International Education Guide - Enterprise and Advanced Education ...

.6
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GUIDE for the assessment of education from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Historical Education
Overview
Although Islamic education in present-day Pakistan
dates back to the early eighth century, the current system
has developed largely on the basis of Western-style
education from the British colonial period. Since gaining
independence in 1947, Pakistan has expanded its education
system to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population.
Traditional Education
(Before the 19th Century)
Islamic education in present-day Pakistan began in the
early eighth century, when the Arab general Muhammad
bin Qasim brought Islam to Sindh. Islamic culture in the
form of art, literature and architecture, as well as religious
studies and education, spread across the subcontinent
during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and flourished
in the heyday of the Mughal Empire (1526–1858). The
languages of instruction at Islamic schools, commonly
known as madrassas or madaris, were Persian and Arabic.
The madrassas provided both religious and secular training,
teaching a wide range of subjects such as architecture,
drawing, grammar, literature, logic, mathematics, medicine
and philosophy.
The British Period
(Early 19th Century to 1947)
The formal education system of modern Pakistan has its
roots in the British rule of the Indian subcontinent. In 1813
the British East India Company assumed responsibility
for the education of Indians. At that time there was a great
controversy between supporters of indigenous education
and those who advocated for Western learning. Macaulay’s
Minute on Education of 1835 argued for the promotion of
Western learning through the English language, with a view
to forming “a class who may be interpreters between us and
the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian
in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions,
in morals and intellect.” The governor general of India
accepted the proposal and ordered all education funds to be
allocated for teaching English literature and science to the
native population.
The government of India under the British rule, which took
over control of India from the East India Company in 1858,
appointed a number of commissions to study education and
formulated policies based on their recommendations. For
example, while rejecting the idea of compulsory primary
education, the government resolution on educational policy
of 1913 acknowledged that literacy and primary education
should have a predominant claim on public funds, and
proposed to double the 4.5 million enrolment of public
primary schools in the “not distant future.” As it turned
out, few of the recommendations and policies were fully
implemented, in part due to two world wars and the Great
Depression. Nevertheless, an educational administrative
structure was developed covering elementary and secondary
as well as higher education.
The Government of India Act of 1935 clarified the role
of the central and state governments in education: most
educational activities fell under the jurisdiction of state
governments, with the central government becoming
responsible for the national library and museums, the
preservation of ancient monuments, the Banaras Hindu
University and the Aligarh Muslim University, and for
education in centrally administered areas.
The British system was basically elitist. Its main objective
was not mass education but the training of a class of civil
servants for colonial government. Only the aristocracy, the
upper and upper middle classes, and senior officials of the
British bureaucracy and military could send their children
to English-language schools. Children from middle and
working classes attended vernacular-language schools.
Those from very poor families could only go to madrassas,
which charged no tuition and even provided free room and
board. Thus one’s position and status in society roughly
corresponded to the type of school one attended. The
socioeconomic stratification supported by three separate
school systems has persisted to the present day.
A lasting legacy of British rule in India was the development
of modern universities. 1817 saw the establishment of
India’s first Western-style college, the Hindu College
in Calcutta, later renamed Presidency College to admit
non-Hindu students. In 1857, universities were created
in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. The University of
the Punjab at Lahore was established in 1882 and the
University of Allahabad in 1887. Modelled after the
University of London, these early universities functioned
mainly as examining and degree-granting bodies; teaching
took place at affiliated colleges. The Indian Universities