Madrassahs and Schools

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

this is a first: a common interact for the following three boards
Women, Conflict and Conflict Prevention by Naveen Qayyum
Madrassahs and Schools by Xoheb Sheikh
Indian Troop Reduction in Kashmir: Merely Symbolic? by Abdul Naeem

---

…the common strand that runs through these three articles on the main page is the inability of the occupying army to deal with the looming crisis in Pakistan…ok let’s dispense with the white-wash…democracy and all that blah blah…and about how the power is transferred to the people..more blah blah…

…(came across these figures about four years ago from the then sec. education…a laeeq khan...am relying on memory and am searching for more current numbers)

…every year more than three million young Pakistanis are added to the school going age…between the stretched educational resources of the GoP (digression: the defense related expenses eat up between 48- 66+ % of the budget –depending on how you add up)…here is the low down:

number of new school age children......…….3,000,000
based on an average of 30 children
per class—number of additionalclass
rooms required.......................................…..100,000
new class rooms provided by govt............….10,000
new class rooms provided by madrasah...…....6,000
new class rooms provided by pvt groups.....….3,000

yearly class rooms shortfall.......................….81,000

...that is 2,430,000 plus children that are added every year to the numbers of uneducated…and this folly is compounded every year…millions of hopeless soul scurrying for petty existence and fodder for physical and mental slavery…is there any wonder the literacy rate is going down…(so much for Madrassahs and Schools …not to mention law and order…infra structure development…women issues, gender inequality, honor killing…heck, just about everything except nuclear aresenal and land grab by the faujis?

… am sure there are saner minds in the fauj that have figured this out have come to realize that the pie is shrinking and the occupying army’s share cannot be increased beyond a certain point…remember ..no Pakistan, no pakistan army…perhaps that is the driving force behind the fauji’s push for a solution to the Kashmir crisis (Indian Troop Reduction in Kashmir: Merely Symbolic? )…so that the meager budgetary resources can be allocated to developmental fields…a bare minimum level of economic prosperity is introduced to help the pie expand…and with a bigger pie the percentage yield for them will become bigger too…

rgds,

t

Children talk of Jihad more often than of any other fundamentals of Islam.

this was the line that preceded the ones you have quoted. Jihad is a very deep term and ``killing Americans and the white people``, to my knowledge, is not what Jihad stands for. Sure, children should be educated to fight all evils but equal stress should be on the other fundamentals of islam, i.e. zakat, namaz, hajj and rozah. I do not say that ALL madrassahs stress ONLY on Jihad at ALL times, but does happen at many of them.

THAT, for me is the required rationale.

WE will keep our eyes closed on this issue- but for how long.

The conspiracy of silence that Paki interactors have maintained on this issue is apalling!!!!

Jamia Darululoom karachi is playing a very important role in redefining education in Madrassahs. The institution is giving degrees up to Masters level while keeping students on track with all the modern education including computer science. Hope that other Madrassahs, Darululoom & Islamic education institutions also adopt the same strategy to equip the students with modern education as well.

M Tabraiz Feham
http://tabraizfeham.blogspot.com

related links:
http://www.darululoomkhi.edu.pk

Granted that basic reforms are necessary. However, there are some serious problems with your suggested reforms.

First, you assert that the government curriculum is constructive. You have not substantiated this assertion in any way, while acknowledging that the curriculum is, in fact, ``broadly disparaged.`` There are good reasons why the curriculum is broadly disparaged. It is poorly organised, it`s aims are unclear, its contents do not match its stated aims, and its methods of assessment are in direct contradiction to its stated aims, vague though they are. ``Something is better than nothing`` is not necessarily an appropriate dictum. Unlearning concepts that have been misunderstood (or mis-taught, in this case) is remarkably difficult. There is plenty of research to indicate that people remember that which they first learned, even if they have been consistently taught that which is correct at a later stage. Given these research findings (should anyone want citations, feel free to e-mail me. I`d be happy to look them up again), it makes sense that a lack of curriculum is, in fact, marginally better than a poor curriculum.

That said, of course the madrassahs, like any school, should have a decent curriculum. The question is, who is going to develop that curriculum?

