An ignored need

Posted by rajajang

January 31, 2008

In the latter half of 2007, we witnessed an unprecedented phenomenon in Pakistan — well synchronised, peaceful protests by lawyers, university and college students as well as members of civil society organisations and media. Though these protests were not outstanding in scale and did not involve more than five per cent of Pakistan’s 160 million population, one must not play down the fact that these events marked a crucial step forward in the formation of a democratic civil society comprising informed citizens — a necessary prerequisite for the initiation and sustainability of a democratic nation state.

A characteristic common to all the participants of this new ‘democratic social movement’ is their possession of civic knowledge (knowledge of rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship), civic disposition (participating in civic life and holding all values necessary for participation) and civic skills (utilisation of civic knowledge for participation in the civic sphere and individually monitoring/evaluating relevant situations). The informed use of these traits allowed the protestors access to platforms from which they could peacefully voice and display their stance against the curbs placed on their democratic rights. This manner of confrontation with the state has so far proven more effective compared to other forms of collective action, which include the use of violence by the aggrieved party, a recent example of which would be the Lal Masjid tragedy.

The ongoing democratic social movement displays the sole, most efficient manner of attaining the goal of an informed and well-equipped citizenry that respects, tolerates and supports one another is to modify and incorporate civic education as it is currently taught in the nation’s three leading forms of educational systems — public schools, private schools and religious schools. After all, how can representative democracy ever flourish, if more than 70 per cent of its constituents are not even aware of their democratic rights, how to demand and attain them in case of deprivation? Granted, Pakistan’s national literacy rates are pitiable, standing at 49.9 per cent in 2005 with large discrepancies between male and female literacy, but active civic participation in the political and civic sphere of even 15 per cent of this literate population can exact dazzling results for the acquisition of democratisation and good governance. However, there is one important issue that must be addressed and overcome for the development of a peaceful and tolerant citizenry.

The worldviews and value systems disseminated by the nation’s three major educational systems must be brought in line with one other to ensure a democratically active generation of citizens. It is no secret that the quality and content of education varies drastically across the school system. This is damaging because it allows a number of competing ideologies to coexist within one nation state. This would not pose a problem in a plural and participatory society, but because the students, especially from public and religious schools, do not attain appropriate civic education, the ideological differences which they bring to a practical adult life cannot be resolved in an efficient manner. This has resulted in an atmosphere of internal national animosity which has further intensified socio-economic, ethnic and class cleavages.

A brief overview of the socio-economic composition of the competing school systems and their syllabi will aid us in a better understanding of this issue. In Urdu medium schools, students generally arise from working, lower-middle and marginalised classes and are taught to be ‘warrior citizens’ that do not tolerate non-Muslims, disrespect females and hold undemocratic values that leave no room for progressive thinking and political dissent. In religious schools, students mostly come from working and marginalised classes and are taught from a sectarian/subsectarian syllabus that is strongly anti-modernity and allows no room for a progressive and thinking culture. In private schools on the other hand, students mostly arise from privileged segments of society and are taught from a modernist syllabi that often originates from foreign countries, namely Great Britain. Apart from these differences, students in private schools are encouraged to think critically and speak freely during classroom discussions whereas the opposite holds true for government and religious institutions where discussions between students and teachers barely take place.

Hence, it is of utmost importance for the Ministry of Education and relevant institutions to actively align the worldviews disseminated by the educational institutions and formulate a uniform system of civic education that can be implemented simultaneously across various streams of education to ensure the existence of a harmonious society and democracy. To achieve this, it must first replace the theocratic approach in the syllabi of the government school systems with the liberal democratic version. This will mean the replacement of nationalist propaganda, intolerance and gender disparaging content in the syllabi with progressive and democratic values that do not hurt the religious and cultural sentiments of the population. As for religious schools, imperative Islamic values of tolerance, peace and respect for one another and the state must be emphasised.

It is vital to bear in mind when attempting any alterations in the public school syllabi the overbearing influence of feudalism, religious extremism and even the military which pose a serious impediment to the dissemination of civic education. If a serious effort to revamp civic education is to be undertaken, the aforementioned actors will have to retire from the civic and political sphere. If this happens, it will bode well for the nation because civic education not only rationalises the thought processes of the individual and dulls extremist ideologies and tendencies but allows citizens to demand their rights and convey grievances in an effective and peaceful manner. This results in compromises and negotiations in which both parties gain and lose, in a comparable manner. Civic education firmly implants the concept that moderation in attitudes, dialogue and negotiations exact long-lasting results that even the most destructive forms of collective action can never achieve. Hence, with the proper utilisation of civic skills, contemporary national issues such as terrorism, ethnic unrest among many others can actually be resolved.

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