamists Criticize Western Ideas and Helen Keller in Pakistan’s School Curriculum
Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan wrote in the Washington Post: “Just two years after more-secular textbooks arrived here in northwestern Pakistan, politicians and religious scholars are rolling back some of the revisions by limiting students’ exposure to Western theories, academics, scientists and authors — including Helen Keller.“The effort is being led by the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami party, which recently gained more power”in a region on the front lines of Pakistan’s effort to curb Islamist extremism and terrorism. A party that wants sharia law in Pakistan again has considerable influence over what 4 million students learn in 28,000 public schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. [Source: Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan, Washington Post, February 14, 2015]
“After Jamaat-e-Islami leaders scrutinized hundreds of pages of textbooks, a story about Keller, a deaf and blind American author and activist, is being removed from ninth-grade lesson plans. Books for first- and second-graders will no longer include photos of a Christmas tree and holiday cards, even though a small Christian community lives here. And inscriptions on textbooks stating “We want peace” are being replaced with religious verses, said a local education official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the matter. “Pakistan is an Islamic country, and nothing should be taught in our schoolbooks that [is] un-Islamic and against the ideology of Pakistan,” said Zahir Shah, a professor at Islamia University in Peshawar who is leading a review of textbooks for Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat-e-Islami has recommended more than a dozen textbook changes, including banning images showing women in skirts, jeans and T-shirts. Party members also want to remove Darwin’s theory of evolution from science books so it doesn’t compete with Islamic teachings on creationism.
“In 2002, a report commissioned by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute concluded that Pakistani public school textbooks were riddled with errors, were insensitive to religious minorities and incited violence. Amid international concerns that Pakistani schools could fuel terrorism, Musharraf organized forums on the issue in 2006. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ANP worked with academics and international aid organizations to make changes to the curriculum.
“But Shah said he and other religious scholars now worry that lessons on too many non-Muslim authors, scientists and historians have crept into the textbooks. So instead of Keller’s 1933 essay “Three Days to See,” which outlines how she would use her vision if given the gift of sight, ninth-graders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will read about Muhammad Iqbal, the education official said. Iqbal was an early 20th-century poet and philosopher who advocated the creation of an independent Pakistani state. “We want a uniform education policy for the whole of Pakistan and a curriculum that will promote national identity,” Shah said.
Politics and Impact of Islamist Changes to Pakistan’s School Curriculum
Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan wrote in the Washington Post: “Although it appears that other provincial leaders could still try to block some of the proposals, the debate shows how hard it will be to change Pakistani school systems that have been shaped by the tide of Islamic fundamentalism that swept the country in the 1970s and 1980s. Activists worry that the efforts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will make it more difficult to continue revisions in other provinces. “This is about our nation, our future,” said Sardar Hussain Babak, who served as education minister in the province from 2008 to 2013. “So we are telling them: ‘Don’t again exploit our students in the name of religion.’ ” [Source: Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan, Washington Post, February 14, 2015]
“The political dynamics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government changed in 2013, the same year that students began using new textbooks. That May, the moderate Awami National Party (ANP) was ousted from power in provincial elections. The Movement for Justice party, led by former cricket star Imran Khan, won a plurality of provincial assembly seats. Khan then formed a majority coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami, known for its strict interpretation of the -Koran. Jamaat-e-Islami leaders say the power-sharing deal gave them authority over education matters, reviving the power they held nationwide during the 1980s.
“Some of the proposed changes, however, go far beyond elevating Muslim figures. Shah said -Jamaat-e-Islami is hoping to remove the theory of evolution from textbooks because it is “100 percent in conflict with Quranic teachings.” The education official said it will remain for the 2015-2016 year but will be supplemented by other scientific lessons that better represent an Islamic viewpoint.
“It is unclear whether two other Jamaat-e-Islami proposals — ending lessons about population growth and removing references to Western environmental and charitable groups such as Greenpeace and Save the Children — will be enacted. “Our education policy is clear in that we are making neither a liberal curriculum nor a fundamentalist one,” said Atif Khan, the provincial education minister.
“Yet Jamaat-e-Islami leaders clearly are having an impact on the curriculum. Under the reforms enacted by ANP, a decision was made for “age appropriate” teaching of the history of jihad, which some Muslims interpret to mean a holy war. Jamaat-e-Islami leaders used the term in the 1980s to rally support for mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
“To limit students’ exposure to violence, initial plans called for lessons about the term “jihad” to be restricted to students in the 11th grade or higher. But Jamaat-e-Islami successfully pushed this year to continue those lessons for students as young as ninth-graders. Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat, vice chancellor of Bacha Khan University, Charsadda on the outskirts of Peshawar, said the new changes should worry parents who want to give their children the chance to enjoy the benefits of globalization. “We have an opportunity to produce some good human beings, some good citizens, Marwat said. “But if we are producing something ideological, then there will be problems.”
