POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE: LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND THE POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN

By

TARIQ RAHMAN Ph. D

DISTINGUISHED NATIONAL PROFESSOR

QUAID-I-AZAM UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

e.mail= drt_rahman@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE: LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND THE POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN

Language policy and education are subordinated to the class interests of the urban, professional, English-using elite in Pakistan. This elite has been using increasingly ideological contents—mainly nationalism sacralized in the name of religion—in textbooks all over the country. This ideologically inspired citizenry is expected to support political policies like creating a privileged and powerful army and pursuing an aggressive policy vis a vis India.

Elitist education, which is a money-making concern, is in the hands of private entrepreneurs and the armed forces. This leads to ‘ghettoization’—polarization of students according to socio-economic class—which is spreading from the school to the university level. These policies create anger and may lead to violence which may be expressed in the idiom of Islam in the country.