SCHOOLING FOR THE HAVE-NOTS: THE URDU-MEDIUM SCHOOLS OF PAKISTAN

By

Tariq Rahman Ph. D

Professor and Director, Chair on Quaid-i-Azam

and Freedom Movement

National Institute of Pakistan Studies

Quaid-i-Azam University

Islamabad

SCHOOLING FOR THE HAVE-NOTS: THE URDU-MEDIUM SCHOOLS OF PAKISTAN

1. Introduction

The Urdu-medium schools constitute the bulk of the state-controlled public schools in Pakistan. They are in Karachi, parts of Hyderabad, Baluchistan N.W.F.P, Azad Kashmir and, above all, Punjab, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. As for the other vernacular-medium schools, the Pashto-medium ones are only upto class-5, after which students go to Urdu-medium schools. The Sindhi-medium schools operate only in parts of Sindh. Thus the most representative of the schools for the ordinary people are the Urdu-medium ones. These, therefore, are the ones which are the focus of this article. The number of all government schools is given as follows in the Economic Survey of Pakistan (GOP 2002).

Box 1
Level	Number	Student Strength	Teachers
Primary	170,000	20,000,000	335,100
Middle	19,100	3,988,000	101,200
Secondary	12,900	1,704,000	165,000
Source GOP 2003 : 105-106 for middle and secondary figures which are from 2002. The figures for primary education are on p. 159.

These numbers include Sindhi-medium government schools also. The number of these, however, was 36,750 in 1998. The Pashto-medium primary schools were 10,731 in 1999 (field research). Thus, most of the schools for ordinary people in Pakistan are Urdu-medium ones.

2. Socio-Economic Class and Schooling

According to the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey [PIHS] (2001-2002) the net enrollment rate --- the number of students enrolled in primary schools divided by the total number of children in that age group---is 42 percent (PIHS). What is even more alarming is that the poorer one is, the less chances there are for him or her to obtain any education at all. The poorest people, described as the 1st quintile in the PIHS, manage to send 27 per cent children to school while the richest, called the 5th quintile, send 56 per cent of them (PIHS 2002-2037)¹. Moreover, households spend Rs. 1,443 a year on a primary school student while those sending a child to a private school spend four times more (Ibid: Table 2.21 and p. 14). This expenditure includes uniform, books, stationery and transport. The expensive elitist English-medium schools, which are only a small percentage of the 38,893 private schools surveyed by the Ministry of Education in 2000 (Census Private 2001: Table 1, p. 12), charge tuition and admission fees between Rs. 18,000 to 50,000 per year. If one adds the expenditure on books, stationery, uniform, transport and other things the expenditure will mount to much higher figures.

This indicates that the Pakistani educational scene is polarized according to socio-economic class. As one indicator of the cost of schooling is the medium of instruction it may be said that the vernacular-medium schools (Urdu, Sindhi and Pashto-medium) are meant for the working classes and the lower middle classes. The English-medium schools are meant for the middle and upper classes. This distinction is well known and the proposals for the educational policy of 1969, associated with Air Marshal Nur Khan, stated categorically that there was ‘almost a caste-like distinction between these who feel at ease in expressing themselves in English and those who do not’ (GOP 1969: 14).

This chapter is about one caste---that which studies in the Urdu-medium schools---of our system of educational apartheid.

These students and teachers both come from the lower-middle class. In a small survey of 230 students and 100 teachers of Urdu-medium schools undertaken in December 2002 and January 2003, it was discovered that they belonged to low income groups. They were reluctant to reveal their families’ income because of the social stigma of poverty so that 95 (41.30 per cent) did not write their father’s income. As for mothers, most of them did not have paid employment so that 220 (95.65 per cent) did not write their income. Out of those who did, most (60.74%) belonged to the poorer classes (working and lower middle classes) The teachers of these schools also belong to the same class or to the to the lower middle class (65.96%) (Annexure-1.

3. Life in the School

After ten years of schooling students sit for examinations held by the different Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education in the country. The teaching and the examinations are both in Urdu except in parts of (mostly rural) Sindh where they are in Sindhi.

Schools are not accessible to all children and even where they do exist, attending them daily requires considerable time, energy and money. According to the PIHS (2002) most children travel less than 2 kms and very few travel more than 5 kms to their schools. However, girls do have to travel long distances in Balochistan and Sindh which is difficult and unsafe for them.

