The State of Higher Education in Pakistan

Access and Quality

In modern times, no idea of nation building and economic stability can be turned into reality without making education the first most priority. That’s why we see many developed countries and states allocating a huge chunk of their budgets on education, from awarding scholarships to expanding their current setup. Sadly, in Pakistan, due to economic instability, the state of higher education has several challenges despite going through several changes over the course of several decades. Though Pakistan has some world-renowned Universities like QAU, LUMS, etc. but still it lags behind when it comes to delivering quality education that can really affect policy making on a higher level. Lack of resources, poor infrastructure and untrained academics, these are some of the main challenges encountered by Higher Education in Pakistan.

Access to Higher Education in Pakistan

Access to higher education is a critical factor for the development of a country. It is crucial in promoting human capital, reducing poverty, and creating a well-informed and educated workforce. Unfortunately, access to higher education in Pakistan is not equal for all segments of the population. The most significant challenge that the country is facing is the lack of access to quality education, particularly in rural areas. According to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), only 25% of the country’s population is enrolled in higher education institutions (HEIs). This is significantly lower compared to other countries in the region.

One of the reasons for the low enrollment in higher education institutions is the high cost of education. The cost of education in Pakistan is unaffordable for most families, particularly those in rural areas. This is due to the high tuition fees charged by private institutions, which are the only option for most students as the public institutions are unable to accommodate all students. Furthermore, students from rural areas face additional challenges, such as a lack of resources and support systems, which makes it difficult for them to pursue higher education.

Another reason for the low enrollment in higher education institutions is the lack of quality schools in rural areas. Most students in rural areas are unable to obtain a quality education at the secondary level, which is essential for pursuing higher education. The quality of schools in rural areas is poor, and students are unable to receive a well-rounded education. This makes it difficult for them to gain admission to higher education institutions, as they are unable to meet the admission requirements.

Quality of Higher Education

The quality of higher education in Pakistan is a matter of great concern. Despite the increasing number of higher education institutions in the country, the quality of education being offered remains low. The lack of qualified faculty, inadequate resources, and outdated curricula are some of the reasons for the poor quality of education in Pakistan.

Talking about infrastructure, the country has a wide range of universities, both in the public and private sector. It’s a common conception that the quality of education in private institutions is much better as compared to public institutions funded by the state. are generally considered to be of lower quality compared to the private institutions. On the other hand, private universities and colleges are often more expensive and cater to a more affluent segment of society. This has resulted in a significant divide between the quality of education provided by public and private institutions, and has also contributed to the growing class divide in the country.

One of the major challenges facing higher education in Pakistan is a lack of resources. Public universities are often underfunded, and this has resulted in a shortage of basic facilities, such as libraries, laboratories, and lecture halls. In addition, the absence of a proper funding mechanism has also led to a shortage of qualified faculty members. Many universities in Pakistan are facing a shortage of teachers, and this has a direct impact on the quality of education being provided to students.

Another significant challenge facing higher education in Pakistan is the poor infrastructure. Many universities and colleges lack proper classrooms, libraries, and computer labs. The absence of these basic facilities makes it difficult for students to access the resources they need to succeed in their studies. Without the proper infrastructure and without allocating proper budget and ensuring its transparent spending, the state of higher education can never be improved. Libraries, laboratories and computer labs are the essential tools for knowledge production and for that they need special attention if we are really serious about producing quality knowledge.

Another barrier that is related with our previous point is the lack of scholarships awarded to Students which often results in the production of bad and poorly crafted research. There is a lack of “research culture” in our universities and it goes across the board. The reason is, no one in the government wants academics to devise policies based on proper data and research and even when any government hires academics, they only give chances to foreign qualified individuals as they know the situation of our universities very well. But this reason alone, should be enough for us to contemplate on this issue and take decisive actions, so that our public institutions can fulfil our needs up to the point that we wouldn’t be needing any foreign qualified academician to make our policies.