Anti-Jew and Anti-Christian Views in Pakistan’s Public School Curriculum
Paul Watson wrote in the Los Angeles Times: “Each year, thousands of Pakistani children learn from history books that Jews are tightfisted moneylenders and Christians vengeful conquerors. One textbook tells kids they should be willing to die as martyrs for Islam. They aren't being indoctrinated by extremist mullahs in madrasas, the private Islamic seminaries often blamed for stoking militancy in Pakistan. They are pupils in public schools learning from textbooks approved by the administration of President Pervez Musharraf. [Source: Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2005]
“Punjab state's seventh-grade social studies textbook, published in January, begins with a full-page message from Musharraf urging students to focus on modern disciplines such as information technology and computers. "It is a historical fact that the Muslims ruled the world for hundreds of years," Musharraf writes. He acknowledges that in the past, Pakistan's school curriculum "was not in concert with the requirements of modern times." But he assures students that "textbooks have been developed, revised and updated accordingly."
“The changes, if any, are hard to spot. Disparaging references to Christians, Jews and Hindus from previous editions are carried over into the new text. "Before Islam, people lived in untold misery all over the world," the textbook says. "Some Jewish tribes also lived in Arabia. They lent money to workers and peasants on high rates of interest and usurped their earnings. They held the whole society in their tight grip because of the ever increasing compound interest. In short, there was no sympathy for humanity.People were selfish and cruel. The rich lived in luxury and nobody bothered about the needy or those in sufferings."
“A section on the Crusades teaches that Europe's Christian rulers attacked Muslims in the Holy Land out of revenge even though "history has no parallel to the extremely kind treatment of the Christians by the Muslims. Some of the Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem fabricated many false stories of suffering.If they were robbed on the way, they said it were the Muslims who robbed them." Christians eventually realized they were inferior to Muslims, the chapter concludes. Combined with lessons on armed jihad, such a view of history helps make young Pakistanis ripe for manipulation by Islamic militants, who have given jihad "a demonic meaning" here, said Rubina Saigol, a U.S.-trained expert on education. "The word is so much more associated with violence, killing, death and blood," she said, "that I think it's difficult to reclaim it, as the modernists are trying to do, and turn it into a war against one's inner self."
Jihad in Pakistan’s Public School Curriculum
Paul Watson wrote in the Los Angeles Times: “Reformers who study the country's education system say public school lessons still promote hatred against non-Muslims and urge jihad, or holy war. "I have been arguing for the longest time that, in fact, our state system is the biggest madrasa," said Saigol."We keep blaming madrasas for everything and, of course, they are doing a lot of things I would disagree with. But the state ideologies of hate and a violent, negative nationalism are getting out there where madrasas cannot hope to reach." [Source: Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2005]
The current social studies curriculum guidelines for grades 6 and 7 instruct textbook writers and teachers to "develop aspiration for jihad" and "develop a sense of respect for the struggle of [the] Muslim population for achieving independence." In North-West Frontier Province, which is governed by supporters of the ousted Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan, the federally approved Islamic studies textbook for eighth grade teaches students they must be prepared "to sacrifice every precious thing, including life, for jihad. "At present, jihad is continuing in different parts of the world. Numerous mujahedin [holy warriors] of Islam are involved in defending their religion, and independence, and to help their oppressed brothers across the world."
The textbook for adolescent students says Muslims are allowed to "take up arms" and wage jihad in self-defense or if they are prevented from practicing their religion. "When God's people are forced to become slaves of man-made laws, they are hindered from practicing the religion of their God," the textbook says. "When all the legal ways in this regard are closed, then power should be used to eliminate the evil. If Muslims are being oppressed then jihad is necessary to free them from this cruel oppression."
"Jihad" can mean peaceful struggle as well as holy war. Jihad can be waged on several levels, beginning with a peaceful, inner struggle for one's own soul and escalating to killing "infidels." But Pakistani critics of the public school system maintain that jihad's softer sense is easily lost in lessons that emphasize that Muslims are oppressed in many parts of the world, and that encourage fellow Muslims to fight to free them. "Some people coming from the regular school system are volunteering for various kinds of jihad, which is not jihad in classical Islamic theory, but actually terrorism in the modern concept," said Husain Haqqani, a Pakistani author and professor of international relations at Boston University. "All of that shows that somehow the schooling system has fed intolerance and bigotry."
