Madrassas in Pakistan have historically managed to construct a position of sanctity for themselves in society aided by state and its various institutions. Madrassas are in fact one of the biggest unregulated sectors in Pakistan -- there are over 25,000 registered Madrassas.

From the 1980s, these institutions had been used to provide expendable warriors for use in the Afghan war against the Soviets and then in Kashmir. These Madrassas were given the opportunity to breed in a fertile atmosphere of sectarianism which expressed itself in hatred against other religions and even different sects of Islam.

Although the government-sponsored radicalisation tapered off after 9/11, putting the genie back in the bottle has proved difficult. Hundreds of Madrassas now generate militancy mostly directed against the Pakistan Army, security apparatus and ordinary citizens. Where the US foreign policy is blamed for creating these Jihadis to fight the soviets, a more cynical explanation can be Pakistani state’s desire to use them in Kashmir. This policy not only backfired but has landed Pakistan in a whirlwind of terror.

Religious seminaries are not politically significant due to the number of jihadis they produce. Their real significance lies in the reality of their being central to the production of ideology that feeds the jihadis, even if these jihadis are educated in public schools and universities. The Madrassa denotes an essential power base that contributes to the formation of specific ideology and the sustained propagation of a narrative which in turn feeds both radicalism and militancy in Pakistan.

Madrassas are where ideological indoctrination rejecting all opposing ideas is born. Sectarian violence, therefore, is one by-product of this manufacture of ideology and indoctrination. They are an instrument for the ghettoization of Islam to build a power centre within society which can challenge the legitimacy of the state or other competing social stakeholders. Intra-society competition is normal except that in this case one group claims to have divine sanction. The issue here is not of militancy but the legitimacy of radicalism through institutional means. Madrassas cannot be seen individually but as a network used for ideological transmission.

However, there is a human element to this catastrophe of epic proportions. An overwhelming majority of Madrassa students belong to the bottom end of the economic and social ladder in Pakistan. The only way of redemption for them from poverty and suffering is by attaining free education, food and shelter they receive at these seminaries. Naturally, these children become the victim of irrationality and pseudo-scientific nonsense. The state has ignored the plight of millions leaving them hostage to fundamentalists sponsored by foreign countries. Consequently, the Madrassa students have lost the respect for and fear of the state and resorted to violence in its worst form.

Madrassa graduates can become Maulvis and Qazis but not engineers, scientists or doctors. The state now views the Madrassa system entirely through security lens. Thereby it abandons millions of children, as if creating a future based on modern education seems to be an impossible task.

In an analysis of the suicide bombers striking Punjab, the Punjab police said more than two-thirds had attended Madrassas. Nevertheless, a state denial had persisted and the public was largely inclined towards seeing Madrassas as peaceful institutions.

Attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 forced Pakistan to put its acts together and forge the National Action Plan (NAP). This plan, inter alia, included insistence upon Madrassa reform as a means of controlling religious extremism. Hitherto unregistered Madrassas were to be registered, hate speech and militant activities stopped, and funding sources uncovered. Even if by some miracle the NAP’s idea of reform could be implemented, it would scarcely change the worldview that makes militancy attractive.

Living in a primitive world where he is cut off from modern thought and almost all sources of authentic information, a seminary student can be made to believe anything. Unless horizons are broadened by including secular subjects, the seminaries will remain a perennial danger to state and society.

Paradoxically across the border the BJP’s approach to the system of religious education seems to be more enlightened. Recently, Maharashtra state government in India legislated for the inclusion of primary subjects like English and Math in addition to traditional religious teaching with a view to make them eligible for state grants.

Although under pressure because of the NAP, heads of seminaries have refused to discuss their funding sources or show accounts to the government. One of the reasons can be that if the process goes on smoothly, a large number of unregistered seminaries may come under spotlight.

Curriculum reform may, therefore, appear difficult. But in fact, unexploited opportunities are available to the authorities. Difficult or not, ultimately there is no alternative for the Pakistani state but to bring Madrassa and mosque under its control. Mere policing will not do. Instead, the content of instruction must be shifted away from a paranoid and blinkered vision towards an inclusive and reasoned one. Therefore, reform must be done incrementally and carefully, and without provoking a massive backlash. But it has to be done.

Dismal state of education spending in Pakistan was highlighted in the UNESCO report in 2012, stating that Pakistan was spending 2.5 per cent of its GDP on education which is one of the lowest in the world. Is the government of Pakistan refusing to invest in educational infrastructure especially the Madrassa system because it believes it to be a futile endeavour?

Meager spending on education is in fact not only a result of extremely flawed notion but also a reflection of class bias embedded in the state structure. The state simply refuses to take the responsibility of educating the poor who have no option but to send their children to religious seminaries. When such children come out of seminaries, they wage war against the educational institutions, public and private, that impart education which is erroneously considered against Islam.

Pakistan routinely witnesses war against education as terrorists keep targeting schools, colleges and universities. And it is not incidental but rather an important element of extremist strategy that rejects all forms of contemporary learning and teaching. These extremists have solid backing of some segments of civil society and elusive or invisible forces entrenched in the prevalent system. Now the issue is whether we intend to have a schooled or school-less Pakistan?

Though National Action Plan has achieved certain strategic goals, we see little change in Madrassa education and the ideology it inculcates in the mind of the young people.