Schools are very dull and stringent places, often painted blue, and with broken glass panes. They are highly regimented with semi-educated teachers forcing their pupils to memorize passages out of badly written, badly printed and extremely dull books. Classrooms are overcrowded with 41 girls and 38 boys per teacher in the primary schools of all provinces except Balochistan. In Balochinstan, the most deprived province of all, there are 48 girls per teacher (PIHS 2002).

After ten years of schooling students sit for examinations held by the different Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education. Most of the examination papers are in Urdu (except in Sindh where they are in Sindhi) and English is like a sieve which separates the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats’.

4. Influences of Textbooks on Urdu-medium School Students

Textbooks are one out of many influences on a person’s worldview. How significant the influence may be depends on many variables---teachers, peer group pressure, family and friends, childhood experiences, exposure to discourses other than textbooks---and cannot be easily determined. What can be determined, however, is the intention of the writers of textbooks; the policy guidelines of those who get the textbooks written; and the values which the educational authorities responsible for writing and disseminating textbooks in educational systems support.

In general these values belong to the ‘in-group’ i.e. they are values and perceptions which support one’s own group: nation, ethnic group, religious group, ideological group etc. This necessitates the creation of an ‘out-group’ or ‘Other’ which must be held in opposition to the self. The ‘Other’ is generally created on the basis of selective data and in this process of creation it is transformed. It may either be romanticized or demonized. Edward Said in his book Orientalism (1978) tells us how the European scholars of the Orient created an image of the ‘Other’ which made it the ‘Other’ of the Occident. Said further postulates that this justified the conquest of the Orient in order to ‘civilize’ it.

Most of the 25,995,068 (GOP 2002: 146) students, being from Urdu-medium schools, study the textbooks provided by the Textbook Boards of the provinces (Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan) which constitute Pakistan. Ethnicity is denied so as to create a Pakistani identity although these centrist policies have been resented by ethnic communities and have resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 but still the textbooks reinforce them (for ethnic politics see Amin 1988; Rahman 1996 and Ahmed 1998). There is also much glorification of war and the military and many anti-Hindu and anti-India remarks and together bias interspersed throughout the books (for detailed analysis see Aziz 1993; Hoodbhoy and Nayyar 1985; Saigol 1995; and Rahman 2002: 515-524. For a comparison between the history textbooks of India and Pakistan see Kumar 2001).

In a previous study of 1999 of all language and literature Textbook Board books from class-1 to class-10 the present author counted ideology-carrying items. They were divided under three main heads: Pakistani nationalism, Islam and the military. Under the first heading were all items---prose lessons, poems, exercises etc ---about the Pakistan movement, nationalist heroes, messages on national integration, Pakistani identity, ideology of Pakistan etc. Under the second were items relating to religious personages, beliefs and movements. Under the last were articles about war, Pakistan’s wars with India, war heroes, glorification of the military etc. The following chart gives the consolidated data for the textbooks of different languages:

Box 2
Language-wise Ideological Contents of Language Textbooks Expressed as percentages of Total items (i.e. poems, prose Pisces, exercises etc)
Language	Content (in percentages)
Arabic	66
Urdu	40
Pashto	43

Persian	32
Sindhi	29
English	8
Source: Physical counting of all items in the textbooks of all provinces in 1998. For details see Rahman (2002) pp. 519-522

As Arabic, Pashto and Persian are optional languages and Sindhi is studied only in Sindh, Urdu emerges as the main ideology-carrying language. It influences all, except madrassa students, as even English-medium school students have to study this language. However, as English-medium students are exposed to other discourses which probably dilute the influence of the state-sponsored ideological texts, it is only the Urdu-medium ones (i.e. the common people of Pakistan) who feel the full brunt of this ideological exposure.

It should be added that lessons are taught through rote learning in crammed classes where the teacher is authoritative and, indeed, very intimidating. The teacher often makes a child recite the lesson in a sing-song voice (ek dooni dooni; do dooni char) and the class joins in the chorus. Children rock their bodies as they chant the familiar parroted formulas. Nor does this happen in arithmetical tables only---of which the above is an example---but, indeed, it is the major method of instruction. Essays in languages are written on the black board to be copied verbatim. Any originality, any questioning of given facts, any deviation from the traditional interpretation is frowned upon and sometimes punished. Actually, what will become clear later in the context of madrassa education, the Urdu-medium schools continue the tradition of the madrassa which functioned in a society in transition from orality to literacy (hence the use of mnemonic devices, repetition, chorus etc) and one which had to conserve the sacred texts and their orthodox interpretations from the irreverent attacks of the heretics (hence the intolerance of questioning and analytical analysis leading to new results).

