What are they Teaching in Pakistani Schools Today?

This article about Karachi was printed in Houston Chronicle.

``Pakistani feudal elite lets sons swagger, kill without penalties

By MARION LLOYD

Copyright 1999 Special to the Chronicle

KARACHI, Pakistan -- American ``gangsta`` rap music reverberates through

the beachfront mansion, where teen-age girls, clad in vinyl miniskirts

and platform shoes, dance hip-hop under psychedelic lights.

Their dates mouth the songs` profane lyrics and toss back slugs of

whiskey from metal flasks. Cellular phones bulge in their oversized

designer jeans.

It might be Los Angeles. Only it`s suburban Karachi, where traditional

Muslim values are fast losing ground to American gang culture.

The teeming port city is the crime and extortion capital of Pakistan, a

country ranked among the world`s most corrupt.

The effects of easy wealth are most glaring among the younger

generation, combining a disregard for the law with an increasing taste

for fast living.

``We live like kings and do what we want,`` boasts the 16-year-old son of

a prominent defense attorney, dressed in a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt and

chain-smoking Marlboro reds. ``People murder people and get away with

it.``

He should know. Three years ago, he and several friends were charged

with shooting a classmate to death in a fight over a girl, in what they

claimed was a case of suicide but which was almost certainly murder.

They were released after their families intervened.

In another case, a gang of wealthy teen-agers opened fire outside a

popular fast-food restaurant, injuring several people. No arrests were

made.

To prevent such an attack, security is high outside the gated mansion

where 200 of the city`s wealthiest teen-agers are gathered. Dozens of

guards armed

with Kalashnikov rifles patrol the neighborhood in exclusive, seaside

Defense Colony.

At midnight, a Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle carrying the teen-age

sons of one of Pakistan`s most powerful political families, the

Pagaros, squeals to a halt in front of the house.

A fight breaks out when the boys, flanked by armed guards, try to force

their way in. The guests spill out onto the lawn, egging the Pagaro

gang on with jeers of ``Mafiosi`` and ``feudal thugs.`` The security forces

fire warning shots and then open fire on the retreating car.

``They`re like the Italian Mafia; they want to be kings of this city,``

says a tough-looking 16-year-old, with greased-back long hair and the

traditional black tunic worn by feudal chiefs. Like the Pagaros, his

father is a high-ranking politician in the local government. His family

also owns a large chunk of Western Baluchistan province.

``I`m not afraid,`` he boasts later, at a pool-side wedding reception at

a swank, five-star hotel. The guest list is a Who`s Who of Karachi

elite, including several government ministers, a television star and a

former chief justice of the Supreme Court. It is here where key

friendships are forged in the ruthless world of Pakistani politics and

business.

Animosities run deep, particularly among the younger generation.

``If they mess with me, I`ll mess with them,`` the gang leader boasts.

He gestures to a scowling member of a rival landlord family, called

``feudals`` for the ancient social system that operates in Pakistan`s

rural outback. ``If this weren`t a wedding, we would have some words.``

The centuries-old rivalries are unique to Central Asia. But the

teen-agers` language, like their clothes, is unmistakably urban

America.

``People think Pakistan is a village. But we are more Western than the

West,`` brags the son of a Karachi construction magnate, who, like most

of his friends, has spent years living abroad.

``American gangsta rappers are nothing,`` he says. ``There, if you shoot

someone, you`re in big trouble. Here, you can do what you want.``

That attitude spells trouble for the elite prep schools where the

teen-agers regularly stage fights.

At the prestigious City School, clashes between rival gangs became so

common last year that the principal deployed 50 army rangers to restore

peace. Until last month, three rangers were stationed at each of

several gates leading to the sprawling, art deco complex, whose outside

walls are plastered with gang graffiti. And at least seven students

have been expelled over the past two years for attacking classmates in

school.

``They throw their weight around and try to manipulate you,`` says Seema

Kazmi, who teaches English and history at the school. She gestures to a

group of 14-year-olds, flouting the school dress code in their

low-rider jeans and American baseball caps emblazoned with the logos of

popular rap singers.

Others are more blunt in their criticism.

``They get away with murder,`` says Uzma Rauf, the school`s vice

principal.

