Pakistan

CII wants co-education abolished at the earliest

Calls for regional languages to be adopted as official language in provinces

Qaiser Butt October 21, 2015

CII Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani. PHOTO: PID

ISLAMABAD:

Reiterating its previous recommendation for separate systems of education for men and women, Pakistan’s top religious body has asked the government to abolish the co-education system within the minimum time period.

In its statement issued on Tuesday at the conclusion of its two-day meeting, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which was formed in 1962 to advise parliament on the compatibility of laws with Sharia, said co-education was neither a requirement of society nor compatible with Islamic principles.

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The council said only a limited time — that is necessary for change in syllabus and making of administrative arrangements — could be permitted to bring an end to the co-education system. “The government must establish two women universities as announced by the former president General Ziaul Haq,” it added.

The council also decreed that covering of face, hands or feet is not mandatory for women under Sharia law. However, the council advised women to follow ethics and have a careful attitude in society. It recommended women “cover up their body parts to avoid threats or mischief”. The CII made this judgment in reply to questions posed by the Islamabad-based Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA).

Women not required to cover faces, hands and feet under Sharia: CII

The CII also welcomed a recent Supreme Court judgment that ordered the government to implement Urdu as the official language. The CII also reminded the federal and provincial governments about one of its significant decisions regarding promotion of regional languages.

“While treating Urdu as the national and official language, the federal government should allow the provincial governments to adopt their languages as official languages. This particular part of the CII recommendations was made to the federal and provincial governments in 1989-99,” it said. The CII said that according to Article 251 (1) of the Constitution, Urdu is the national language and implementation on this constitutional provision is mandatory for the government.

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“However, the national language should not allow to be turned as a rival means of communication for the provincial languages at any stage so that opportunity should be given to the provincial languages for their progress and development,” it demanded.

The CII also recommended that students appearing for competitive examinations should also be allowed to answer questions in Urdu.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2015.

COMMENTS (30)

whitesky | 9 years ago | Reply @WomenEmpowerment: : there shall be unavailability of sufficient number of quality women teachers. ( co education is opposed because of so called threats to girls due to continuous presence of opposite sex around them) For the same reason male teachers, staff , peon security guards too will be opposed. see whose voice ( liberals or the conservative )carries more weightage.

prabhjyot singh madan | 9 years ago | Reply What a joke !!! Houbras birds, co-education, tactical nukes, malala etc ....good priorities at the national level brothers and sisters. Ban this CII, my advice to you. Btw, before someone thinks of commenting on shiv sena, 95% of India and it includes rural India doesn't know about them and their madness, they are a provincial party only. Men and women need to be together to gain confidence and understanding of each other or make either of them study with a pet dog, a man's best friend, yet another advice to CII. Rab rakha

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Kamran Ali | 9 years ago | Reply CII does not serve any real purpose other than let orthodox mullah mislead the nation and focus on non-issues

cautious | 9 years ago | Reply One day you can show your face without veil -- next day your not allowed to sit in the same classroom. Time to get rid of these neanderthals?

Afghan Maihan | 9 years ago | Reply @ Pakistani Why would they belong in Afghanistan? Deobandis and Barelvis are part and parcel of the subcontinent and the foundation of Pakistan revolves around Islam. Afghanistan was always a secular nation during the monarchy and afterwards. The word Islam was never part of the Republic of Afghanistan until the mujahidin took over. Get your facts straight and stop being prejudiced towards Pashtuns because Shirani is a Pashtun. Would you have said that if he was Punjabi or from anotner ethnic group.

Iron hand | 9 years ago | Reply @iqbal: Why do you feel compelled to force your religious beliefs on others? If people want more Islam in their lives, great. If they want less Islam, great. If they want no Islam, great. It's up to the individual, not society, to determine a person's religiosity. This is the essence of modernity and enlightenment. If you believe in judgment day, then you must believe that God will sort it all out in the end. he doesn't need your help and it's not your affair.

Np | 9 years ago | Reply @iqbal: unsure why you dragged on Hindu in this discussion. @SeriousIssue Your country does not even have resources to school all students. Now if it has to double the number of schools in every village one each for girls and boys does it have the resources? No. So the present cord school will be made into a boys school and girls will not have a school to go to,

Arif Mahmud | 9 years ago | Reply I think the CII should should recommend to Government to carry out immediate research on how the women gender, responsible for all ills, can be abolished once and for all.

