Minority students: ‘Ethics not a substitute for religious studies’

National Commission for Justice and Peace says non-Muslim students should be taught subject related to their religion.

LAHORE:

“Discrimination begins from the point when children are offered [to study] ethics [rather than compulsory Islamic studies] instead of a subject that relates to their faiths,” Peter Jacob, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) executive director, says.

Jacob says ethics is not a suitable alternative for religious studies. He says considering that the contents are derived from Islamic traditions, the stated purpose of giving students this option is lost.

Church-run schools across the city teach Christian students catechism. This, however, affords them no advantage in the board. According to an NCJP survey, as many as 90 per cent of non Muslim students appearing in the matriculation board exams opt for Islamic studies rather than ethics.

One of the reasons, Jacob says, is that books on Ethics are in short supply. He says students are left with no option but to photocopy books.

“If Muslim students have a right to study Islamic studies, non Muslim students, too, should be entitled to study subject that relates to their religion,” says Mariam Arif, head of the Street Law Clinic at the Quaid-i-Azam Law College. Referring to sub-section 1 of the Article 22 of the Constitution, she says the government is legally obligated to ensure that non Muslim students receive religious instructions in accordance with their faiths.

“Ethics is not a religious study. It certainly does not subscribe to the faith of a religious minority,” she said.

Shortage of ethics books?

Dr Ashraf Mirza, the curriculum wing director at the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) Lahore, disagrees. He says ethics books are available for students of grades 6, 9 and 10. He says books developed for grade 3 have yet to receive approval, while books for grades 4 and 7 are still being developed.

Dr Mirza said after the 18th Amendment, the curriculum wing at the PTB was looking after curriculum revision. Once the proposed Punjab Curriculum Authority becomes functional, he says, content development and revision functions will be placed under it. He says the PTB plans to offer ethics books for grades 3, 4 and 7 during the next academic year.

“The main complaint communicated to us regarding ethics is that the subject is being offered in Urdu,” he says. The PTB, he says, is ready to produce textbooks in English if there is a demand.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2012.