By Griff Witte Sunday, January 17, 2010 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- 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 U.S. efforts to defeat extremist groups here, U.S. and Pakistani officials say. 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 in a nation in which half of adults cannot sign their own name. The United States is hoping an infusion of cash -- part of a $7.5 billion civilian aid package -- will begin to change that, and in the process alter the widespread perception that Washington's only interest in Pakistan is in bolstering its military. But 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." 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. ...read more
The trouble with throwing money at the problem is that the money will just be funneled into the existing system -- which will result in supporting the twin towers of Islam: tyranny and terrorism. I am amazed at just how bad Pakistan is. There is a fairly modern person in Pakistan I have known online for a few years who told me about a year ago that the Taliban were just an arm of the U.S. government. This is how disconnected from realty people in Pakistan are -- even people with Internet access. This person runs an Islamic education center, so he is not only infected with bad ideas -- he is spreading them. The uncomfortable part is that he is an otherwise modern and sensible person. I bought a celebrity babe web site from him! He's got one foot in the 21st century and another in the 7th century.
Agreed. That aid money should have been tied to the condition of reforms first, and then cash. Unfortunately, I see the US blundering again and again where Pakistan is concerned. Not that India is doing any better. Gosh, he seems like another Faisal Shahzad in the making. I cannot fathom the exact reasons how most Pakistanis easily believe in conspiracy theories. 9 out of 10 will tell you that 9/11 was an "inside job" done by the CIA :O Half baked education is more dangerous than no education at all. Actually, calling these people educated is an anomaly: they're just literate, not educated in the true sense of the word.