Education and militancy

Letter September 06, 2017
Previously, charged suspect of the Safoora Goth bus carnage was a student from the top business schools of Pakistan

KARACHI: The recent attack on Khawaja Izharul Hassan, member of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, is not the first where a university student was part of a deadly attack. Previously, charged suspect of the Safoora Goth bus carnage was a student from one of the top business schools of Pakistan. The problem of militancy in educational institutions partially stems from religious political parties having their student wings.

This is perhaps because while graduates of liberal or social sciences mostly hold moderate views about religion mainly due to the subjects taught that allow for critical thinking of a subject matter, students of other programmes appear to be less accepting of varying religious opinions. Hence, given the absence of religious diversity, inclination towards extremism becomes almost a natural phenomenon.

To counter this, academic institutions should also educate students to be more accepting and tolerating of varying ideologies and differences. As eliminating rising militancy from religious seminaries might be impossible, changes to the curriculum design could surely serve the purpose for educational institutions.

Saif Malik

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2017.

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