As per Rasul Bakhs Rais, a renowned academic and Political Scientist, accessibility of education is also one of the main issues. It is the issue of class now, the rich and powerful who have the resources and means have the access to educational institutions like LUMS etc. and now we are seeing the trend that most graduates of LUMS are going for Civil Services and taking a higher up position in the society, hence the poor and less privileged are struggling to get the quality education. Another reason is that the ruling class, starting with expensive preparatory English medium schools, aim for universities in the West. With so much neglect, inadequate funding and bad governance, the graduates of public universities continue to lag behind others in the job market.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Taking an account of all the challenges at hand, and problems that the higher education is currently facing, we can come up with several recommendations to not only improve the state of Higher Education in Pakistan but to also pave a way forward to country’s economic prosperity:

• At least 7% of annual GDP should be allocated solely on education. And after that. It should be ensured that there is zero corruption in the spending of that budget. It should be used to build more public institutions and to train professional teachers and academics.
• There should be special allocation in the educational budget to give scholarships to high achievers. It will only increase the competition but will also help us incentivize the research projects. We will not have to pay huge salaries to foreign qualified academics as students on our payroll will be doing all the work for us.
• Students should be encouraged to go for new innovations and try new ideas in universities, new state of the art Computer and Science labs should be built in Campuses across the country, no matter how small the average number of enrollments is.
• New curriculum should be designed as per the standard of Stanford and Harvard. And students should be equipped with modern AI tools of learning. There should be a zero tolerance policy for any institution not willing to comply with digitalization.
• Special research grants should be given for students who come from peripheries. This will not only encourage them to pursue higher education but will also help them produce authentic data and research.

Related: Malala calls for addressing challenges of higher education at LUMS

Over the course of the last two decades, the role of the private sector in the field of education has become very pivotal, especially in countries like Pakistan where the state is reluctant to spend more budget on higher education and even on the education of children. But it has its challenges as well, because the private sector tends to focus more on profit making and as a result can become a tool to just serve the elite of the country, neglecting the people from low economic and social background. Like it happened in the US, where only 4% of low-income families send their children to private schools compared to 19% of rich kids, and of parents with less high school education, only 3 percent send their children to private schools whereas, the percentage increases to 19 percent when we talk about parents who have high school or professional degrees and this trend is not unique to only US.

But in South Asia, we see a slightly different pattern, where we see a high share of private enrollment in primary schools. Countries such as Zimbabwe in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as Lebanon and the gulf-states in the Middle East also stand out, with both high private school enrollment and a larger private sector share at the primary level.

As per the Millennium Development Goals (2000) of the United Nations, the countries vowed to ensure that all children would complete primary education by 2015 and eliminate the gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005. But we can clearly see that even in 2022, Pakistan is struggling and severely off-track in achieving the MDG’s and even then, the discourse around the role of private schools is widely politicized because of their high-fees and their unviability in rural areas.

But a report published by the World Bank^[1] presents a different picture of the events. According to the World Bank report, there was a phenomenal rise in the share of the private sector in educational provision during the 1990’s and a large number of students from rural areas and poor families got enrolled in private schools. It proves that private schools can solve the problem of illiteracy in rural areas in an efficient way and also can use the local labor market to reduce the cost. In 2000, the number of children enrolled in primary private schools was 35%, and this number fell by a third for middle and high schools to 25%. The impact of Private schools at the primary level is huge and is only increasing.

Quality and Diversity

A diverse country like Pakistan, a home to people ranging from different cultures and ethnicities, it only makes sense that the private sector cannot and should not be defined in some simplistic terms, rather it has its own diversity and variations. We see private schools in remote areas of South Punjab that are operating in a different fashion as compared to the elite schools of the mainstream Punjab and the quality of education varies from place to place too. But overall, the quality of education in the private sector in one main reason behind its rapid growth in Pakistan especially in the mainland, where the public school lacks basic infrastructure and tools, the private sector not only fills that void but also, with the increasing number of private schools and colleges, the competition is now on another level and no private instituted can take a risk on the quality of education as it will lead them to economic loss.

