Religious Minorities and the struggle for equal education in Pakistan
- Mahnoor Rahman 24020134
- Nov 24, 2023
- 3 min read
Religious discrimination has been a primary concern for Pakistan since the independence era. Even though it was initially planned to incorporate diverse religious groups and ethnicities in the educational curriculum. However, by 1959, the leaders of the country had decided to intentionally create the principles of the educational policies on Islam, resulting in excluding all other religions of the minorities like Hinduism and Christianity.
Furthermore, the students and teachers of the minority groups are severely discriminated against due to their faith, which inevitably doesn’t just pose a threat to their lives but also impacts their opportunities and struggle for equal education in Pakistan. A Christian teacher shared her experience in a government-run school in an article where she stated that her Muslim colleagues in school would not associate with her as it was against their faith to sit with a Christian. Along with that she would be constantly judged and become an instant suspect in any violent activity taking place in school. This resulted in her sending her daughter to a Christian-run school where she would not face the same kind of discrimination and hence deprive her of living a normal life with the same opportunities as a Muslim child in this country.
A survey was conducted based on a sample of 200 non-Muslim children and 40 teachers. Its findings showed that 60% of those students felt disrespected and discriminated against at school amongst their Muslim peers and students, with 72% of teachers facing the same discrimination based on their faith.
Moreover, there is extreme religious intolerance by Muslim teachers and staff of schools towards their minority students. These children are often picked on negatively and face discriminatory attitudes from the teachers which results in creating an unequal divide and stereotypes in the education system. There have also been incidents where these children are denied admission purely based on their faith, snatching their rights as a citizen of Pakistan to have access to education. A large proportion of these children are girls who become victims of child marriage after forced conversions to Islam.
In addition to all these atrocities, the Pakistani textbooks and curriculum have also played a role in furthering the discrimination against religious minorities. In these textbooks, there is no mention of the role non-Muslims played in the creation and formation of Pakistan which causes the minority students to feel excluded from their nationality. The chairperson for the voluntary association People’s Commission for Minorities Rights, Peter Jacob, stated “Not only do you have one religion compulsory for all students to learn, you receive extra marks on the basis of the ability to memorize passages from the Quran.” This further portrays those other faiths as having lesser importance than Islam and eventually creates intolerance towards other faiths.
A quote from a tenth-grade Urdu textbook states, “Because the Muslim religion, culture and social system are different from non-Muslims, it is impossible to cooperate with Hindus.”
Another quote from a seventh-grade Urdu textbook of the Sindh Board states, “There were two enemies of Muslims, the Englishmen and Hindus. Both of these were against the formation of Pakistan. On one hand, the Englishmen renounced the division plan of Hindustan, while on the other hand, Hindus were planning to occupy the entire Hindustan and enslave Muslims….”
This evidently shows that the Pakistan textbooks are primarily promoting intolerance towards religious minorities and impacting the educational opportunities for the teachers and students of minority groups.
Have you ever come across any stories or examples where minorities are discriminated against? What is your stance on all this?