She says the situation has worsened dramatically over the past five

years due to an increase in the availability of heavy weapons and

drugs, particularly hashish and cocaine. Karachi`s port is a major

smuggling outlet for illegal arms and drugs coming from Central Asia

and war-torn Afghanistan.

``This is a Kalashnikov culture,`` she says, referring to the

Russian-made semi-automatic rifles available for $1,000 in the city`s

booming black market. The guns are favored by militants from rival

political factions, who are fighting a bloody feud for control of

Pakistan`s commercial capital.

The culture of violence filters down to the teen-agers. Brandishing

Kalashnikovs is not an uncommon way of settling rivalries, particularly

among the sons of politicians and feudal landlords.

``It`s about arrogance, showing people who you are,`` says the son of a

high-level bureaucrat, who claims not to belong to any gang. He

estimates only 10 percent of his classmates are involved in fighting,

``but we all eventually get dragged in.``

Rauf said the school was under severe pressure to accept problem kids,

whom she estimates at 25 percent of the 2,700 students.

``But if they`re ministers` sons, what can you do?``

She blames the teen-agers` behavioral problems on lax parents, many of

whom are involved in criminal activities themselves.

``We know they`re not going to help us out in any way,`` she says.

Police say they are helpless to intervene, even when they have proof

that the teen-agers have committed felonies.

``They are above the law, and they know it,`` says an officer at the

Clifton Police Station, which oversees Defense Colony. ``If a rich kid

is accused of murder, you can`t even think of investigating.``

Nor can they stop them for drinking and or doing drugs, without risking

retaliation from angry parents.

``We can`t even touch their body guards,`` who are widely involved in

carjackings and arms smuggling, says the officer, who requested

anonymity. After police arrested one guard on carjacking charges, the

man`s employer threatened to burn down the police station, he says. The

charges were dropped.

Such incidents have caught the attention of the head of Karachi`s

citizen`s crime cell, Jameel Yousuf, a retired businessman with

connections to the Karachi elite. He says in the case of a fight, or

even a murder, the teen-agers` families usually refuse to press

charges.

Typical police tactics are of little use.

``You can`t beat the hell out of a rich kid to extract confessions,`` he

says, with only a trace of irony. ``You just have to let him go.``

SameerJB #86

Thanks for sharing. I apologize for 2 intrusions: as an Indian on this board and secondly another intrusion, on the same lines as that bearded examiner, into personal territory.

What really bothers me( in addition to the failure of the system toward young people of fresh and sincere aspirations, sadly common in India, too, due to other reasons) is this.

Firstly, why inspite of professing to understand what it means to be a person of good principle, the examiner and the examination system didnot know that those questions were out-of-syllabus in a chemistry exam?

Secondly, for someone to judge how good a Muslim someone is, does he not have to be a certified better Muslim just like to be a science examiner, he would need higher qualifications than the student he was examining. What made the examiner indeed a certified better Muslim?

I was once asked in the early 90s by a close friend about what type of Hindu I am for speaking against the BJP`s stance on the Ram temple. I still remember my unambiguous answer and how angry I got. Is personal faith or inner belief like height/weight or commodity price that anyone and his uncle can take it on themselves to make measurements and declare judgement?

Or is it like better Communist vs untrue Communist(as happened behind the Iron Curtain), American vs unAmerican(as in the McCarthy years), Indian or unIndian(who knows what complexion that may take in future)? While these above-mentioned questions are a violation of an individual`s political space, the Muslim/Hindu/? question is a much worse(in my opinion) violation of inner or personal space. These questions all seem nothing but a cover for totalitarianism of a few over many and nothing to do with fostering a `moral` society.

Sadhana

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2000-daily/23-04-2000/oped/o3.htm

...The ``wily old Gandhi`` and the smooth-tongued conspirator, Nehru, are the same crooks we know through our textbooks....

is he referring to the govt school textbooks or the british, american schools` in lahore? maybe ylh could tell us.

REASON TO LEARN ENGLISH

X-Files in Urdu

Kamil Ali

Recently, PTV has started showing an English thriller series, ``The X-Files`` dubbed in Urdu. I want to request PTV to show it in English because it sounds quite absurd in Urdu.

NOT FROM PAK TEXT BOOK

I have never heard this that that Jinnah died in a broken down ambulance. learning never stops, from jang.