Hence, while the British implanted modern education in India, it adopted itself to time-honoured cultural norms and became a hybrid between madrassa education and modern education.

5. Funding of Urdu schools

These schools employ matriculates to teach primary classes and those with F.A and B.A degrees to teach middle and high schools classes. The salaries given to the teachers in most schools are as follows:

Box 3
Educational Level	Salary Grade	Average pay & allowances per month.
Matriculation	7	7,578
F.A (CT)	10	8,448
B.A (B. Ed)	16	14,099
Headmaster	17	18,316

The budget of an Urdu-medium Federal Government Model School in Islamabad, even though better paid than its provincial counterparts, had a total budget of Rs 5, 309,000 for 2002-2003. As there were 960 boys in this school, the expenditure per pupil per year is expected to be Rs. 5,530. According to the figures given by the Federal Directorate of Education (Islamabad) the cost per student per year is Rs 4,818 (in 370 schools the enrollment is 160,576 whereas the budget for 2002-03 is 773,641,000). The major heads of expenditure are given in detail in Annexure-7 which indicate that there are some matriculate and intermediate pass teachers on the faculty of even government schools in cities. In the rural areas the number of below-graduate teachers is very high.

The average expenditure per pupil per year in ordinary Urdu-medium government schools can be judged by looking at the schools of the Rawalpindi district in 2003.

Box 4 Cost Per Pupil Per Year in Urdu-Medium Government Schools in 2003 (Rawalpindi District)
	Male	Female	Total
Schools	1,191	1,213	2,404
Enrollment	389,259	170,696	559,955
Teachers	7,236	6,073	13,309
Teachers/student ratio	54 students per teacher	28 per teacher	42 per teacher
Budget			Rs. 1268 million
Cost per pupil per year	-	-	Rs. 2,264.5
Cost to the state (per pupil per year)	-	-	Rs. 2,264.5
Source: Office of the District Executive officer (Education), Rawalpindi.

Recently, because of the dismal state of government schools, philanthropists and social workers have started establishing schools also. There are many examples of such initiatives but only one well known example may be mentioned here. This is the Citizens Foundation which set up its first school in Karachi in 1995. It is a ‘not-for-profot organisation run by businessmen and professional’ which runs ‘76 primary schools, 24 secondary schools, one teacher training unit as well as an information technology institute. With more than 18, 000 children from katchi abadis enrolled at TCF schools in 17 cities, the organisation is clearly bent on making a difference’ (Hussain 2003: 89). While it is true that philanthropists are needed to help the government, the problem is that the government is giving up on education. After all, providing hopelessly inadequate education in government schools, and that too in the urban areas, is tantamount to giving up on good and equal education for all citizens. In these schools the tuition fees is Rs 100 per month which makes them out of the reach of the poorest people anyway. However, the donors pay the rest of the cost per students which comes to Rs. 5000 per year--- like that of the best government schools which are almost free.

6. Conditions in Urdu Schools

The low salaries which these schools offer attract those who fail to get other jobs. Thus the quality of instruction in most schools catering to the common people is very low. The class rooms are bare and in rural areas classes are often held out of doors because of lack of space. There is no heating or air conditioning though, in the cities, the headmaster’s office is sparsely furnished. The teachers, at least in boy’s schools, often carry canes and corporal punishment in given. That is one reason why children tend to drop out of school.

Just as the poorest children have the lowest enrollment in schools, they also tend to drop out more than others. Thus 53 per cent of the poorest quintile dropped out before completing class 6 compared with only 23 per cent of the richest quintile (HID 2002: 15). Parents explain this as lack of motivation as do teachers. This shifts the burden of failure on to the pupil. However, if one considers the extremely harsh conditions at home and the cruel treatment children receive at school, one wonders why more do not drop out.