But some might argue that the quality of education is only good in the schools that are of high-cost and only serving people from strong economic backgrounds, and also, often the point of comparison is the public sector, hence we overlook the shortcomings of private schools. Having said that, we can always increase the quality of education in the private sector by gathering more data and information and by increasing the competition among different private entities and also by making parents and students more aware about the private market and how they can maximize their learning experiences without spending a huge chunk of their money on education.

Public Private Partnership

Another step that we can take to meet our MDG’s is to bridge the gaps between Public and Private sector in order to maximize the potential of our youth in education and skill development and the idea of public-private partnership (PPPs) goes back to 1854, the Wood’s dispatch, which laid the foundations of modern education system in India before the partition. After independence, the government of Pakistan consistently called for and supported the development of private sector education through a laissez faire policy toward private schools including generous tax exemptions. State’s disposition toward the private sector was only interrupted during the 1970s in a bid to nationalize private schools. The major breakthrough in the support to the private sector was made during the early 1990s with the formation of national and provincial level education foundations. The foundations support the private education sector through the PPPs. Over the course of 75 years, there were several modalities proposed and adapted by different regimes of different times to strengthen the public-private partnership, the most common modality was public financing-private provisions. An example of unsuccessful PPP is a contract between Pakistan Railways and the Beaconhouse School System (a for-profit private education provider) to manage 19 schools of Pakistan Railways for 33years. This partnership, however, was unsuccessful and was terminated only after three years of contract.

What’s the Way Forward? Policy Recommendations

It’s an undeniable fact that the private sector all across the world has made a huge contribution in the field of education and Pakistan’s private sector has the potential to enhance the efficiency in education and to help Pakistan in achieving its MDGs. For that, the Govt has to take some necessary steps to ensure the working partnership between public and private sector.

They should facilitate more private groups to enter the market by proactively taking measures to put more responsibility on diverse private sector groups and by making them accountable towards citizens and the state institutions. When citizens will be provided with a greater number of choices, it will be easier for them to choose and Greater competition can have favourable effects on students in both public and private schools. Higher private school competitiveness has been shown to raise the quality of public schools as measured by educational attainment, wages, and high school graduation rates of public-school students.

The core components to ensure a workable PPPs model are, efficiency, accountability and quality, and the assessment of both teachers and students is of the utmost importance. At the primary level, most private schools have effectively used less educated and low paid teachers, though this can work in primary schools but not in middle schools and especially not in higher education. Hence a proper mechanism is required that should be under the constraint of the state, to ensure the training and development of teachers, both middle school and high school. More funds should be allocated to upgrade the primary schools to middle and high schools and to make them more cost-effective.

In case of higher education, there is a need to strengthen the PPPs and to ensure that more people from rural areas get enrolled in the universities and for that, Private sector must be given funds, to give scholarships to students who come from the peripheries but also to equip them with more AI and digital tools to normalize the distant learning. With that, not only we as a country would be able to meet our MDGs but also, we will have a more digitally equipped and talented youth that will play their part in the country’s economic progress.

Related: German Consul urges government and private sector to ensure sustainability

The writer, Muhammad Saad, is an M.Phil scholor of Political Science at GCU Lahore.

According to experts, Pakistan is highly vulnerable to face the adverse impacts of Climate Change, as different parts of the country are exposed to different climate-induced hazards, and the recent floods that affected the country from KP to Sindh, are just the beginning of what’s about to unfold. So how will Pakistan manage and combat this challenge? And what kind of effects this will have on the country’s education system which is already facing a plethora of challenges of its own.  As per the reports of UNICEF, Pakistan ranks 14 out of 163 countries in UNICEF’S children climate index of 2021.