``Certainly few eyebrows were raised in the mostly liberal, party-going crowd at the Islamabad Club on Friday night. But it will be blasphemous for an ordinary Muslim of Pakistan to find a Hindu in the role of an angel sending new arrivals in the hereafter to their eternal abodes in God`s heaven or hell. After all, isn`t it the message of this film that Hindus and Muslims do not share even a glass of water with one another--one of the cultural differences which convinced Jinnah that Pakistan was inevitable?

In a nutshell, why Jinnah cannot be shown in Pakistan is because it`s not been Jinnah`s Pakistan since he died in that broken-down ambulance on a deserted roadside in Karachi.``

May that tour guide in Taj Mahal was not all that wrong about Jinnah.

English vs Urdu or regional language.

The purpose of primary education needs to make a person, rational, thinking, independent person.

In what language or way of instruction you can do that can be debated.

As far as job market is concerned, it does not depend upon primary education, but higher education and needs to be given in best possible way.

If aims are clear, the solution can be found.

Re : Amit, I really wonder which school syllabus you had. If you read R.C. Majumdar then you get the point of view you describe of Hindu defeats and longing for revenge; but unless the BJP has been much more successful at changing things than I am aware, that school of history is not represented in the schools. The ``secular`` history does not present that point of view. Babur is a hero, as is Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb is not such a hero only because the Mughal empire declined during his reign.

Regarding the Hindu kings encouraging the Ghaznavid to loot Somnath -- that, as far as I know, is complete fiction.

And there are diatribes against invading Kushans, etc., in the Indian records.

Amit, you are right in that Muslims in the subcontinent are like any other people; where the Hindu carries a chip on his shoulder is because of the insistence of a substantial group of Muslims that they constitute a separate nation -- no other set of immigrants to the subcontinent have insisted on that.

In any case, if Pakistanis are wondering about whether Hindus dream of a reunification -- the answer is no. It is like a divorce that one regrets; but one no longer has a wish to get together again.

-arun gupta

Dr. Hoodbhoy has painted a very accurate
picture of the dismal state of education in
Pakistan today. But there is hope.
The key to India`s recent success in the new
world information economy has been it`s
ability to provide the computer age with
some quality people. There is no reason why
Pakistan cannot do the same (and we don`t even
have to admit it).
Mazdak (Irfan Hussain) has a very interesting
article (Dawn) regarding the talents which Pakistanis have. If strawberry season can come to Pakistan, why not a seson of wisdom?

Ras

Dr. Hoodbhoy:

I have found your article and the exchange highly educational experience for me. You and the repliers have brought out the problem quite well. I feel solutions to the education problem need not be ``secular`` or universal. Instead, there must be different solutions, where some part of education, especially history and religion, would be controversially different. We do not have to go too far to learn it, the French Canadian version of many historical events in very different than the English Canadian experience as taught in their schools.

No-one needs to even appear apologetic, neither Amit (for what is taught in Indian high school), nor you (for what is taught in Pakistani school), because comunity`s need to maintain a bias, to have a separate and proud identity is equally important part of the education. I must openly profess that I am not a religious person, therefore my vision carries my bias, just as much as a fundamentalist vision may carry a saffron color or green color bias, depending upon the religion.

I strongly believe that the education based on a family value system in South Asian families, irrespective of religion or region, needs strengthening.

The choices the society presents in South Asia to its younger generation, are very limited. For example, the success model for a middle and lower economic classes when I was a high-school student in Delhi in early sixties, was only through excelling in education. Sadly very little has improved in the last thrity-five years, other than the fact that meritocracy, which was the cornerstone for admission in IITs, and to bring the middle class into the success-stream, has suffered. Only 2% get admitted while another 12% unfortunate ones are just as good as the 2% who get in IITs, but never get in now. Thus at least the Indian society is imparting education to about 1 in 6 who deserve it. Hence the pressure on these middle class kids is enormous, when I look at my nieces and nephews trying to get in these IITs, whereas in my time, with a fraction of their efforts I was able to get admission in all the top educational institutions in India that I applied. I am certain the same is probably true in Pakistan. I feel sad about the fact that 5 out of 6 are denied an opportunity in India.

In the west, the education is not the only route to success. African-american youths have excelled through basketball, while one of the European American has succeeded by dropping out of Harvard to build world`s best software company and in the process become the richest man in the world. They all provide excellent role-models, and equally outstanding heros for the young.