Abdul Wadood | 9 years ago | Reply Cannot agree more, well done CII, no matter how weird it may sound, God's version is definitely going to be better than the man-made one, because He has created you hasn't he? and regarding covering up, what a balanced judgment here too! Kudos!

iQ | 9 years ago | Reply Segregation will definitely improve one thing, a research in the west has found: GRADES on Mark-sheets of boys. Due to, comparatively shorter attention-span, boys get really distracted & disturbed by presence of females nearby, specially when they need concentration. While most overcome the distraction, over the years, many can't. Sometimes it's too late to overcome. The current low grades among boys could also be the result of Co-Ed. For an example check recent grades of boys in co-Ed versus all-boys school.

buoy | 9 years ago | Reply They are encouraging to flourish the gay agenda in pakistan ,there is absolutely nothing wrong with studying with women,it makes you a better person,gives you a better personality and certainly prevents you from doing shitty things theses ignorant mullahs encourage(like taliban) mind you this same CII said that dna test is no proof of rape..

Rational | 9 years ago | Reply What??????? Abolish this CII as soon as possible. Useless advice.

iqbal | 9 years ago | Reply for those who are affected by west and hindu culture and media etc...its ideal recommendations by cii. we desperately need islam in our life in true sense..those people commenting harshly agnst cii dont know Kalma tayyaba how to recite (the base of islam) but being like professors here...read about think of the day of judgement this life is not for ever..

Uzair | 9 years ago | Reply Why segregation only in education? I suggest a separate country for women, take care of the problem at the root.

fact is fact | 9 years ago | Reply @WomenEmpowerment: How lame is your argument. Its like an ostrich which puts its head into the ground considering that the problem will fade away. How can a girl be more independent when she doesn't know the psychology of men in the world. They need to face them and then they will be more confident to handle the problems. Most of the girls who get molested or sadly, raped are the one's who are either from villages or the one's who have not been in contact with men and therefore are afraid to talk to them. That fear of how are they going to talk to men gives those sick men more strength to do such heinous crimes. Women empowerment (as your name suggest) will only come when women will get power of what they want to do, not from MEN from CII. I think CII ppl should get a chance to go to co-ed schools and then they will see that.

Mamu | 9 years ago | Reply Support the CII 100%. Harassment cases will go down considerably.

50-50 | 9 years ago | Reply @Mudassir: When ever some one point finger to women, peoples like you comments like you said. It doesn't mean that men are allowed to do what ever he want to do. There should be a balance between men and women, neither men superior nor women. The thing we need to understand is that there are some areas where men are superior over women and the same is applicable to women.

Babs | 9 years ago | Reply @Xubi: There is nothing wrong but CII is talking about ending co-education totally which is not right. It should be a matter of choice, if a family feels they want to send their child to an all girl or all boys school so be it but if someone prefers the co-education system, he can send his or her children there. Accepting diversity will be the key to success for our country.

kk | 9 years ago | Reply Gud job CII

SuperbMan | 9 years ago | Reply I am a Man and I totally oppose this,, Co places like Schools colleges universities other Workplaces save lot of money of mine, Due to interaction what you can do by offering one burger and biryani Plate you have to spend 1000s otherwise....

SeriousIssue | 9 years ago | Reply @Yamuri: @Pakistani: @Umar: What is issue with you, Women need education not co-education, Ohhh I got why are you worried what will happen to those who are neither man and nor women..

abc | 9 years ago | Reply Irrespective of the background and association of the CII, I agree with their recommendation. I believe that mixed education bring more harms to girls than it can benefit them. Please don't compare majority of the Pakistani society with the west and other neighbouring countries.

WomenEmpowerment | 9 years ago | Reply I totally agree with CII, We need women empowerment not always dependant on man, As long as dependant on man she will be exploited like Dr.Shoaib case... Women should have seperate collages, separate universities. Seperate workplace, Zero interaction and dependance on man will give them the real freedom and no devilian type man can exploit them...

Xubi | 9 years ago | Reply We all know that their are some side effects of Co-Education which only effects women. Now all of you who are commenting against this act tell me, whats wrong in it if men and women study in separate colleges??? please give some logical reasons not just emotional comments

Yamuri | 9 years ago | Reply Some one please check knowledge and qualifications.of these non sense mullahs. They have no agenda other than keeping their accounts full and manipulative influence over ignorants.

Yasir | 9 years ago | Reply How does implementation of Urdu and other regional languages are related to religion and CII I remember as a Kid, we were taught Sindhi till 9th standard and it was a mess to learn Urdu, English, Arabic and Sindhi simultaneously (end up learning nothing with perfection). The funniest part was to see fellow Pathan students struggling with Sindhi. Fun days:(

Mudassir | 9 years ago | Reply It recommended women “cover up their body parts to avoid threats or mischief”. Huh, why don't you ask men to be respectful to women and let them live their live at the fullest. I don't understand why all rules are made for women..

Pakistani | 9 years ago | Reply the CII should be abolished as soon as possible or sent on permanent holiday to afghanistan, where they belong

Karachiite | 9 years ago | Reply not gonna happen, this is the 21st century not the 12th.......

Umar | 9 years ago | Reply You know what should be abolished at the earliest ? This CII

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