Of Winners and Losers - Education

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I don't suppose Madonna realized the philosophical food for thought she was providing when she sang this lyric. But dogmatic assertions aside, this pop-star's quote is perhaps one to seriously reflect upon because even the best of our decisions may come around to bite us when we least expect them to. One of them, I fear, could be the latest deal of the Pakistani government to enforce Sharia Law in Swat in order to gain ceasefire with the Taliban - a conflict that has grown to alarmingly huge proportions. The ceasefire is a short-term victory our backslapping government may seem to be celebrating, but what are the long-term repercussions of such a decision, on the people in Swat and those who live elsewhere in the country? Could it be that the government may very well be taking us to a living hell in the coming years with the best of intentions at heart?

I do not claim to be an analyst or a specialist in sociology or politics but I do like to think my brain does not raise a false alarm just to see how I'd react. A previously silent observer to history, I feel it is about time I raise my voice, however tiny it may be compared to the din the media, the government, the lawyers, the pressure groups, and the international community creates together. One should try, though, in the hope that it may be the starting point of some serious reflections later on.

In the 60-year history of the country that calls itself Pakistan, I don't think the female gender here has ever asked themselves, 'what is a Pakistani woman?'

Now I know there may be a lot of exclaiming that would go on about this subject. The women's rights activists would scream that a Pakistani woman is a free woman, who deserves equal rights as men - but one who is undermined in every field of life. The traditionalists would argue that a Pakistani woman is the girl you find at home, serving your family - be it your wife, sister or daughter. Or even a servant girl, because that's who you tend to find doing all the domestic chores in majority households.

But a Pakistani woman lacks a definition. Is she the woman who struts about a ramp on these fashion channels that have sprung up since the media realized its right of freedom? Or is she the 9 to 5 super-mom who gets home just in time to prepare a fresh meal for her husband and children and still manage to look young and energetic next morning? Or is a Pakistani woman one who feeds at least 6 mouths a day, not counting herself, after getting a beating from her husband who blames her for the poverty they live in? Or perhaps a Pakistani woman is one whose honor is jealously guarded by the feudal lords who boast of their ladies and their sophistication while they live like queens and yet not in their guarded fortresses. Maybe a Pakistani woman is one who can host a lavish dinner party, smiles as she greets her bureaucrat husband's guests and poses for Good Times' photographers. You don't know. And you can't say what a Pakistani woman is. Even a Pakistani woman herself won't be able to tell you.

It is not anyone's fault by any standards, this serious lack of definition. Pakistan itself is such a diverse country and a woman from the north will be a stark opposite of the woman in the south. Definitions and the role women play in the various strata of the society are largely determined by the geographical location of the woman. A women hailing from Karachi, an industrialist, fast-paced city of Pakistan, would be supporting western attire and a carefree attitude to boot. The same woman would scandalize a girl one would find in Multan, a pre-dominantly feudal city where early marriages are common and the women observe purdah, if only it is just in name only. Coming from Multan myself, I was scandalized by the women of Lahore, a city only 5 hours away from my hometown. Lahore, too, boasts of its 'modern', 'liberal' inclinations and so does Islamabad but there's has been a gradual transition and one can still catch a glimpse of the remnants of the traditional Lahore and Islamabad. But the women from the areas of Balochistan and NWFP are a different case altogether. Other than a very small minority, these areas tell the story of women living in deplorable conditions, socially and physically and they never seem to realize it. At the risk of sounding like a women's rights activist, the women in those areas are suppressed and are subject to the whim of the man who can declare any punishment for the woman at any given time, for any petty crime.

One of such crimes in the recent times has been the nerve of the little 8-year-old little girls who were sent to school. And because our Taliban brothers are the sole interpreters of Islam, they decided that 'Western' education is detrimental to the survival of a normally functioning family unit, for the little girl would have broadened horizons and would then start to view the world differently than before. Which, of course, means that the carefully constructed society the tribal warlords have built over the many years the Taliban were given free reign would be at a serious risk. For who wants little girls running away from home after they took 7th grade geography classes?

I'm not a liberal thinker as these Lahoris define liberalism but I like to believe that I am quite a rational one when the time calls for such thinking. I have been one of the lucky women in Pakistan who received the best education the country could offer, with all the elitist schools and colleges. The curriculum taught in Pakistani schools differs greatly because of the huge gap of quality of the education between public and private schools. The private schools choose the books published under the Oxford University Press while the books the children in public schools study are the one approved by the ministry of education of the current ruling government. This means that these books are the weapons of propaganda for the ruling regime and offer less education than brainwashing. The fundamental opposition of the Taliban to the education of girls is the education that has become the new world order is 'western', teaches 'western values' and annihilates one from the Islamic c ulture one really belongs to. While I cannot dispute this argument completely, what comes to mind is the primary level education that I studied at school. What was taught to my generation was history, geography, science and social studies. These were just plain facts about the world with no particular bias towards a country or culture. In fact, in social studies, we were basically taught the culture of Pakistan and the naive ones from our generation, including myself, still cling to that belief that something like 'Pakistani culture' still exists. Other than the facts of history of civilizations, the map of the world, Newton's laws and the atom theory, I do not recall being brainwashed towards the Western society, as the Taliban claim. On the contrary, we were taught the principles of Islam in Islamic Studies and these were drummed into our brains so much so that I still fear alcohol as though it is the wrath of God. So, if this type of education is standardized at a nationa l level, including Swat, how does it corrupt the generations of little girls being deprived from education? I'm sure our leaders were not particularly thinking of the burnt down schools and the children not being sent to school when they agreed to the Sharia Law. Nowhere does the Sharia Law state that girls should not be educated. And if these girls are to be taught at madressahs, Arabic instead of English, does this mean the girls will not know what the word 'equator' means? Will the only education they will receive is the Hadith and Islamic history, most of which I'm sure will be poisoned against the Shi'ite sect (because we all agree that the Taliban residing in Swat are mostly followers of the Sunni school of thought)? Isn't such a biased education the preparing ground for female suicide bombers, who, I'm sure, will be sent to bomb the rest of the Pakistani women who dared to study something else? And who is to interpret the Sharia law in the first place? The Taliban mul lahs, the moderate mullahs, or the Pakistani government itself? Sharia law itself has such a vast interpretation that it would take a long time just to decide how to implement it in this day and age.

Instead of having two different education systems being taught in the country, the simplest proposition that can be put to the table is a standardized educational system, approved by the ministry of education and if the mullahs feel affronted at this lack of participation, why not invite some religious leaders to overlook the curriculum being taught at all levels in the country and see where the bias exists?

A Pakistani woman lacks definition in terms of cultural diversity, geographical location, and family backgrounds. And if the mullahs are allowed to have their way with the law, soon a Pakistani woman will lack definition in terms of educational backgrounds as well, with one half of the female population Ivy League graduates and the other half planning to bomb them out because they themselves were shown a very restricted view of the world and never having the opportunity to make up their minds for themselves because in this world, the actions never represent the intentions.

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