By: Nabila Feroz Bhatti
Suhana Abid, a 14-year-old Christian student of class 9 at Government Girls High School Chack 102 NB, Sargodha complained tothe Village Committee that her teacher Uzma does not allow her to take the science subjects and tellsher to study the arts. Suhana’s elder sister Senaiha Abid also shared that “Ms. Uzma’s discriminatory behaviour persists. When I was a student in the same school three years ago, Ms. Uzma did not allow me to study science subjects either. She taunted me, and would say ‘will you become Einstein or Newton after studying science subjects?’ She is very biased against Christian students. She never skips a chance to degrade them. On their tiniest mistakes or even when there isno mistake – she asks them to stand in the corner of the classroom as punishment. Sanawar Balam Advocate, Member of District Human Rights Committee, Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Department, Government of the Punjab told the Tribune to raisethe matter atthe District Forum meeting.
In another case, Cedric Sabir with other eight Christian students is studying in class 7th at Government Batala High School, Sahiwal where they are not offered the subject of Ethics. Thus they are compelled to study Islamiat,anobvious violation of Article 22 of the Constitution of Pakistan. Ashiknaz Khokhar, a Christian Human Rights activist referred the matter to higher authorities. Reluctantly, Chief Executive Officer, District Education Authority, Sahiwal wrote a letter to District Education Officers (DEOs) on 19th April to arrange the teaching of Ethics to the minority students in all educational institutions in Sahiwal.Although, there is no implementation yet.
Education is the fundamental right of every child, and it should be provided without any obstacle, bias or discrimination. Article 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan promises free and compulsory education to all children between 5 to 16 years. However, the implementation of this article remains a challenge. Because of poverty, a lack of facilities and other social concerns, many children, particularly those from low-income households, are unable to attend school. Aside from shortage of trained teachers, gender inequality is another major issue. Girls are particularly disadvantaged in Pakistan, with significantly lower enrollment rates and higher dropout rates than boys. This is due to a variety of causes, including cultural norms, favouring boys’ education over girls’ education, early marriage and childbearing, and a lack of safe and secure schools for females. Proximity to school and safety are the huge barriers to accessing education for girls. Many rural schools lack essential amenities, such as safe drinking water, electricity and adequate sanitation. The lack of infrastructure and resources in schools makes it difficult for instructors to provide quality education to their students. The structural marginalization faced by religious minority children further exacerbates it.
Villages with Christian Majority in Punjab:
There are around 50 villages in Punjab where Punjab’s largest religious minority, Christians,form a majority. A larger part of the population, roughly 260, 000, is associated with farming. Significantly, these villages are known for their diversity that enriches Pakistan’s culture as well as servesas a source of confidence and strength for the Christian community in Pakistan.
These villages played a pivotal role in maintaining a socio-religious balance in the post-independence Punjab till the 1970s as they offered basic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and dispensaries. Christians also held respected positions in various facets of society such as politics, civil services, education, armed forces, arts, and sports. However, village-based leadership among Christians reduced gradually between 2000 and 2023. One factor being that the Christian population shifted to urban area, while the other was the weakening of the profile of villages as centers of academic, cultural and social activities.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) carried out a study of 56, big and small, villages with sizeable population of Christians entitled ‘How Green Was My Village’. 23 were established during British rule, while the remaining 33 were established after the creation of Pakistan.
Key Findings about Education:
In terms of quality of education, the above-mentioned study assessed the size of schools and dispersion of teachers across 81 government-run schools, 42 private schools and 35 Church-run schools in these 56 villages. The government schools have the largest infrastructure, followed by Church-run schools and then private schools. The government schools had a total of 6,255 students at an average of 11 students per teacher. In Church-run schools,8,906 students were enrolled with an average of 37 students per teacher while 17,714 students attended private schools, at the rate of 66 students per teacher.
The number of certified teachers with standard credentials, including PTC, CT, B.Ed., or M.Ed., varied across these schools. Government schools had the highest number of qualified teachers, making it about 4.5 teachers per school,private schools 1.21 and for Church-run schools 1.2 qualified teachers per school.