7. Other Influences on Urdu-Medium Students

Urdu-medium students, being from the upper-working and lower-middle class backgrounds, are less exposed to Western discourses available on cable T.V, English books and in the conversation of peer group members, family and friends who have been abroad. Their families are conservative and religious as Jasmin Mirza, a sociologist working on transformation of norms governing gender-specific behaviour in Lahore, has mentioned in relation to women (Mirza 2002). The Urdu newspapers, which their family reads or hears being read out in the bazaar, are also conservative and religious. Their teachers, being from the same socio-economic class, reinforce the ideas otherwise disseminated by the Urdu press (see the views of teachers given below), the school textbooks, the Pakistani official radio and T.V, the families and the peer group. These ideas---the worldview of the lower middle classes in Pakistan---favour the Islamization of the state though they do not favour rule by the clergy. This is often explained by saying that maulvis are harsh, or corrupt or not aware of modern ideas but that Islam, if implemented in its true spirit by honest and enlightened leaders, can solve all social problems. A corollary of this Islamic outlook is emotionality about religious issues and, hence, intolerance for the religious ‘Other’ i.e. the Hindu, the Ahmedi² and, to a lesser degree, the Christian. Part of this emotion has also been transferred to Pakistani nationalism. Indeed, the use of religious symbolism to sacralize the Pakistan movement, the wars with India and particularly the Kashmir dispute with India has been partly successful though students seem to be aware that an open war with India would be disastrous. Thus teachers, parents and the peer group reinforce chauvinistic views in this socio-economic class in the urban centers of the N.W.F.P, Punjab and to some extent in Karachi.

8. Militancy and Tolerance Among Urdu-Medium School Students and Teachers

In the recent survey of 230 students and 100 teachers of Urdu-medium schools responses to questions about militancy in Kashmir and giving equal rights to Ahmedis (a sect declared as a non-Muslim minority in 1974 in Pakistan), Pakistani Hindus and Christians and women were tabulated as percentages. These students and teachers both come from the lower-middle class as their income indicates.

The questions given to their samples of students and teachers in December 2002 and January 2003 were meant to find out whether they supported militant policies in Kashmir as students from these schools did in 1999. There were also questions to find out whether religious minorities should be given the same rights as Muslim citizens of Pakistan. There was also a question about giving equal rights to men and women. The questions about Kashmir were as follows:

Box 5
Militancy Among Urdu-medium School Students (N=230)
(in percentages)
What should be Pakistan’s priorities?
		Yes	No	Don’t Know
1.	Take Kashmir away from India by an open war?	39.56	53.04	7.39
2.	Take Kashmir away from India by supporting Jihadi groups to fight with the Indian army?	33.04	45.22	21.74
3.	Support Kashmir care through peaceful means only (i.e. no open war or sending Jahadi groups across the line of control)	75.65	18.26	6.09
Source: Survey 2003 (Annexure-2)

The responses of the teachers of these schools (N=100) to the same questions are as follows:

Box 6
Militancy Among Urdu-medium School Teachers
(in percentages)
What should be Pakistan’s priorities?
		Yes	No	Don’t Know
1.	Open war	20	70	10
2.	Jihadi Groups	19	68	13
3.	Peace	85	10	05
Source : Annexure-2

The present survey indicates that there has been a shift away from supporting militancy in the Urdu-medium schools since my last survey of school students in 1999 (Rahman 2002: Appendix 14). However, since the questions this time clearly spelled out the possibility of war or proxy war whereas only the emotive and romantic term ‘conquer’ was used last time, the response this time is realistic and pragmatic. It is also possible that Pakistan and India have come to the brink of war several times since 1999 when the last survey was carried out. Moreover, since General Pervez Musharraf himself reversed the policy of carrying out a covert war in Kashmir and has talked of averting war, students and teachers might have felt that it was safer and perhaps more desirable not to support war. Thus there is less support of militant policies now then there was in 1999-2000.

