Madrassa Education and Fundamentalism in Pakistan

Abstract

The western media has linked most of the madrassas in Pakistan with violence and terrorism. It is also considered by some people as a net of social security for underprivileged people of the society who are ignored by the state’s social services. The present paper looks at the Madrassa education in Pakistan to find out whether it has the ability in social, economic and political development of the country and what kinds of reforms are required in this direction. Moreover, the existing madrassas in Pakistan are sometimes considered to be the factories, producing religious extremism. But the basic aim behind the emergence of madrassas is to seek basic Islamic knowledge is not known. Madrassa teachers are satisfied with the madrassa curriculum as far as its basic goals and purposes is concerned. Madrassa education system does not prepare graduates to compete in present day economic market. The data revealed that madrassa education system of Pakistan was peace loving and unjustly blamed for extremism.  Therefore the main objective of the study is to understand the changing pattern of madrassa and the role of the Pakistani government to modernize it.