The data collected by CSJ presents some interesting results vis-à-vis quality of services and educational outcomes. The study assessed the performance of the schools by the number of students reaching and passing out matriculation in the last three years. For government schools, the trend for students reaching matriculation in the last three years had dropped marginally among both boys and girls. While 768 boys reached matriculation in 2020, the number dropped to 699 in 2022. Similarly, 897 girls reached matriculation in 2020, and the number dropped to 799 in 2022.
The decline was also noticeable among Church-run schools, where 65 boys reached matriculation in 2020 and the number dropped to 47 in 2022. Similarly, 105 girls reached matriculation in 2020 and it dropped to 75 in 2022.
The study reveals that private schools were the only schools where the number of students reaching matriculation in the last three years exhibited an upward trend, even though the average number of students per teacher was the highest among these schools. The number of boys reaching matriculation increased from 33 in 2020 to 47 in 2022 in private schools, and the number of girls reaching matriculation rose from 62 in 2020 to 71 in 2022.
As far as pass out rates for boys, government schools in matriculation had the highest pass out rates, with average matriculation pass out rates being 91%, 86% and 45% in the year 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. The pass out rates for Church-run schools were 8%, 9%, 9.10%, and for private schools, 8.93%, 13.69% and 7.14%. Average matriculation pass out rates for girls for government-run schools is 80%, 78% and 51% for the year 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. The pass out rates for Church-run schools were 10.20%, 10.6% and 8.20%, and for private schools, 9.02%, 10.71% and 7.14% in respective years.
Another concern raised by the study was the limited availability of schools for girls in some villages. Although survey results show that more girls are matriculating as compared to boys, some Christian girls discontinued their education after primary or middle or they had to travel long distances to pursue high school education, for instance, in Chak 17 Piplan and Chak 270/ TDA. The enumerator,Shahid Nazir from Rahim Yar Khan told, “Our village is situated in Khan Pur, Rahim Yar Khan but there is no school for girls’ higher education. Girls have to travel at least 30-35 kilometers to attend school. We are also unable to organize their transportation due to meagre financial resources”.
Another criterion of assessment of the schools’ quality is the availability of computer literacy and equipment. Unfortunately, the majority of students were not computer literate. Among government schools, only four were equipped with computer /IT facility; only three private and only one Church-run school had IT equipment.
Analysis
The data show that private schools are severely under resourced in terms of buildings and teachers despite having largest number of students. The question must be asked that evenwhen teachers are more in number and superior in qualification, infrastructure is larger,and resultsare better than why are there fewer students in government schools. “The government schools keep only studentswith better credentials in their schools. They don’t work hard with weak students instead they refuse their admissions. So the weak students end up going to Church-run schools or private schools. Secondly, if a family affords to send their children to private school, they prefer it but that does not mean that the students perform better there.”, Celine Samuel, a Christian retired Assistant Education Officer from Khanewaldistrict told the Tribune.
Jamil Tariq, a Christian teacher from KotUdduspoke to Tribune that there is biased behavior from Muslim students and teachers towards Christian students and teachers;there are feelings of fear and insecurity among Christian students in government schools.The discriminatory practices led to triggering hostilityin some cases against Christian students. This situation impacts the overall educational achievements of Christian students and pushes them into ghettoization. For instance, in many schools, it was common to write on the noticeboard “don’t pray for the non-Muslim deceased” or “Pakistan belongs to Muslims only”. These things may sound likeinsignificant occurrences to some but they can hugely affectthe mind-set of children.
Ms. Rose Mary, a teacher in government girls’ high school,Chack35 Stuntz Abad, MianChannutook early retirement due to discriminatory behaviour of her colleagues.
