Do we need a Tehreek-e-Aligarh 2.0 now?

It was the year 1859 and the War of Independence had just ended. Since Muslims were in a position of power before the British took over, they were already being seen with deep suspicion. And now they were being blamed fairly and squarely for initiating the revolt as well. They were virtually down and out, and were being marginalised in every sphere of life.

Earlier in 1836, English had been declared the official language in place of Persian, a step that had virtually turned the Muslims illiterate overnight. Muslims did have their madrassas but those institutions had become largely irrelevant as they imparted religious education only. Worse still, Muslims were averse to learning modern disciplines such as science and mathematics. Hindus, on the other hand, were quick to catch up and were acquiring modern education and, as a result, increasingly entering into the service of the British. Muslims lagged behind on the latter account too.

Bengal, for example, was a Muslim majority province, yet the share of Muslims in the higher government services as late as the 1870s was hardly 10 per cent as compared to 89 per cent for Hindus. Quite understandably, Muslims were thus wary of the ‘Christian’ British and the Hindus alike. In other words, the rift between religions, at least from the perspective of Muslims, was widening with every passing day. Muslim societies were suffering from moral and ethical degradation as well. In short, Muslims were groping in the dark and there seemed no light at the end of the tunnel.

The situation back in the mid-19th century might have been much grim yet quite ripe for the rise of a reformer. Enter Sir Syed Ahmed Khan – an educationist-reformer. He attended to the moralities part first and started publishing ‘Tehzib-ul-Ikhlaq’, a magazine meant for improving the moral values of the Muslims.

Establishing the Scientific Society in 1870 was a step towards equipping Muslims with knowledge of modern subjects. Setting up the MAO College at Aligarh in 1876 was an endeavour aimed at opening the doors of higher education on Muslims. It later became a cradle of future leadership of Muslims. So much so that even the Muslim League was founded during the annual meeting of the Muhammad Educational Conference at Aligarh in 1906. The entire effort eventually culminated into the creation of Pakistan — the land of the pure.

All of the above happened — rather in a miraculous manner — because the person of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had been able to diagnose the ills afflicting the Muslims of the Subcontinent correctly. He had then gone on to provide the requisite remedy — education. However, the job had been half done only. Pakistan had come into being but more than 77 years down the lane had failed to take the shape and form Sir Syed and his associates — and those who came after them — had aspired for.

Among other fronts, the country is failing in education too in a big way yet again. Today Pakistan houses the largest number of out-of-school children in the entire world – 226 million to be more specific. Those in school are not learning either. The padlocks on science laboratories in public as well as private schools across the country are catching rust and dust. No wonder we are the fifth largest nation on earth but hardly any recent invention or discovery or theory can be attributed to us.

Madrassas might be mushrooming but, instead of producing quality human resources, their product, in most of the cases, becomes a liability on society. Interfaith harmony — if ever it existed — is on its lowest ebb, and vigilantes are out there to lynch anyone or everyone to death on dubious grounds. As regards the general moralities of society, the less said the better.

Still worse is the fact that there is no realisation of the underlying reasons of the present predicament anywhere. Lip service aside, education does not fare anywhere on the priority list of those at the helms of affairs. We spend around 1.0 per cent of our GDP on education whereas the global average stands at approximately 4.0 per cent.

Also gone are the days when we were compared with countries like Korea, Malaysia, Singapore — the so-called Asian Tigers — or with those in our neighbourhood such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Quite sadly, while drawing comparisons, Pakistan today is bracketed with other poorly performing countries of Central Africa. The situation could not be worse.

For the abyss we have fallen in, we are unfortunately trying to find solutions in economics or at best in politics, not realising that the only thing which could lift us up, and that too in the long run, is education. The sooner we realise this, and take remedial measures, the better. In fact, nothing less than a movement would do. The whole nation needs to be mobilised.

We need to make our general public realise that education and only education can make Pakistan a better place to live in — for them and their generations to come. They, in turn, can then impress upon the political leadership, and those who wield power behind the scenes, to make education their top priority. Civil society organisations and the media, in its all forms and manifestations, shall become their mouthpieces and build the requisite pressure.

A charter of education spanning over at least the next 10 years needs to be devised and all parties across the political divide should become signatories to it. The necessary funds, and other resources, should be allocated accordingly. The aim should be to not only take all our children to the schools in a decade but also, at the same time, undertake all other measures to improve the quality of education our institutions impart.

Equal emphasis, if not more, should be laid on imparting ethics, morality and also need to be employed to derive necessary benefits from them as well. In short, let’s all put our act together and unleash Tehreek-e-Aligarh 2.0. Remember, from the first one was born the Tehreek-e-Pakistan; from the second one, we wish to see the genesis of Tameer-e-Pakistan.