However, the level of tolerance for the religious minorities is not very high, at least for the Ahmedis and the Hindus. However, it is quite high for Christians and very high for women. The relevant questions and their responses are as follows:

Box 7
Tolerance Among Urdu-medium school students 2002-2003 (N=230)
(In percentages)
What should be Pakistan’s priorities?
		Yes	No	Don’t Know
1.	Give equal rights to Ahmedis in all jobs etc?	46.95	36.95	16.09
2.	Give equal rights to Pakistani Hindus in all jobs etc?	47.39	42.61	10
3.	Give equal rights to Pakistani Christians in all jobs etc?	65.65	26.52	7.83
4.	Give equal rights to men and women as in Western Countries?	75.22	17.39	7.39
	Source: Annexure-2

The questions in the survey of 1999-2000 were essentially the same though, unfortunately, questions (2) and (3) had been collapsed into one question. The responses to these are reproduced below:

Box 8
Tolerance Among Urdu-medium School Students 1999-2000 (N=510)
(In percentages)
		Yes	No	Don’t Know
(1)	Give Ahmedis (or Mirzais) the same rights (jobs, opportunities etc) as others in Pakistan.	44.04	33.85	22.12
(2)	Give Hindus and Christians the same rights as others in Pakistan	56.73	23.65	19.62
(3)	Give equal rights to women	84.81	9.04	6.15
Source: Survey 2000 in Rahman 2002: Appendix 14.6

The tolerance towards women appears to be less now but that is probably because the question specifies that the equal rights are those available in Western countries. Even so some respondents ticked ‘Yes’ adding ‘equal as defined by Islam’.

The responses of the teachers to the same questions are as follow:

Box 9
Tolerance of Religious Minorities and Women in Urdu-medium Among School Teachers 2002-2003
(N=100) (In percentages)
		Yes	No	Don’t Know
(1)	Ahmedis	27	65	08
(2)	Hindus	37	58	05
(3)	Christians	52	42	06
(4)	Women	61	33	06
Source: Annexure-2

In short, the teachers are actually less tolerant of religious minorities and do not support equal rights for men and women despite the fact that out of the 100 teachers in the sample, 58 were women and 42 were men. The gender-wise break down of opinions reveals how intolerant men were of the idea of women having the same rights as them (figures are in percentages):

Box 10
Gender-wise Tabulation of Attitudes Towards Equality of Men and Women Among Urdu-Medium Schools teachers (In percentages)
Give equal rights to men and women as in Western countries?
	Yes	No	Don’t Know
Men (N=42)	35.71	54.76	9.52
Women (N=58)	79.31	17.24	3.45
Source: Annexure-2

The opinions of parents have not been obtained through questionnaires but observation suggests that in the lower middle class, which is where the teachers and students of Urdu-medium schools come from, they too express opinions like the teachers.

In short, if one is to hazard an informed guess about the influence of the parents and teachers of the Urdu-medium schools upon the students it is as follows. Both parents and teachers express intolerant opinions about the religious minorities in Pakistan. They also glorify the role of the army though certain military rulers, being viewed as being secular, are not approved of. They also express highly biased views about India, which is always called ‘Hindu’ India, and feel that the West, especially the United States, is a friend of India and against Muslims. Such views are very commonly expressed in the Urdu press, especially in Nawa-i-Waqt, and can be heard among lower-middle and middle-class people.

Despite the predominance of such views not all children are brainwashed into believing them to the exclusion of other opinions. Similarly, despite the rote-learning forced upon students, not all of them lack analytical skills later in life. And despite English being a formidable barrier---more students fail in it than in other compulsory subjects (see Annexure-3). Some students learn it and enter the highest services in Pakistan and abroad. This speaks highly of the motivation and innate abilities of the successful students but it should be kept in mind that they succeed in spite of the system not because of it.

Annexure-1

Monthly Income and Social Mobility of Students and Faculty in Different Educational Institutions in Pakistan

The following information has been collected in response to section 1 of the questionnaire which is given in Annexure-2. These questions are about the income of the family and, in the case of teachers, the medium of instruction of the school which they attended and their children attended.

Section-1: Monthly Income

The figures below give the monthly income of the families of students and faculty as reported by them in our sample. Those who have not written the income, as well as those those who have, have been tabulated separately. The correspondence with socio-economic class, however rough, is as follows:

Working (lower) class = Upto Rs 5000 per month.

Lower middle class = 5001 – 10,000

Middle class = 10,001-20,000

Upper middle class = 20,001 – 50,000

Lower upper class = 50,001 – 100,000

Middle upper class = Above 100,000

The income is for the whole family and not of the individuals earning it. In most cases income of female has not been written presumably because they are housewives and do not get paid. In case their income is written, the family income is calculated by adding their income to the income of the male earning member’s income.