Efforts to Reform the Anti-Jewish and Anti-Western Slant of Pakistan’s Public School Curriculum
Paul Watson wrote in the Los Angeles Times: ““About 97 percent of Pakistan's people are Muslims, so it's not unusual for its government to promote Islamic values in public schools. Many Muslims find that versions of history taught in countries dominated by non-Muslims are biased against Islam. But Pakistan's public education system goes beyond instilling pride in being Muslim and encourages bigotry that can foment violence against "the other," said Haqqani, who has written book on the links between the Pakistani military and radical Muslims. [Source: Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2005]
“Under Pakistan's federal government, a national curriculum department in Islamabad, the capital, sets criteria for provincial textbook boards, which commission textbooks for local public schools. A study of the public school curriculum and textbooks by 29 Pakistani academics in 2002 concluded that public school "textbooks tell lies, create hatred, inculcate militancy and much more." The study by the independent Sustainable Development Policy Institute angered religious conservatives, and even a few liberals, who saw it as an attack on the country's Islamic values, or even a plot by Western governments and rival India to subvert the Islamic state.
“Javed Ashraf Qazi, a retired army general and former head of the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, was named education minister in September to revive a stalled reform effort. It would be easier to end extremism in Pakistan if Western governments did more to resolve conflicts that anger Muslims worldwide, such as the war in Iraq, the dispute with India over the region of Kashmir, or the Palestinians' struggle against Israel, he said.
Qazi insisted that he was not an extremist, but he offered a short history of the Middle East conflict that left little doubt that he wanted Pakistan's children to continue learning a distinct view of the world. "Palestinians were promised their state. Originally they were the owners of the entire area," Qazi said. "OK, Israel was created by the British. And they indulged in terrorism. The Jews were the worst terrorists in the world. They created their state. Fine. Now that everybody has accepted it as a fait accompli, there was also acceptance of a Palestinian state. The Israelis, on one pretext or another, have not granted them that state. And every time something comes up in the Security Council, America vetoes it."
Ghost Teachers in Pakistan
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: Historically teachers have not had to show up to school or perform in order to receive their salaries. Teacher absenteeism rates have been very high: 20 percent in Punjab and 30 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Pakistan has had a ghost school problem because of its large population of ghost and absent teachers. Education officials have not been able to compel teachers to show up. A report by the Society for the Advancement of Education (SAHE) explains: “Historically, politicians have used teacher recruitment as a form of political patronage…. Many teachers with a persistent record of absenteeism often have a politician as a patron. The latter block any serious disciplinary proceedings against them.” [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
Government teachers are also paid very well: five times what private schools teachers are paid. From this salary, ghost teachers can pay off administrators to maintain their attendance record or to a relative to show up in their place. The teacher then lives in a larger, more comfortable city like Karachi, or even as far as Dubai or London, and has another full-time job. Private schools by contrast pay teachers US$25 to US$50 per month and that is about how much it costs a government teacher to hire a substitute. But in a private school, because of the direct accountability relationship between the school and the parents who are paying fees, the teacher is always present and makes an effort, resulting in higher learning outcomes. ===
“The report explains the link between teachers and politicians. First, because teachers are educated, politicians tend to use them as political organizers in rural and semi-urban areas. Second, teachers are posted as polling staff on election days. Finally, teachers unions are associated with political parties — although they are so powerful that they don’t need the parties to exercise political clout. Salman Naveed, a specialist at Alif Ailaan points out with respect to Sindh: “The biggest hinderances to reform are the political parties themselves. Teachers in Sindh are not really teachers, they are political workers. As a member of the provincial assembly, it’s important to me that my workers get paid. The moment they get fired, I worry about my political future. I’m more concerned about maintaining my patronage network rather than service delivery.” ==
“There are also good reasons why the absenteeism rate is high among government teachers, besides weak accountability. Teachers who live farther from school are absent more, especially female teachers who do not have independent transport. The government also often assigns teachers to non-teaching duties: helping with anti-polio and anti-dengue drives, elections, and administering government exams and surveys. A research report by Alif Ailaan and SAHE estimates that government teachers spend a quarter of the academic year on non-teaching activities. Another very common reason given for absenteeism is teacher training. Many teachers also offer private tutoring after school. It has become a norm for students in Pakistan to go to after-school tutors. Teachers have an economic incentive to compel students to sign up for tuition in order to learn material, or teachers may simply have less energy for teaching in school if they are primarily concerned with their tuition classes.
Getting Rid of Ghost Teachers
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: “The first step in the reform process has been striking ghost teachers from the payrolls and making sure teachers are in school. The other major effort has been making sure that school buildings are functional and safe for children, and may have other features like computer labs and playgrounds. But fixing infrastructure and getting teachers to show up are the low-hanging fruit of “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”. With reforms ongoing in Punjab since 2003, the province has learned that they cannot assume that children will learn once teachers, students, and schools buildings are in place. [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
“Salar Khattak, a member of a teachers’ union in KP, points out that teachers do not have the motivation, capabilities, or tools to teach: “You can use a stick and threaten a teacher to show up. He’ll go on time and show up. But how do you get the teacher to deliver to the student? In Pakistan, when you can’t become anything, you become a teacher. And if you can’t become a teacher, you become a maulana (priest).”
