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Pakistan - Summary


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At the dawn of the new millennium, Pakistan's educational establishment had reason to be proud of its academic architecture, which in a span of a little over a half century since the country's birth had grown exponentially in the number of universities, colleges, and schools and in student enrollment. Its weak points are the less than adequate opportunities to women for education and employment. Pakistan has been infected by Islamic fundamentalism since the late 1970s, and it has adversely affected the role of women in its society. It stands contrary to the wishes of its erudite founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who said to his Muslim brethren in 1940: "No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live."

The other threat that portends to be deadly for education arises out of overemphasis on religion and may lead to the collapse of the edifice of education so assiduously constructed in Pakistan. Militant Islam has appealed to the youth of Pakistan in the same manner as in neighboring Afghanistan. The values of the Taliban have dictated the curriculum in Pakistan's madrassahs since the 1990s. Hopefully, this is a passing phase that will not hinder the march of the country to a glorious intellectual and material future for its men—and its women.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baloch, N. A. ed. The Educational Policy 1972: Implications and Implementation, Hyderabad, University of Sind Press, 1972.

Farooq, R. A. Survey of Pedagogy, Research, and Curriculum Development in Pakistan. Islamabad: Academy of Educational Planning and Management, 1990.

Hoodbhoy, Pervez, ed. Education and the State: Fifty Years of Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Khan, Sadiq Ali. Educational Institutions and Library Development in Pakistan. Karachi: Khurshid Nishan, 1994.

Laumann, Lisa Carol. "Teaching Gender: Pakistani Nongovernmental Organizations and their Gender Pedagogies." Ph.D. diss., University of California, 2000.

Mufti, A. G. Human Resource Development through Education in Pakistan. Islamabad: Pakistan Manpower Institute, 1980.

Rahman, Tariq. "Transforming the Colonial Legacy: The Future of the Pakistani University," Futures 30, 7 (September 1998), pp. 669-680.

——. Language, Education and Culture. Islamabad: Sustainable Development Policy Institute; Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Shabab, M. H. Documentation of Educational Research in Pakistan, 1947-1995: An Annotated Bibliography. Islamabad: Ministry of Education, c. 1995.

Stern, Jessica. "Pakistan's Jihad Culture." Foreign Affairs (November-December, 2000).

Warwick, Donald P. and Fernando Reimers. Hope or Despair? Learning in Pakistan's Primary Schools. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1995.

Wright, Robin. "The Chilling Goal of Islam's New warriors." Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2000, pp. A1, 12-13.


—D. R. SarDesai

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