In South Asia, there is a lack of modern role-models and heros. The South Asian Muslims look to Arabia and the Mughals to find their heros and probaly role-models, while the Hindus go back even further in time to find their heros. A good family value system and a strong cadre of role-models and heros are critical for a good education system to open many more success models.

Today modern media reaches out to the remotest village in South Asia. Therefore, distribution of good education, does not require brick and mortar based institution and numerous good teachers. Separating the content of education from distribution of education, and re-intermediation of modern media can provide excellent education system to the poorest in the remotest part over the Talibanist, and RSSites.

The family tradition of parental sacrifice to educate their off-springs remains very strong in South Asia among all levels of the society. The middle class in South Asia spends disproportionately very high part of its earned income on off-spring education. You might consider this as a measure, rather than a percentage of GDP as the measure of education spending. You would find the private initiative is very strong and equally efficient. The percentage of GDP, is a measure of government spending, which has proven to be a failure, even though there are shining examples like IITs in India.

A while ago, I had seen a study done by McKinsey & Co. (I believe). This study showed a strong relationship between the student-to-class area-to-campus acrage ratios with the overall education. Surprisingly, IITs were found to be under utilizing their class area, and Campus acrage, when compared to prominent Japanese, European and the U.S. universities. I am sure you can certainly do similar study in Pakistan as well, and see how already built up educational assets are under utilized.

Regarding educational contents, I do not believe in what light Ghauri or Abdali are taught in which side of the border, is as important as having the right family value based educational system expanded to cover greater number of South Asian families. Let the community decide about the contents they want their kids to learn. In the last thirty years outside the sub-continent, I have seen among my friends, Jamaat-e-Islamists` and RSSites` kids educated in South Asias` ``convent`` schools, and still retaining their families` and religions` pride and prejudices, and at the same time becoming very effective contributors to the society.

ANIL KAPURIA

Anil@Kapuria.COM

In what may or may not be relevant to `Hinduising` Indian culture, a family friend who recently went to the Taj Mahal told us that the tour guide was passing on the facts that the Taj Mahal was actually a Hindu temple and the story of Mumtaz Mahal was a romantic fable.

Less to do with Hinduisation, an Indian doc in Amrika was informing his western colleagues that Jinnah died of TB because Pakistan abandoned him and refused to have him treated, leaving him to die in squalor.

re:91.. an interesting aspect towards Somnath, and certainly not one mentioned quite as often as the destruction of Somnath itself is.

Re:friend#69, vicky#71

I remember in my high school history books, most of the muslim era history of India focussed on the invasions and the military victories/losses. The overall impression it left was that hindus lost badly creating an urge for revenge against muslims. Maybe given the secular nature of India, perhaps our books are not as hostile against muslims as Pakistani text books are against hindus.

Basically I question the need to be hostile at all. India has seen invaders for millenia. Even the hindus themselves are said to be the progeny of Aryan invaders. How come we do not hear of atrocities committed by the Kushans or Sakas, who were Central Asian invaders that looted and plundered North India prior to settling down there ? As bilal said, Alexander`s army committed numerous excesses in present day Pakistan, yet he is called ``Alexander the Great``. Only when it comes to muslims, our sensitivity increases. However, was there anything different in what muslims did ? They were basically Central Asians who invaded and conquered India. They completely settled down and considered India as their home. They struck up a working relationship with hindus such as the Rajputs. In fact, Rajputs were responsible for a lot of territorial expansion on behalf of the Mughals. I have not heard of even one incident in the 800 years of muslim rule, where all hindus united to fight against muslim rulers. So why do we need to feel anything against them ? They came and became a part of India, contributing to its amazing culture. Let us celebrate that.

I must also mention that my observations were more regarding the school text books. I have read excellent books on muslim history in India, which were very balanced and very interesting. For e.g. we know that Ghaznavi razed down Somnath temple. But we do not hear that he was encouraged to loot Somnath by hindu kings who were jealous of the particular hindu king who had Somnath in his territory, due to the immense wealth it generated. So Ghaznavi was at fault for the looting, but what about those hindu kings who guided him towards it ?

This is the first time for @ this site. Yor remarks about the school system are very informative and to the point. I will be visiting this site more often. Keep up the good work.

Salaam/hi

Sordid reality ,retold with supporting Statistics, but would anything change?