Income of Families of Urdu-medium School Students

N = 230

		Not written	Upto 5,000	5,001-10,000	10,001– 20,000	20,001– 50,000	50,000– 100,000	Above 100,000
Pay father		95 of 230 (41.31%)	83 of 135 (61.48%)	36 of 135 (26.66%)	13 of 135 (9.63%)	03 of 135 (2.22%)	Nil	Nil
Pay mother		220 of 230 (95.65%)	8 of 10 (80%)	2 of 10 (20%)	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
Father and mother		N.A	2 of 10 (20%)	4 of 10 (40%)	4 of 10 (40%)	Nil	Nil	Nil
Analysis:	Most have written their fathers’ income but not their mothers’ who are probably housewives. Out of those of who have written, most belong to working class families. About a quarter, however, also belong to the lower middle classes. Very few are above that in income.

Income of the Families of the Faculty of Urdu-medium Schools

N = 100

		Not written	Upto 5,000	5,001-10,000	10,001- 20,000	20,001- 50,000	50,000- 100,000	Above 100,000
Pay self		6 of 100 (6%)	17 of 94 (18.09%)	62 of 94 (65.96%)	15 of 94 (15.96%)	Nil	Nil	Nil
Pay spouse		82 of 100 (82%)	3 of 18 (16.66%)	06 of 18 (33.33%)	07 of 18 (38.89%)	02 of 18 (11.11%)	Nil	Nil
Husband and wife		N.A	Nil	Nil	09 of 18 (50%)	09 of 18 (50%)	Nil	Nil
Analysis:	Most earners have written their income but not that of their spouse. Most belong to the lower middle class. Out of the few spouses whose income is reported, a fairly large proportion tend to have middle class incomes and a very small minority even higher than that.

Section-2: Social Moblity

Social mobility has been measured in the case of teachers. The only indicators which have been taken into account are(a)the medium of instruction of the teachers themselves when they were students(b) the medium of instruction of their children. As English-medium school are more expensive than Urdu-or Sindhi medium ones, it is assumed that, when people get relatively prosperous, they tend to educate their children in English-medium schools. It should, however , be noted that a large number of non-elitist English-medium schools charging higher tuition fees than government Urdu-medium schools have started fuctioning in the last twenty years or so. As such the older teachers in this survey could either go to expensive English-medium schools or government Urdu-medium ones. They did not have the option of attending less expensive English-medium schools which their children have.

Medium of Instruction

	Number of respondents	Not written	Urdu	English
Own	100@	02 of 100 (2%)	88 of 98 (89.80%)	06 of 98 (6.12%)
Children’s*	100	31 of 100 (31%)	36 of 69 (52.17%)	31 of 69 (44.93%)

*NB: The medium of instruction of 1 child (1.16%) and 3 teachers (3.06%) was Sindhi.

Annexure-2

SURVEY 2003

Survey of Schools and Madrassas

This survey was conducted between December 2002 and April 2003 with the help of two research assistants Imran Farid and Shahid Gondal whom I take this opportunity to thank. The survey was conducted in Islamabad (myself), Rawalpindi (myself), Peshawar (myself), Karachi (myself), Mandi Bahauddin (Shahid Gondal), Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan (Imran Farid). It was a stratified, non-random survey because a complete list of all target institutions was not available. Moreover, we had to restrict ourselves to urban areas because we neither had the time nor the resources to venture into rural ones. The survey was financially supported by the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), Karachi, to which I am very grateful.

Institutions were used as clusters but only students of class 10 and equivalent were given questionnaires in Urdu or English. They were told that, since they were not supposed to give their names, they should not hesitate to give their real views. After this the questionnaire was read out and explained. The filled questionnaires were collected at the end of the session.

The major stratas are (1) Urdu-medium school, (2) elitist English-medium schools (3) Cadet Colleges/Public Schools and (4) madrassas. There is a further stratification between the students and the teachers of these institutions. Gender-wise breakdown is also available. The following chart helps explain these strata:

TEACHERS
	M (ale)	F (emale)	Total
English-medium	18	47	65
Cadet college/public schools	51	Nil	51
Urdu-medium	42	58	100
Madrassas	27	Nil	27
Grand Total			243

STUDENTS
	M (ale)	F (emale)	Total
English-medium	62	52	116
Cadet college/public schools	130	Nil	130
Urdu-medium	123	107	230
Madrassas	142	Nil	142
Grand Total			618

As the views of each strata are taken separately, they do not represent their proportional share in the student population of Pakistan.

