Education moot: Illiteracy termed cause of Muslims’ decline
Education should be the foremost priority of the next government, says Mufti Muneebur Rehman.
It was a rare occasion that clerics from all school of thoughts found a point of agreement, with a majority of them calling for a homogenous education system. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
With a call for politicians to make education their top priority, over 40 religious scholars from across Pakistan huddled on Wednesday and cited education as the only cause for the rise and fall of the Muslim Ummah in the past and present.
Alif Ailaan, a campaign to end Pakistan’s education emergency, and the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) held a roundtable meeting on the “Crisis of Education in Pakistan: Responsibility of Clerics” with prominent religious scholars from all schools of thought.
The moot was important at a time when all political parties are campaigning for the upcoming general elections. Ruet-e-Hilal Committee President Mufti Muneebur Rehman was of the view that education should be the foremost priority of the next government as the country is facing an education emergency and this state of affairs cannot be improved without political will.
It was a rare occasion that clerics from all school of thoughts found a point of agreement, with a majority of them calling for a homogenous education system. “There are at least five schools of religious thought and several education systems being run in Pakistan. Now we should chalk out the commonalities from all of them and come up with a standardised education system,” said K-P Cleric Dr Maulana Rohullah Madani. He suggested that till intermediate level, all schools and madrassas should have the same curriculum, with English, Urdu and Maths as compulsory subjects.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2013.
With a call for politicians to make education their top priority, over 40 religious scholars from across Pakistan huddled on Wednesday and cited education as the only cause for the rise and fall of the Muslim Ummah in the past and present.
Alif Ailaan, a campaign to end Pakistan’s education emergency, and the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) held a roundtable meeting on the “Crisis of Education in Pakistan: Responsibility of Clerics” with prominent religious scholars from all schools of thought.
The moot was important at a time when all political parties are campaigning for the upcoming general elections. Ruet-e-Hilal Committee President Mufti Muneebur Rehman was of the view that education should be the foremost priority of the next government as the country is facing an education emergency and this state of affairs cannot be improved without political will.
It was a rare occasion that clerics from all school of thoughts found a point of agreement, with a majority of them calling for a homogenous education system. “There are at least five schools of religious thought and several education systems being run in Pakistan. Now we should chalk out the commonalities from all of them and come up with a standardised education system,” said K-P Cleric Dr Maulana Rohullah Madani. He suggested that till intermediate level, all schools and madrassas should have the same curriculum, with English, Urdu and Maths as compulsory subjects.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2013.