Back in 2010 and 2011, the floods damaged a considerable number of schools and infrastructure was completely wiped out, also when families migrated from one place to another, not all of them had the resources and means to make sure that schooling of their children remains undisrupted. Among other challenges, the physical and mental well-being of children of the areas affected by Climate Change poses a great threat to not only education but to the lives of those children. Researchers have pointed out that Students who commute to schools on foot struggle due to immense weather conditions, sometimes scorching heat and sometimes heavy rains due to sheer lack of basic facilities and appropriate equipment, like Umbrella or public transport, and this is one of the major hindrances for students in the areas affected by climate change.

In 2022, the country faced a climate catastrophe in the form of floods, damaging more than 20,000 schools and halting more than 3 million students from going to School in most parts of Sindh, Baluchistan and South Punjab. And since rural areas were the ones, most affected by the calamity, where the basic facilities were already lacking, it’s now a much bigger task at hand to not only build schools but to make the whole infrastructure more resilient to adore any further climate related challenge, as Pakistan is 8^th most impacted country by the Climate, the challenges will only increase in future. It’s important to not just restrict ourselves to only rescue activities but it’s crucial now more than ever to think of ways to use education to combat this challenge of Climate Change and to build resilience.

Combating Climate Change through Education

Even before the pandemic and the floods of 2022, Pakistan had the second largest population of out of school children and these calamities have only made the crises worse. The country is in dire need to develop a mechanism to fight Climate change and there is no better way to equip our children and youth with more tools through education and skill-oriented learning, so that they can play their part in helping the country fight any catastrophe.

The first and foremost thing to do in this regard is to initiate an integrated database system that must have the details of all the resources of provinces as well as districts, so that in the case of any emergency, officials would be able to speculate correctly and be able to devise plans accordingly.

This brings us to the second phase, which involves setting up temporary learning spaces in camp cities. Although these conventionally single-teacher, multi-grade centers are not in the least an alternative to formal learning, they are nevertheless important to provide essential protection and psycho-social support to children dealing with trauma. They are also important hubs providing children with the necessary knowledge on health, hygiene, and protection from violence as well as vaccinations, medicines, and child protection referrals. Finally, such facilities provide an important opportunity to extend support to the most vulnerable among the underserved, i.e., girls, children living with disabilities, and those belonging to minority groups.

The next and the most important step is the training of teachers and the designing of curriculum. After the 18^th amendment, the curriculum is now the provincial subject but due to lack of funds and resources, most of the provinces have opted and implemented the 2006 National Curriculum designed by then the Ministry of Education with some changes and adjustments as per their needs. Predicated on the 2006 National Curriculum, the National Curriculum Framework provides broad guidelines and strategies for curriculum development in Pakistan. It suggests that ‘emerging trends and issues’ including environment and climate change should be considered in formulating curriculum objectives and developing learning support materials (MoFEPT 2017). In Punjab, all subjects (Grades 1-10) have been reviewed by the Punjab Curriculum Textbook Board (PCTB) and ‘emerging trends’ such as environment, disaster risk/crisis management and life skills are considered (Government of Punjab 2020). In Sindh, there is an education policy intention to integrate environmental and disaster management components in the curriculum with a view to raising student awareness (Government of Sindh 2020). On a national level, the Ministry of Climate is working closely with the provincial ministries of education but its primary focus is still seeming to be on plantation drives and other such activities in school and colleges, which makes it even more crucial to develop a new discourse on climate change curriculum.

Coming to Teachers’ Capacity Development and training, though there is a mechanism in place for teacher’s training during the service but no such mechanism in place pre-service that will equip teachers and trainers to combat Climate Change. Though some NGOS and other private sector institutions do offer such training to young students aspiring to be teachers, the impact and scope of those institutions is negligible as there is no system in place to check the impact.