“The return you get on the huge salary budget is also very limited. Many of Sindh’s 144,000 teachers remain absent a few days in a week or don’t come to school for months. There are instances where they pay someone else to work in their place and they work elsewhere. The situation may have slightly improved after the introduction of the biometric [verification] system for teachers’ attendances; however, the situation of the public education system remains weak on multiple fronts. ==
“According to Khalid Khattak, an investigator reporter on education for The News who runs DataStories.pk: “Punjab doesn’t have a ghost teacher problem like it used to. It’s because of the monitoring system that the government has put in place. They are also taking disciplinary action against teachers who do not show up. Punjab has fired many teachers. We keep hearing complaints from teachers’ associations.” According to data he obtained through the Right to Information law, in 2015 alone Punjab took disciplinary action against 22,972 teachers and removed 1,615 from service. But without reform-minded and determined party leaders, “more budget” risks exacerbating the tendency of education departments in Pakistan to act like employment agencies. ==
Pakistani Teacher Arrested for Gang Rape
In May 2014, Pakistani police arrested a teacher at a Quranic school and his two friends on charges of gang raping a college student in Pakistan northwest. He allegedly filmed the attack and may have blackmailed other victims, authorities said. Aqeel Ahmad of Associated Press wrote: “The case against Qari Naseer, 27, in the city of Mansehra marks a rare rape arrest in Pakistan, where prosecutions are few and victims are often stigmatized. In this case, however, crowds gathered outside of a court where Naseer and his friends faced a judge for the first time. [Source: Aqeel Ahmad, Associated Press, May 14, 2014]
“The crowd pelted them with bottles of black ink, stones and tomatoes, demanding they be hung in public for the crime, Mansehra's police chief Khurram Rasheed said. Blackening someone is an insult in Pakistani culture. "I am feeling shame for doing this act," Naseer told an Associated Press journalist before the hearing. Lawyers for Naseer and the other two men could not be immediately reached for comment. The attack took place Monday in Mansehra, home to several religious schools, police officer Zulfiqar Jadon said. Jadon said Naseer, who had taught the Quran for several years, lured the victim and her friend on the pretext of dropping them off at home. Naseer and his friends then raped the 20-year-old woman in the moving car, Jardon said.
“Rasheed said Naseer told investigators he had installed a hidden camera in his car to record his attacks. The police chief said investigators were looking into his claims, checking Naseer's car and claims he blackmailed other victims.The case against Naseer is unusual as rape cases are rarely prosecuted in Pakistan, especially when they involve religious leaders or those who teach the Quran in the Muslim nation. In March, a women set herself on fire outside of a police station in Pakistan after reporting that men tried to rape her and authorities said there wasn't enough evidence to make arrests.”
In 2013, AFP reported: In a decrepit white-walled classroom in southern Pakistan, Bushra valiantly struggles to keep discipline as a dozen girls run and scream around her. With no teacher for the past eight months, the 10-year-old has been forced to step in. “I teach them lessons from the Quran, I teach them Sindhi, I teach them to count one-two, I teach them the alphabet A-B-C-D,” said Bushra, wearing a traditional nose stud and a scarf around her head. She says she dreams of becoming a doctor and learning about computers. [Source: By AFP, December 13, 2013]
“But her academic ambitions risk being scuppered after her own teacher fled. Authorities have not appointed a new one, making Bushra’s situation typical for a student at one of Pakistan’s 7,000 so-called “ghost schools”, where no formal classes can be taught. These abandoned pupils are part of a growing education crisis in the country where, according to the United Nations, over five million children do not attend primary school.
“The last teacher told us she would stop coming if we did not pay for her transportation to the village,” said Salim Samoon, who has seven granddaughters at the school catering for the roughly 600 residents of Chancher Redhar, a village two hours drive from Karachi in the south of Pakistan. “But we have no money and the authorities have not appointed a new teacher,” he said.
Alerted in 2012 to the problem of “ghost schools,” the Supreme Court of Pakistan asked provinces to scrutinise institutions that took students and were officially regarded as schools. The results, released in late November, where shocking. “In most of the basic teaching units of the district, the situation is very alarming,” the report said.“Most of these schools are teaching institutions only in name, but virtually no student is being admitted there to seek education and the teaching staff is taking salary at home.”
Politicians, Landlords and Ghost Schools in Pakistan
In the early 2000s, Pakistani newspapers documented at least 5,000 "ghost schools" — many in rural areas where no students attended because wealthy landlords paid the teachers to stay home. One educator told the Los Angeles Times, "There is an active, sustained interest on the part of the feudal landlords to keep their laborers from getting educated."