The study records the various reasons for the depreciated education profile in Christian villages. Some participants of the focus group discussion recalled the golden period of Christian villages when schools for both girls and boys were fully functional, even providing boarding facilities in certain areas. Many girls attended these schools and later were employed in the 1960s and 1970s at a time when women’s employment was a taboo. The nationalization of Church-run schools in 1972 was a major setback to the educational achievements of Christians. Large Christian schools that accommodated hundreds of Christian students from entire Punjab were nationalized and Christian students became aliens in their own schools. The nationalization led to discrimination against Christian students and employees.
Dr. Yaqoob Khan Bangash, a historian, expressed his views that “while attacking the self-respect and identity of religious community might not have been the primary aim of nationalization, this action did severely undermine Christian’s confidence in Pakistan”. Dr. Tahir Kamran, Professor at National Beaconhouse University, states“Nationalization caused grave and serious damage to the education system in the country. Ironically, the Church schools subjected to nationalization were meant for the underprivileged sections of the society. English Medium Church schools were not nationalized probably because they catered to the privileged class.”
According to Peter Jacob, Executive Director of Centre for Social Justice, “the psychological effect of nationalization surpassed the loss of possession of property, etc. The common Christians suffered deep emotional loss as these prestigious institutions were tied to a sense of pride, history and belonging, and symbolized their journey in faith and gave meaning to their lives in the socio-political context of Pakistan.”
Despite that a denationalization policy was adopted in 1980s after a Supreme Court ruling, only Nine schools had been de-nationalized, out of total 26 nationalized in 1972 in the villages surveyed. Hence barely 34% of denationalization was implemented according to the study. One reason of low rate of denationalization is that the government demands money from the Church for returning these schools. Principally, the government should give back these schools without asking for money because these schools rightly belong to the community.
There were certain schools managed by the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) in Christian villages. However, surveyors expressed disappointment over the state of these schools.There is neither a Danish school nor a college in these 56 villages of Punjab. The concept of establishing Danish schools at government level is discriminatory in itself. All resources of government of Punjab for education should be utilized to all government schools instead of investing more in Danish schools.
It is a challenge for Christian youth to go to cities to attend a college. College education for girls is even more challenging. With limited opportunities available now, the only option left with Christian families is to either move to cities or sacrifice their girls’ education.
Way Forward:
Regarding collective and individual right to freedom of religion or belief, right to property, right to development, economic, cultural and social well being, especially to give effect to the constitutional guarantees under Articles 20, 22, 25, 25A, 27, 36 and 38 there are following recommendations;
Interventions for promoting inter-religious harmony, security, peace and celebration of diversity are required. Shakeel Ahmad, Member Advisory Board on Education to Chief Minister spoke to Tribune, “School Management Councils (SMC) should be empowered more for creating a better environment at schools”.
Reforms are needed at all levels for government schools so that children from minority communities feel comfortable and secure as equal citizens.
Private schools should be monitored regarding their teacher’s number and qualification, infrastructure and environment.
The Punjab Education Department and the Education Ministry are urged to work out a plan and strategy for completing the denationalization of remaining institutions along with a financial grant for full scale rehabilitation of the infrastructure. Returning all nationalized schools to the Church will bring a positive impact in Christian villages. If nationalized schools in Urban areas will be denationalized and supported, the rural students would live in their hostels for college studies.
There must be an implementation committee for the said plan involving key stakeholders, including Christian representative.
Officers dealing with Church schools should be sensitized on minorities’ issues before being assigned handling of this delicate matter. They must ensure that any procedural delays are duly reported and compensated for.
The government should not demand any money upon returning of the educational institutions to the Church. It should adjust the existing employees in government institutions rather than forcing denationalized institutions to retain them.
Some of the denationalized institutions still don’t enjoy institutional autonomy. The government should not bind the Church to continue with the previous policies, which bar them from introducing their own reforms to the denationalized institutions.
*The writer is a human rights activist and columnist. She can be reachedat nabilaferoz@gmail.com and on X: @NabilaFBhatti
Note: (It is not essential to agree with the writer’s point of view. All facts observation, statistics and information are the sole responsibility of the writer. “TADEEB” is only performing his duty to publish the writings of the writers, observer and researchers.)
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