A worth mentioning and praise-worthy step in the fight against Climate Change was the initiation of “The Clean Green initiative” by the Prime Minister in 2018. Under the banner of this initiative, the Clean Green School project was launched which aimed to develop 30,000 more schools across the country in the next phase. The Clean Green Initiative had five basic goals, safe drinking water, total sanitation and hygiene promotion, liquid water management, and tree planting. Through the Clean Green School Program an ‘activity-based and child-friendly syllabus on climate and environmental educationn has been developed and students are learning environmentally friendly behaviours and skills in order to reduce their environmental footprint and to minimise risks in time of disaster. Each participating school, in this project was tasked to set up a ‘clean green club’ so that 10,000 students become ‘clean and green champions’ by taking practical local actions such as tree planting and solid waste management. In the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as part of the Clean Green Pakistan initiative tree planting was organized by the School Safety Cell of the Directorate of Elementary and Secondary Education, technical and financial support being provided by UNICEF to government schools in 11 districts which has massive effects in combating the impacts of Climate Change and make the country more resilient.

Recommendation and Way Forward

The Impacts of Climate Change on Education are multifaceted and have several dimensions to them as well as the country is at a high risk of facing much severe catastrophes in future if not given proper attention to the policy making and implementation.

There is no doubt that education was adversely affected, first by the pandemic and then by floods and with the country already failing to fight poverty and illiteracy, it just made things worse for us. But at the same time, the same thing also gives us hope that we can fight both poverty and the Impacts of Climate change by shifting our focus towards education and skill development and learning. Researchers and academics argue, more swiftly now, that if we as a nation are to fight this challenge, we have no option but to spend more and more on the education of our children, rather than just “rescuing” education. We need to plan and form a curriculum around this issue and train our younger generation to be more resilient. The projects like “The Clean and Green initiative” should be implemented country wide if we want to achieve the desirable results.

Related: FCCU hosts workshop on Teaching Climate Journalism

The writer, Muhammad Saad, is an M.Phil scholor of Political Science at GCU Lahore.

The Culture of Drugs and Addiction: The reason and the Cure

The rampant use of substance and the increase in the culture of drugs in Campuses across the country is hardly a secret, every other week, we hear the news of Police busting rackets of drug dealers inside Campuses or we witness some report released by NGOs mentioning the alarming numbers of students (especially in Urban cities) getting addicted to all kinds of drugs which are widely available. But you would hardly see anyone raising the question that why a huge chunk of university and college going students are involved in such self-destructive habits, what is the rationale behind it?

To be fair, this culture of drugs is not just limited to the universities of our country but we witness this trend all across the Globe among teenagers and students. In the United States, alcohol is the most common drug consumed by teenagers and almost 2/3^rd of students try alcohol when they reach 12^th grade. In some surveys, it was reported that almost 90 percent of alcohol is consumed by High School students in the US. Vaping, Marijuana, Opioids etc. are some other commonly consumed drugs.

In Pakistan too, there is a rampant increase in the use of drugs (mostly marijuana) among University Students. Quaid-e-Azam university (QAU) in Islamabad is considered to be the country’s prestigious institution but often the only time it gets recognition in the mainstream media is when its name gets mentioned with the increasing number of its students getting involved in drugs. Even the Vice-Chancellor of the University, while speaking to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Narcotics Control, admitted that drugs were being sold inside the premises of the campus.

Redefining Addiction: An Emphatic Approach

Most of the discourse that revolves around this topic of addiction and the use of drugs, is mainly focused on how we can fix the individuals who are doing drugs? How do we bring more and more discipline in their lives? How can we restrict them? Etc. The problem with such discourse is, for one, it lacks empathy, and more importantly, it leads our policy makers and others to devise simplistic policies without seeing the nuances of the matter at hand.