The ages of the students are as follows:

Institutions	Mean	Mode	Range
Cadet colleges	15.5	15	12-19
Madrassas	19	20	14-27
English-medium schools	14.1	15	13-18

In the case of the madrassas the range is higher because some of the sanvia class groups had older boys who had joined the seminary late. In the O’level groups both 10^th and 11^th were represented. Urdu-medium schools had only class-10 clusters.

There are two shortcomings: first, the number of madrassa teachers is very less; and secondly, the population of rural areas as well as Baluchistan, the interior of Sindh, Northern Areas could not be represented. The first problem is because madrassa teachers were very reluctant to fill in the questionnaires. The second, as already mentioned, is because of lack of time and resources.

The questionnaires for students and teachers are reproduced here. Please note that part-2 (on opinions) is exactly the same. Only part-1 is different for both.

QUESTIONNAIRE (FACULTY)

DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME TO ENSURE SECRECY. WRITE THE NAME of the institution in which you teach with medium of Instruction.

1. Sex (1) Male (2) Female

2. Education: (1) Below B.A (2) B.A (3) M.A (4) M. Phil (5) Ph.D

3. Which subject (s) do you teach?

What is the occupation of your spouse Give his or her rank, title, occupational status; salary; grade; income from all sources etc?

What is your average total monthly income (write income from all sources such as tuition, publications, consultancies, rent etc.

What is the medium of instruction of the school in which your children study (or studied)?

What was medium of instruction of the school in which you studied most?

QUESTIONNAIRE (STUDENTS)

DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME TO ENSURE SECRECY. WRITE THE NAME of your SCHOOL with medium of Instruction.

1. age.

2. Class

3. Sex (1) Male (2) Female

4. What is the occupation of your father? Give his rank, title, occupational status; salary; grade; income from all sources etc?

5. What is the occupation of your mother? Give her rank, title, occupational status, salary, grade, income from all sources etc?

PART-II

(for both faculty and students)

What should be Pakistan’s priorities?

1. Take Kashmir away from India by an open war?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

2. Take Kashmir away from India by supporting Jihadi groups to fight with the Indian army?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

3. Support Kashmir cause through peaceful means only (i.e. no open war or sending Jihadi groups across the line of control?).

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

4. Give equal rights to Ahmedis in all jobs etc?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

5. Give equal rights to Pakistani Hindus in all jobs etc?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

6. Give equal rights to Pakistani Christians in all jobs etc?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

7. Give equal rights to men and women as in Western countries?

(1) Yes (2) No (3) Don’t Know

Militancy and Tolerance Among Urdu-Medium School Teachers

N= 100(Number= No.)

Abbreviated Questions	Yes		No		Don’t Know
	No.	%	No	%	No.	%
(1) Open War	20	20	70	70	10	10
(2) Jihadi Groups	19	19	68	68	13	13
(3) Peaceful means	85	85	10	10	5	5
(4) Ahmedis	27	27	65	65	8	8
(5) Hindus	37	37	58	58	5	5
(6) Christians	52	52	42	42	6	6
(7) Women	61	61	33	33	6	6

NB: Figures for (3) are uninterpretable because some respondents ticked options (1) and/or (2) while also ticking (3).

Consolidated Data of Opinions Indicating Militancy and Tolerance Among three Types of Schools Students in Pakistan in Survey 2003 (in percentages)