With a budget of less than 5% , I doubt it will...

Allah haafiz

ACERBICJAZBATI

SameerJB # 86

Sameer Sahib,

Unbelievable story! I am sure you are very happy with the new avenues offered by the lady luck. Real loss of creative talent would be if this happens to some one and parents or circumstances force a totally unrelated career (e.g., family business)?

Regards.

This is from the International Herald Tribune and talks about IITs in India.

http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/THU/FPAGE/india.2.html

Several years back a young pre-med student, aspiring to become a medical doctor was appearing in the Chemistry practical exam as part of intermediate examination. During the oral part of the exam (viva-voce), he was asked two questions by the bearded, sherwani-wearing examiner. The first question examiner asked was to recite ``Du`a-e-Qanoot``( a prayer required to be read during the Isha prayer). The student was not exceptionally religious to know it and he apologized for not knowing it. The second question was to recite ``Ayat-al-Kursi``. Unfortunately the student could not recite it either. The examiner looked disdainfully at the student, gave him a short lecture about the importance of being a ``good Muslim`` and that was the end of Chemistry oral exam for the student---and also the end of his dream of getting accepted into the medical college. It is not known what marks he got for the Chemistry oral examination but missed the medical school entrance by a mere 5 marks. Several years later, the student did become a doctor of Ph.D. kind, but forgot the mysterious role, religion played in his peak moment of life. BTW, he still can not recite those two prayers---but then he does not care for it anymore.

The moral of the story is not to dowplay the religion but the unnecessary and agressive role it has been playing in the nation-building and national identity. It is also a critique of the teachers` training. A teacher should be concerned with his/ her subject matters only in the class. The role of religion and crooked history teaching so not do any good. They only end up in increasing the entropy or disorderness as obvious from the recent trneds in the society. The previous generation, which did not go through compulsory Islamiat and Arabic teaching are no less moral and nationalistic than the younger generation. The net result of this stressful implementation of a percieved nation-builging agenda is nothing but negative.

It is true that most nations of the world do teach a biased interpretation of history but there is a fine line, beyond which its impacts are non-productive. Unlike many industrialized countries, in Pakistan, there is no alternate and freely available literature contrary to popular belief. While in the US, Columbus can be turned from a hero to almost a vilian in a matter of few years, the Ghaznavi, Ghauri and Abdali are not going to turn into anything less than heroes anytime soon in Pakistan. Bottom line is that a nation must know when to say, enough is enough--when the negative effects are greater than the positive results.

It is very important to increase the literacy level especially those of women in Pakistan. Among other benefits, it will help in controlling the runaway population growth. It is not important which national or parochial language is used for this purpose. It must be result oriented approach of increasing the literacy and not the same old mix of religion and history as if anything short of curriculum boards guidelines will turn poor Pakistani women to somehow pro-Indian.

The Urdu language as a medium of higher education is a non-issue. There is no vocabuary and material available for most of the sciences. There can be a slow systematic approach to develop Urdu into a medium of scientific education but the past enthusiastic approach of the present science minister Prof. Ata Ullah Khan and his Urdu Science cinferences was just a waste of time and energy. The science and technology has grown so rapidly that it will take years just to translate a handful of material necessary for higher education. Moreover, there will be the usual attempt of accepting Persian and Arabic terminology as Urdu and English terminologies as undesirable, of foreign origin. It must be a result-oriented pragmatic approach and not the identity agenda at all costs.

The success of ``A`` and ``O`` level schooling leaves out other socio-economic factors favoring these students. The best approach to me, is to begin with a prototype system of liberal education--free from the clutches of curriculum boards and a competitive system of textbooks--applied as a test case in selective areas, for instance in one district of each province and compare the results with the rest of schools. Once it is perfected and free of glitches and proven successful--then it should be sent from the pilot plant to the production line.

Something must be done right away for this issue of utmost importance. The future of Pakistan depends lot more on it than Islam, Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir. Let the shools have free hand in decision making. The colleges should develop a method to evaluate students entering colleges and the universities should develop a method of evaluating the education level of the students from the free-handed colleges, when they admit them to the university. The top-heavy approach in Pakistan has not worked in any area including education. It is never too late to realize the mistakes and work to rectify them. Prof. Hoodbhoy, please push it, push it--until they yield.