Dr Gabor Mate, a Canadian physician, writer and academic trained in addiction and trauma counselling seems to be on a mission to “redefine” and “rethink” our approach towards all kinds of addiction and drugs. Gabor defines addiction as “any behavior which gives us temporary relief, comfort and pleasure but has long term negative consequences on our mental and physical well-being.” Addiction to anything, according to Mate, gives us a sense of control and a feeling of happiness. At the heart of Mate’s philosophy is the belief that there’s no such thing as an “addictive personality”. And nor is addiction a “disease”. Instead, it originates in a person’s need to solve a problem: a deep-seated problem, often from our earliest years that was to do with trauma or loss. Contrary to popular belief systems, especially in the Criminal Justice System, Gabor thinks that it’s utterly unfounded and unscientific that people chose to “be addicted” just like they chose to steal and to get involved in other criminal behaviors. He says that he had never met a singer addict in his lifetime, who a) was never sexually abused or b) was not traumatized, now who wants to be sexually abused or face trauma. Hence the argument of Mate carries much depth when he says that addiction just provides a temporary relief to a person who is suffering from severe childhood trauma, as nobody just wakes up in the morning and decides to become a drug addict, rather it’s just a response to the pain and suffering. And not only that, those traumatic experiences shape the brain itself.  The physiology of essential brain circuits in a way that will bias that brain towards addictive behavior, including substances. Without going into deep neurophysiology of that, but it’s simply brain science and it is not even vaguely controversial. But the sad part is, not even our physician learns about it, so what can be expected from politicians, lawmakers and prosecutors who think that the only solution to fight the drug culture is just to punish people and make more strict laws about this whole menace.

The other part is, when we realize and understand what “addiction” is, we only reach to one possible conclusion that “drugs” are only one small part of the addictive spectrum. The addiction, as defined by Dr Gabor, says nothing about drugs, rather it focuses on “addictive behaviors.” It is possible that this behavior could involve substances like alcohol, cocaine etc. but this definition also includes people who are addicted to gambling, shopping, eating, to the internet, to power and to a whole lot of other human behaviors. It’s inhumane to even ostracize a single segment of the addicted population where almost all of us in this stressful environment are in some way or the other.

The Path Towards Healing

Human beings, in their nature are not solitary isolated creatures, either physiologically or psychologically, emotionally or spiritually and our physiology is deeply connected with our emotional and spiritual existence. The second reality about our existence is that we cannot separate these things from our social and emotional environment. Our relationships in early years and our childhood experiences shape our physiology and the way we feel about ourselves. And even before we are born, we are being affected by the emotional state of our mothers, and the emotional state of our mothers is being determined by the surrounding environment, by the social class they belong to and so many other things. So, at the time of birth, children of mothers who are stressed during pregnancy have biological marks of that stress in their body and they are born carrying that trauma in their bodies. According to Mate, we humans are biopsychosocial creatures, because our biology is not separate from our psychological and emotional experiences in a social context. And therefore, the nature of the world that we live in has much to do with our psychological health and mental wellness. So, the question that we really should be asking is, “Is the society making us sick and pushing us towards addictive behaviors?”. And when we look at statistics, we see that, anxiety is rising internationally, childhood diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and other mental health conditions is also on an all times high all across the Globe, the rate of autoimmune disease is rising too. All these figures and data suggest that there are some prevalent qualities in the culture that is making us all sick. Some of those qualities are physical like the junk food we are so addicted to and the pollutants in the air that we breathe. Whereas, many others are emotional and psychological such as the ruthless competition that isolates people from each other, and we see that now children are developing diseases that only adults used to have. In the United States, 70% of the adult population is at least on one medication, 50% are on two medications. The record sales of Xanax should be an eye opener for all of us who want to solve these crises of drugs and addiction.

Now coming back to Pakistan, I think we can take a lot from the work of the likes of Dr Gabor and others who have professionally worked with the addicts and have helped their society to devise better policies and mechanisms to deal with the issue at hand. But I think we first have to acknowledge that people who get into this culture of drug abuse, are suffering from immense pain, some have troubled childhood, some are suffering from the loss of loved ones and they find temporary relief and happiness in drugs. So I would argue, before devising any policy or before making more laws around this topic of addiction and drugs, we first need to redefine and reevaluate our approach towards this topic and we need to have wider discussion around this whole issue, only the we would be able to heal, not only ourselves but the whole society.