According to AFP: Along with teachers who received salary but did not teach, other schools failed to appoint teachers, were appropriated by wealthy landowners, or had budget irregularities, such as “paid-for” computers which never arrived. “The government and bureaucrats have no willingness to solve the problem,” said Balal. “The money that the government gives to the school is consumed by bureaucrats. The budget might tell you what the money has been used for in the schools, but you don’t see it get spent and then the money is gone.” [Source: By AFP, December 13, 2013]
“He says school funds are split “50-50” between feudal lords and bureaucrats, partly to ensure that there is no threat to the feudal lords’ power base by seeing the poor receive education. Those politicians who are actively trying to raise the issue say that it is not a priority for the government. “We have to invest in our education because it is the only way to get progress,” said Humera Alwani of the Pakistan Peoples Party. “You have to admit to a problem before you can correct it,” she said.
Damage to Children Caused by Pakistan’s Ghost Schools
AFP reported: The damage caused by “ghost schools” across Pakistan, such as the one in Chancher Redhar, is self-inflicted: a new generation of children growing up without an education, either because the schools have been abandoned, destroyed, or because teachers are not turning up. “Maybe the media highlights the bombings of schools more because it is visible. But this is a more dangerous problem,” said Rahmatullah Balal of the NGO Ailaan Alif, who has published a ranking of districts in terms of the quality of education available. [Source: By AFP, December 13, 2013]
“According to his ranking, the district of Thatta, home to Bushra and her classmates, lies in 140th position out of a total of 144. The existence of “ghost schools” also removes incentive for poor families to ensure their children get an education. Instead, many see more value in sending them to work in the fields or bazaars. “I do not like this school, this is why I do not go,” said Arbab, not yet a teenager. “I go to fetch and buy water, and then I sell it.”
Local residents worry another generation will grow up without the skills they need. “These kids of ours, they don’t know anything. They don’t know the meaning of their names, they don’t know the basics, they know nothing,” said Kazoo Samoon, a villager in Chancher Redhar. “My other daughter grew up without an education and now these children will grow up without any education.”
In the cramped class, Bushra’s attempted lesson is over in just a few minutes, ending with a rendition of the national anthem. Then the girls continue to play as they have done every day since their teacher left, waiting for the arrival of another who may never come.
Obstacles to Improving Pakistan’s Schools
Griff Witte wrote in the Washington Post: “According to education reform advocates here, any effort to improve the system faces the reality of intense institutional pressure to keep the schools exactly the way they are. They say that for different reasons, the most powerful forces in Pakistan, including the army, the religious establishment and the feudal landlords who dominate civilian politics, have worked against improving an education system that for decades has been in marked decline. “If the people get education, the elite would be threatened," said Khadim Hussain, coordinator of the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy and a professor at Islamabad's Bahria University. "If they make education available, the security establishment's ideology may be at risk." [Source: Griff Witte, Washington Post, January 17, 2010]
“That ideology, Hussain said, involves the belief that non-Muslim nations are out to destroy Pakistan and that the army is the only protection Pakistanis have from certain annihilation. Those notions are emphasized at every level in the schools, with students focused on memorizing the names of Pakistan's military heroes and the sayings of the prophet Muhammad, but not learning the basics of algebra or biology, he said.
“The nature of the education system is reflected in popular attitudes toward the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups that in recent months have carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Pakistan, many of them targeting civilians. Although the groups in many cases have publicly asserted responsibility for the attacks, a large percentage of the population here refuses to believe that Muslims could be responsible for such horrific crimes, choosing to believe that India, Israel or the United States is behind the violence. When Hussain challenges graduate-level students for proof, they accuse him of being part of the plot, he said. “Telling students they need to use evidence and logic means that you are definitely an agent of India, Israel and the CIA," he said. "They don't understand what evidence is."
“The madrassas have multiplied in Pakistan as public education has deteriorated. But madrassas still educate only about 1.5 million students a year, compared with more than 20 million in public schools. If Pakistan is to improve its dismal literacy rate and provide marketable skills to more of the estimated 90 million Pakistanis under the age of 18, it will have to start in the public schools. [Source: Griff Witte, Washington Post, January 17, 2010]
“Top government officials have little incentive to change that, experts here say. Although the vast majority of Pakistanis must choose between the public schools or madrassas for their children, Pakistan's well-to-do can send their kids to private schools, many of which are considered world-class.