Abbreviated Questions			Madrassas	Urdu-medium	English-medium	Cadet Colleges/ Public Schools	Govt Colleges (326)	Public Universities (206)	Private Universities (133)
1.	Open War	Yes	59.86	39.56	25.86	36.92	46.01	34.95	35.34
		No	31.69	53.04	64.66	60.00	48.47	55.34	57.89
		Don’t Know	8.45	7.39	9.48	3.08	5.52	9.71	6.77
2.	Jihadi groups	Yes	52.82	33.04	22.41	53.08	50.00	46.12	34.59
		No	32.39	45.22	60.34	40.00	38.04	43.20	57.14
		Don’t Know	14.79	21.74	17.24	6.92	11.96	10.68	8.27
3.	Peaceful means	Yes	33.80	75.65	72.41	56.15	60.43	58.25	57.14
		No	54.93	18.26	18.97	36.92	22.70	28.64	35.34
		Don’t Know	11.27	6.09	8.62	6.92	16.87	13.11	7.52
4.	Ahmedis	Yes	12.68	46.95	65.52	41.54	38.04	38.83	40.60
		No	82.39	36.95	9.48	36.92	38.34	49.51	36.84
		Don’t Know	4.93	16.09	25.00	21.54	23.62	11.65	22.56
5.	Hindus	Yes	16.90	47.39	78.45	64.62	59.20	54.37	69.92
		No	76.06	42.61	13.79	31.54	31.90	38.83	21.05
		Don’t Know	7.04	10.00	7.76	3.85	8.89	6.80	9.02
6.	Christians	Yes	18.31	65.65	83.62	76.92	72.09	66.99	78.95
		No	73.24	26.52	8.62	18.46	21.17	29.13	14.29
		Don’t Know	8.45	7.83	7.76	4.62	6.75	3.88	6.77
7.	Women	Yes	16.90	75.22	90.52	67.69	65.34	64.56	76.69
		No	77.46	17.39	6.03	25.38	30.98	31.55	17.29
		Don’t Know	5.63	7.39	3.45	6.92	3.68	3.88	6.02

NB: Figures for (3) are uninterpretable because some respondents ticked opinion (1) and/or (2) while also ticking (3).
Comparative Chart for Opinions of Faculty Members of Different

Educational Institutions

			Madrassas (27)	Urdu-medium schools (100)	English-medium schools (65)	Cadet Colleges/ Public Schools (51)	Govt Colleges (127)	Private Universities (44)	Public Universities (127)
1.	Open War	Yes	70.37	20	26.15	19.61	20.47	20.45	14.17
		No	22.22	70	64.62	68.63	68.50	63.64	77.17
		Don’t Know	7.41	10	9.23	11.76	11.02	15.91	8.66
2.	Jihadi groups	Yes	59.26	19	38.46	39.22	18.11	34.09	25.98
		No	26.63	68	50.77	52.94	63.78	45.45	62.99
		Don’t Know	11.11	13	10.77	7.84	18.11	20.45	11.02
3.	Peaceful means	Yes	29.63	85	60.00	66.66	77.17	68.18	75.59
		No	66.67	10	33.85	19.61	13.39	18.18	18.11
		Don’t Know	3.70	5	6.15	13.73	9.45	13.64	6.30
4.	Ahmedis	Yes	3.70	27	43.07	29.41	32.28	59.09	50.39
		No	96.23	65	36.92	62.75	52.76	29.55	34.65
		Don’t Know	NIL	8	20.00	7.84	14.96	11.36	14.96
5.	Hindus	Yes	14.81	37	61.54	60.78	41.73	68.18	66.14
		No	85.19	58	26.15	35.29	48.03	22.73	25.98
		Don’t Know	NIL	5	12.31	3.92	10.24	9.09	7.87
6.	Christians	Yes	18.52	52	81.54	60.18	59.06	75.00	68.50
		No	77.77	42	10.77	33.33	32.28	15.91	24.41
		Don’t Know	3.70	6	7.69	5.88	8.66	9.09	7.09
7.	Women	Yes	3.70	61	78.46	37.25	66.14	79.55	71.65
		No	96.67	33	13.85	58.82	30.71	15.91	22.05
		Don’t Know	NIL	6	7.69	3.92	3.15	4.55	6.30

REFERENCES

Section-1

Primary Sources

Textbook Board Books

Punjab Textbook board. 2002. English: Class-6 Lahore: Punjab Textbook Board. [82,000 copies]

. 2002. English: Class-7 as above [1,80,000 copies]

. 2002. English: Class-8 as above [82,000 copies]

. 1996. English: Class-9 as above [number not indicated]

. 1996. English: Class-10 as above [number not indicated]

. 2002. Social Studies for Class-VII as above [number not indicated]

. 2002. Social Studies for Class-VIII as above [number not indicated]

. 2000. Pakistan Studies 9 and 10 as above [number not indicated]

. 2002. Urdu Barae Jamat Sisham as above [number not indicated]

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. 2002. Urdu Barae Jamat Hashtam as above [number not indicated]

. 1987. Muraqqa-e-Urdu 9th to 10th as above [number not indicated]

Section-2

Secondary Sources

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