Second, you mention that there are plenty of unemployed people who would be willing to work for low-paying jobs, even teaching. Although you don`t say so in so many words, I take it that you mean for some of the thousands of unemployed to take up teaching? What makes you think that these people are qualified to teach? Does one ever hear the suggestion that the unemployed should take up medicine as a profession? It`s completely ridiculous to treat teaching as requiring radically less training than medicine or law or engineering. These people are going to determine, to a large extent, how well the adults of tomorrow can think. Do we really want to hand those positions over to people who haven`t the first clue how to teach and have no real desire to teach? Teaching, more than most professions, requires a desire to be in the profession. It is a vocation, and when people take it up just as a job, the quality of their work suffers dramatically.

Yes, the basics have been ignored. But some of the basics haven`t even been identified.

Aisha... i would not disagree to what you have written. However, would like to clarify what you have pointed out.

Yes, the curriculum in the country needs some serious ``renovation``. This debate is one that would need a separate tackling, although no denying that it does relate to the argument at hand. Let us not forget, however, that the debate of upgrading the curriculum has been going on for too long a time now with little action done. So, what do we do? Should we not introduce the current curriculum (or a slightly improved form thereof) in the madrassahs? How long DO we wait?? How much DO we lose? With the current curriculum, too, the country is producing competent individuals in all fields of employment. THAT was the meaning of ``something is better than nothing``. However, you are perfectly justified in saying what you have said and i do not contradict except that i donot see anything changing our curricula overnight!!

Secondly... NO... i would never dare take teaching for granted. I have immense respect for this profession. But let us be realistic. You are a teacher, aren`t you? If i were to come to u suddenly and ask u to give up your current job and teach at a Madrassah... with lower payment and no job security or advantages... would you agree??? Probably not.
What i have suggested is a realistic view... things are not going to change overnight!! Some things will have to start a bit poorly, that is what i think. After the wave forms, teachers of higher quality and qualification can certainly move to Madrassahs.
Again... i do not disagree to what you have said and yes, teachers are going to determine how the adults of tomorrow are to think... they are the ones to form the people... and hence they should be trained, qualified and capable!! I would so like if such people were to start teaching at Madrassahs (or even volunteer to) straightaway... but the fact is... they won`t. Not right now, at least!! When we come out of the tunnel and enter the light, it is only then that broader options of progress are at our disposal!!

regards.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

a nice article except for one thing...
why do we have to ``upgrade`` mederessah education system/curricula to scientific/general standards?.. why cant we just do away with them... if u upgrade/refine/improve them u r simply trying to turn them into normal schools except for retaining the name `medersah`...
i cant decide whether u let this idea out just becuz u thought so or to keep the article diplomatic... whatever the case, here`s what i think of why u wrote that `` we have had this idea deep in our sub-concious (or whatever they call it) i.e, the islamization/quaranization of modern day science and its education``.. there have been so many attempts and constant compaigns to make the youth beleive that modern day science is either deduced from quran/islamic ideas or at least it was started by islamic scholars... now the debate has continued with a different nick but the essence remains same: islamize the scientific/normal school education or or or scientify the mederessah education...
well never thought it would get this long but ...
mederssah`s should stay the same or as their respective admins want em to stay and let anyone who wants to go there, go: just to develop a secular point of view... respect (or at least dont belittle) everyone`s point of view... but if they get poor people into stupid stuff thru mis-information we should take care of this thru awareness programs i.e, aim our reforms at society... ah!... its getting longer and longer.... look at the way a society develops (from evolution`s point of view)... u have people who come together , live toghether to realize some common good/goals and a society(although very primitive) is formed... then gradually elements like organization, planning and stuff happen and education comes pretty down on the list.. if the society is pretty low down on morality their education is bound to be bad too and imagine a `clever` (not wise) guy (or a group of such) peneterate into such a society.. he could (and probably would) plunder them with his exploitations... now imagine if that person gets into education... keep visualizing the rest of the story and u know its the society in the first place that needs to think soundly...
now ( i really regret the length of this stuff) what really made our society the way it is today... it simply is/was the communication gap between `father and son`, `rich and poor`, `ciitizens and villagers` and the `scientists and religious scholars` and so on... look at most of the rich brats and see for urself how much they know about the problems of the poor ( u`l face an expression like `` really!! do they do such stuff/is it so!/ oh my god! and so on).. and the middle class that knows a lot simply ignores it (``we got plenty of our own probs, why bother for them``)...

zoheb dear i know u understand all of it... but this is not all.. i got so much in me... and u just made me write... maybe we could get in touch on campus and u could write out some of the ideas/thoughts i got (i myself can`t write as good as u)... ( i wish we had met earlier :) )
_`B`alach ( remember balach with farhan... FAST yaar)