Attacks on Schools in Pakistan
Attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups are having a devastating impact on education in Pakistan. These groups oppose girls education and secular schooling and have attacked, bombed and torched hundreds of schools in northwest Pakistan. Human Rights Watch said “The Taliban and other militants have repeatedly committed horrific attacks on Pakistani schools, depriving students of their lives as well as their educations,” said Bede Sheppard, child rights deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “These audacious attacks often occur because, too often, authorities have protected militants or failed to properly prosecute them, and this needs to change.” [Source: Human Rights Watch, March 27, 2017]
Threats to education in Pakistan were spotlighted by the attacks on future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on October 9, 2012, and the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The latter killed 141 people, including 135 children, The 71-page report, “Dreams Turned into Nightmares: Attacks on Students, Teachers, and Schools in Pakistan,” is based on 48 interviews with teachers, students, parents, and school administrators in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It documents attacks by militants from January 2007 to October 2016 that have destroyed school buildings, targeted teachers and students, and terrorized parents into keeping their children out of school.These attacks have often been directed at female students and their teachers and schools, blocking girls’ access to education. The report also examines occupation of educational institutions by security forces, political groups, and criminal gangs.
Pakistan’s militant Islamist groups, including the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and their affiliates, use attacks on schools and universities to foster intolerance and exclusion, to target symbols of the government, and particularly to drive girls out of school. A Taliban commander claiming the attack on Bacha Khan University in KP in January 2016 said, “We will continue to attack schools, colleges, and universities across Pakistan as these are the foundations that produce apostates.”
After the Taliban took over large parts of the Swat Valley in KP in 2007, they began a violent campaign against education for girls. Over 900 girls schools were forced to close and over 120,000 girls stopped attending school. About 8,000 female teachers were driven out of work. For many girls, the loss was permanent and they did not return to school even after the Pakistan army had displaced the Taliban.
The Pakistani government does not collect specific data on the number of attacks on schools and universities, or the number of deaths and injuries from such attacks. However, according to the Global Terrorism Database, there were 867 attacks on educational institutions in Pakistan from 2007 to 2015, resulting in 392 fatalities and 724 injuries. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 838 attacks on schools in Pakistan between 2009 and 2012, leaving hundreds of schools damaged. In December 2015, the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) reported that in 2015, 360 schools were destroyed in three of the seven regions of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Attacks on Schools and Education Facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Reporting from Swabi, in the Marden District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Alex Rodriguez wrote in the Los Angeles Times, Schools ”in Swabi are blown up with astonishing regularity: 96 were damaged or destroyed by militants this year, according to Human Rights Watch, a rate of more than two per week. Last year, 152 schools were hit. Militants have targeted school buses, teachers, headmasters, even a provincial education minister. The damage is palpable and far-reaching, especially in northwestern Pakistan, where the Taliban maintains its nerve centers. For parents like Sher Zameer, whose son survived a Taliban ambush of a school bus a year ago that killed the driver and four boys, the joy of watching his son go to class has turned to dread. "We don't want our kids to get killed for the sake of education," he said. "After this attack, the enthusiasm is gone." [Source: Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2012]
In 2011 “militants attacked his convoy in the middle of the night, spraying his car with bullets, one of which fractured a bone in his right hand. Several suspects were captured, but a court released them three months later. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for attacking a bus carrying Sher Zameer's son and other students home from Khyber Model School outside Peshawar in September 2011, calling it retaliation for a decision by tribal leaders from the suburb of Mattani to form anti-Taliban militias. The militias had set up checkpoints around villages served by the school, said Asghar Khan, whose only son, Mohammed Naveed Khan, was one of those killed.
“A dozen black-clad militants crouched in wait behind a roadside berm and opened fire when the bus drove by, so crowded that children were clinging to the roof and sides. The attackers killed the driver first, then shot out the tires. They pumped hundreds of AK-47 rounds and fired rockets at screaming boys and girls who leaped onto the road and sprinted for cover. No one has been charged. It took survivors months to overcome their fear. Zameer's son, 15-year-old Arshad Alam, was out of class for 10 weeks. "Every time I thought of restarting school, images from the attack would replay in my mind and keep me from going back," he said. When police do make arrests, said Babak, the provincial education minister, judges often release the suspects weeks later, citing shoddy investigative work. He can attest to that firsthand.
“The shooting of Malala illustrated the Taliban's opposition to girls' education. She was only 11 when she wrote in a BBC blog about the Taliban decree against girls attending school in the Swat Valley, her home. Taliban gunmen boarded her school bus and shot her in the head” in October 2012. “She survived and is recovering in a British hospital. The Taliban's deep animosity for girls' education reflects the group's desire to thwart any kind of empowerment of women, said Jillani. "It's part of an overall oppression of women," she said. "The right for a woman to marry who she wants, her right to inheritance — it's all part of it."
“But the bombings, which almost always occur at night when children are not present, target boys' as well as girls' schools. "They want to throw us back into the Stone Age," said Sardar Hussain Babak, education minister for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, home to the Swat Valley and Pakistan's tribal areas. "If there is no education, extremism and religious fanaticism will rule. This is clear. So they don't want people to be educated; they don't want them to be informed." Schools in rural areas are especially easy targets for the militants. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province has thousands of schools, and no way to deploy armed guards at each one.
