THERE are increasing calls to change the curriculum taught at madressahs across the country to include English, mathematics and the sciences. My own research, as well as that of others, on madressah education shows that the present curriculum is indeed problematic and may not even satisfy the limited aim of preparing scholars and teachers of Islam.

The current madressah curriculum and the psychology of its teaching have played a major role in creating an environment that encourages hostile or negative attitudes between different sects of Islamic thought and those who are secular in thinking.

Mathematics and the sciences draw on inductive logic and thinking, which analyses lots of evidence and seeks a way forward that can make rules to explain what is observed or known. These rules are then applied by deductive logic to make decisions on what to do, on the path to follow. These subjects are best taught by getting students to pass through the two stages of logic: that is why practical experiments, demonstrations and concrete models are employed. The consequence of using deductive logic alone is almost always learning by rote, which means learning without meaning.

Career opportunities after a madressah education are limited.

Does this sound familiar?

Madressah teachers and students do not go through the inductive thinking stage and move immediately to the deductive rules of the Quran. This means madressah students are not required to think for themselves, and their schooling means there is no place for creativity. Madressahs represent orthodoxy and teach with an unscientific curriculum. I collected several madressah students’ opinions regarding the system of education they are experiencing, and their opinions on the teaching of science and mathematics. Some students showed great interest in these subjects. They reported that there was a lack of science education in their institutions; many complained that they were not taught science in any meaningful depth, and that experiments could not be conducted due to the lack of funding.

A female student from the Barelvi sect told me, “I would like to read science and conduct experiments [in this regard] at my madressah; I love to explore the concepts of science. I’m fed up reading dry subjects like logic and philosophy because they have no practical work.”

According to the students interviewed, current curriculum content in their madressahs is monotonous and non-conducive to a flourishing social environment. They said, “We spend all the time in the madressah cramming the concepts of the lesson.” Female students complained that there was a lack of non-curricular activities. Madressah students also criticised the tough nature of the Dars-i-Nizami curriculum, especially pointing towards philosophy and logic components.

Career opportunities after a madressah education are severely limited. A male student from the Barelvi sect said, “We don’t have another option except to become teachers of religion in schools or madressahs, or Islamic scholars.”

Female students also talked about their emancipation and the right to be recognised in society in the same way as males are. One female from the Ahle Hadith sect said, “I’d like to read about business and its practical application. I could earn more as compared to becoming a teacher of religion. I want to read something interesting and useful for my future.”

While conducting research, I observed that madressah students come from a low socio-economic status and tend to come from large families with five to nine siblings. Some students reported that their parents could not afford fees, so they could not later go on to colleges and universities, even if they were able to overcome their own weak academic calibre.

It is too big an initial step to get all madressahs in Pakistan to teach mathematics and the sciences app­­­­ropriately, with consistency; even government schools are sadly lacking in this regard. My interviews of scholars who either administer individual mad­r­e­­s­sahs or are inv­ol­ved in their running show that, broadly, government funding for teachers’ salaries would be supported if the curriculum were to be expanded. Although a few madressahs do attempt to teach an expanded curriculum, including the sciences, the quality of teaching is poor and there is superficial coverage of content. Yet there is a strong, but not unanimous, feeling that there should be no government “interference” in curriculum matters.

This makes government involvement problematic. A solution might well involve a voluntary association of a localised group of madressahs under enlightened scholars. This group would collaborate in a development programme concentrating on curricular expansion and teacher training. Funding for a specific period might be sought from outside Pakistan. Successful completion of the programme would provide a model for future government involvement in more extensive adoption. Such an approach would acknowledge the impracticability of government-enforced change on an unwilling audience. It also raises the intriguing prospect of madressahs leading in curriculum innovation.

The writer is an assistant professor at University of Education, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

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