Impact of the Attacks on Schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Alex Rodriguez wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Under a torrid sun on a parched patch of dirt, 65 young boys and girls wiped sweat from their foreheads and struggled to concentrate on their studies. There were no blackboards, no desks. Nearby, their white two-room country school sat abandoned, shrapnel holes gouged into the exterior. The roof and walls had cracked, making the building too dangerous to use — the result of a homemade bomb detonated by the Taliban on the school's porch. "Everything was fine here," said 9-year-old Fazl Qadeem, squatting on the ground with his lesson book in hand. "And they destroyed it." [Source: Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2012]
“At least 600,000 children in northwestern Pakistan have missed a year or more of school because of militant attacks or threats, according to the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, an Islamabad-based nongovernmental group. In neighborhoods hit by school bombings, parents are pulling their children out of classrooms. More than half the schools destroyed in the northwest have yet to be rebuilt. Teachers in conflict zones have sought transfers to safer areas, leading to a shortage of instructors.”
“In Swabi, teachers kept classes going for dozens of children between the ages of 5 and 10, but had to move them outside. "God knows why they do it," instructor Mohammed Tayyib said of the Taliban. "As a teacher, it's very frustrating. We're trying our best, but it has definitely affected my level of motivation. And it has done the same to the students." Mohammed Zarshad, injured by shrapnel that pierced his hands and sheared off part of his right ear, didn't go back for seven months. "It's not acceptable in any society for people to attack schoolchildren or schools," said Khan. "One of the dead was a 5-year-old child. What did that boy do to deserve being killed?"”
141 Die in Taliban Attack on Peshawar School
On December 16, 2014, a Taliban attack on the Peshawar Army Public School in northwest Pakistan killed 141 people, 132 of them children of nine of them members of mainly female staff at the school. Some called the attack 'Pakistan’s 9/11. Other labeled it the “Massacre of the Innocents”.Rachel Roberts wrote in The Independent: Seven terrorists burst in and opened fire, killing many of the young victims at point-blank range and detonating bombs around the school.” The children ranged in age from eight to 18. [Source: Rachel Roberts, The Independent, December 15, 2017]
“The hardline Islamist gunmen who carried out the attack were all foreign nationals, including a Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans. Affiliated with the Tehrik and Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant movement, all six were killed by the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG), who rescued a total of 960 people in an eight-hour operation. At the time of the attack, the Taliban had been weakened through Pakistani military operations in the region and it was believed the slaughter was carried out in response to the crackdown. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan is a loose association of various militant groups who oppose the Pakistani state and want to implement Sharia law. Most of the Taliban militants are believed to have their origins in groups sponsored, aided and abetted in some way by the state.
At the time of the attack, the BBC, reported: “Scores of survivors are being treated in hospitals as frantic parents search for news of their children. The attack was the Taliban's deadliest. Describing it from his hospital bed, Shahrukh Khan, 17, said a gunman had entered his classroom and opened fire at random. As he hid under a desk, he saw his friends being shot, one in the head and one in the chest. Two teachers were also killed. [Source: BBC, December 16, 2014]
“Military spokesman Asim Bajwa told reporters a ll seven of the attackers wore suicide bomb vests, he said. Scores of people were also injured. It appears the militants scaled walls to get into the school and set off a bomb at the start of the assault. Children who escaped say the militants then went from one classroom to another, shooting indiscriminately. One boy told reporters he had been with a group of 10 friends who tried to run away and hide. He was the only one to survive. Others described seeing pupils lying dead in the corridors. One local woman said her friend's daughter had escaped because her clothing was covered in blood from those around her and she had lain pretending to be dead.
“A hospital doctor treating injured children said many had head and chest injuries. Irshadah Bibi, a woman who lost her 12-year-old son, was seen beating her face in grief, throwing herself against an ambulance. "O God, why did you snatch away my son?" AFP news agency quoted her as saying. The school is near a military complex in Peshawar. The city, close to the Afghan border, has seen some of the worst of the violence during the Taliban insurgency in recent years. Many of the students were the children of military personnel.”
Response to the Peshawar School Attack
Rachel Roberts wrote in The Independent: “Then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and leaders of various political and religious parties were united in their strong condemnation of the abhorrent attack and vowed to do more to wipe out terrorism. For days following the massacre, Pakistanis in major cities held candlelit vigils, with the initial grief giving way to anger as they took to the streets to demand action against pro-Taliban preachers. The government restored the death penalty, hanging four militants involved in the Peshawar massacre in 2015, and placing hundreds of prisoners on death row. Extra security measures were ordered around schools following the slaughter. The man believed to have masterminded the attack, Omar Khorasani, was killed in a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan in October 2017. [Source: Rachel Roberts, The Independent, December 15, 2017]
“Following the Peshawar atrocity, the Prime Minister recognised the country had appeared ambivalent towards the extremists, and vowed to end the distinction between “good” and “bad” Taliban. Mr Sharif said of the new approach: “All Taliban are bad Taliban. Extremism of any kind — of thought, action, religious or political extremism — is bad. We have to eliminate them wherever we find them.” He also vowed to “regulate” madrassa — the teaching of Islam — admitting that unregulated education could be “very dangerous”.
The Taliban has controlled areas in the north-west of Pakistan for recent years, as well as proving a major force in Afghanistan. Three years on” Despite the promises in the wake of the massacre, little appears to have been done to drive out the Taliban. The National Counter-Terrorism Authority was formed in 2009 but the Pakistani government is accused of failing to properly fund and develop the organization. Militant attacks are down in number compared to three years ago, but the minority Shias continue to be targeted by extremist groups. In spite of the promises to crack down on extremist ideology, supposedly banned sectarian groups are still finding ways to field candidates in local elections and the promised regulation of madrassa has also failed to amount to anything more than words, according to those monitoring the situation.”
Two weeks after the Peshawar attack, militants torched two schools in Kurram Agency, on the Afghanistan border about 100 kilometers west of Peshawar. No group immediately claimed responsibility but blamed "militants" were blamed. AFP reported: Militants set fire to two primary schools in Pakistan s troubled northwest as authorities extended winter holidays amid threats of attacks, officials said. A pre-dawn arson attacks took place in two villages in the Kurram tribal district, where Taliban insurgent activity and violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims are rife. Amjad Ali Khan, the district s top administrative official, told AFP the attackers had doused furniture with petrol before setting it ablaze. All the wooden benches and desks along with school records were destroyed and buildings were damaged, Khan said. No one was hurt in Tuesday s attack as schools are closed for winter vacations, which authorities have extended until January 12 after the Peshawar massacre amid threats of more violence. Originally schools were due to reopen on January 3. [Source: AFP, December 30, 2014]
Pakistan Government’s Lame Response to Attacks in Schools
According to Human Rights Watch: The government’s failure to keep consistent and transparent national data on such attacks raises serious concerns about its ability to track repairs of damaged schools, identify trends that could inform protective measures, or investigate and prosecute the responsible individuals. After the Peshawar attack, which killed 135 children, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a 20-point National Action Plan to comprehensively deal with terrorism — but none of the 20 points pertained to students or education. [Source: Human Rights Watch, March 27, 2017]
In some areas, government forces have used educational institutions, including both schools and college hostels, as temporary or permanent barracks or military bases. When educational facilities are used for military purposes, it places them at increased risk of attack. The government should issue clear and public orders to Pakistan security forces to curtail the military use of schools.
Securing schools has been largely left to the provincial governments, and these efforts have been sporadic and vary across provinces, with little attention to the specific need to protect girls’ education. In most cases, responsibility for enhancing and maintaining security has been passed to school authorities. This has led to increased hardship and chaos. Criminal cases have sometimes been filed against teachers and principals for not taking security measures.
How the Pakistan Government Should Respond to Attacks in Schools
According to Human Rights Watch: Pakistan should develop a comprehensive policy for protecting students — especially girls — and teachers, schools, and universities from attack and military use, and engage all concerned ministry staff at the central and local level in implementing this strategy. Despite hundreds of attacks on teachers, students, and educational institutions, the Pakistani government has not successfully prosecuted the perpetrators in most instances. This failure was highlighted in June 2015, when it was reported that eight out of the 10 individuals arrested and charged for the attack on Malala Yousafzai were acquitted, even after they all confessed to their role in court. [Source: Human Rights Watch, March 27, 2017]
Pakistan’s national government should cooperate with provincial authorities to create an advance rapid response system whenever there are attacks on schools, so that these facilities are quickly repaired or rebuilt and destroyed educational material is replaced so that children can return to school as soon as possible. During reconstruction, students should be provided education through alternative means and, where appropriate, given psychosocial support.
Pakistan should endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, a non-binding political agreement opened for state support at an international conference in Oslo, Norway, in May 2015. Countries that endorse the Safe Schools Declaration pledge to restore access to education when schools are attacked, and undertake to make it less likely that students, teachers, and schools will be attacked in the first place. They agree to deter such attacks by promising to investigate and prosecute crimes involving schools, and to minimize the use of schools for military purposes so they do not become targets for attack.
“The Pakistani government should do all it can to deter future attacks on education, beginning with improving school security and providing the public reliable information on threats,” Sheppard said. “Attacks on education not only harm the students and families directly affected, but also have an incalculable long-term negative effect on Pakistani society.”
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (tourism.gov.pk), Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan (pakistan.gov.pk), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022