Related: Use of drugs in Educational Institutions in Pakistan

From Media to Politics to Marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) has proved to be a real game changer and, in some ways, has impacted all of us. The ads we get bombarded with all the time, the YouTube recommendation page, Google and Apple assistants we find ourselves addicted to, have revolutionized our lives and our time-consuming habits up to an extent that we cannot imagine to even function without the immense help of these AI tools. The narrative around AI and its use is quite ambiguous and sometimes it leads people to believe in conspiracies that revolve around such a hot topic. People are more eager than ever to know all about AI and its potential benefits and harms. It is an established fact that AI is going to change the functioning of our entire planet but masses have a hard time agreeing on “how?”.

Many Computer Scientists and AI specialists have put forth their opinions to explain the future role of AI. Speaking to World Economic Forum, Stuart Russell (Computer Science Professor and AI expert), said that AI is just a technology, like all other tech gadgets and tools out there, it is not intrinsically “good” or “evil”, and the decision to make it anything lies with us, we can either use it well for the benefits of mankind or we can misuse it. But Stuart also acknowledges that poorly designed AI does pose risks and that’s why we must have strong regulatory bodies to keep them in check. He said that we have given a free pass for way too long and now the world is waking up to reality and is struggling to navigate through this mess. Stuart thinks that one day our jobs will be replaced by AI and though for time-being we will face some difficulties to fully adjust to this new reality, but in the long run AI can help us live wisely and agreeable life free from the struggle of existence and can help us live the rich, interesting and fulfilling lives.

But the question that we are more interested in probing, is “Will AI be able to solve the crises of illiteracy in third world countries like Pakistan, where literacy rate not more than 50%, and the children in rural areas can only dream to go to college and peruse higher education?”. There is a lot to unpack here, but before digging directly into the field of education, let us analyze the vison of Pakistan’s ruling elite toward country’s digitalization and AI is being used by other sectors to enhance the productivity.

Over the period of two decades, Pakistan have seen several campaigns to improve the current Digital Infrastructure in the country. From launching an online Citizen portal where citizens were able to register their complaints to the distribution of laptops among Students, the county did witness a revolution of tech but it was only confined to some urban centers. People in the peripheries of the country were largely oblivious to this new phenomenon. But even then, it was too little given the needs of the country. There is still the same old mind set in the bureaucracy of keeping large chunk of files in the government offices and the reluctance to use digital platforms for the well-being of the citizens. Pakistan has 64% of Youth Population and is producing one of the highest numbers of IT graduates, but these IT graduates often become tend to move abroad because those who are sitting in the government and are devising policies are “digitally illiterate” up to an extent that even after the direct orders from Islamabad High-court, advising the state machinery to bring Amazon and PayPal to Pakistan, govt is still unable to act upon it, and the people of Pakistan are still unable to fully exploit the advantages of Amazon services, forget about bringing Apple and Google. We have a lot to learn from India in this regard, it has one of fastest evolving and developing IT sectors and just about last year, right after the Pandemic was over, Apple started its local manufacturing in India giving a new rise to its economy and digital future. Amazon, Meta, Google, etc. all big tech giants have been locally operational in India and also, they have been monitoring their operations in South Asia from India given the size and hegemony of Indian Market. Pakistan, on the other hand is still struggling to convince Google and others to launch their operations in Pakistan but its still a long way to go.

Coming back to the topic of AI and how it can help us in the field of Education, the concept is not entirely new as some schools and colleges did opt for AI tools during the pandemic. One such School was “The City School Group”, that partnered with “Century” to help their students continues their studies without any disruption with the help of AI. 108 Schools, all belonging to the same group, and almost 28,000 got benefited through this initiative. According to the administration of the school, both Students and teachers were able to take the ownership of their learning through AI and were able to access any information they wanted without any time constraints and also teachers were able to prepare themselves more efficiently to explain the concepts with evidence and since the school have started using AI, its quality of education and learning has improved drastically and they were able to achieve better results. Through the help of AI, they were able to focus on what needs to be addressed and that helped the teachers in identifying the problems and also to take the necessary steps to resolve the issue. Teachers at The City School now think that if there is anyone out there who is not using AI for learning and teaching, he/she is doing s great disservice to the profession of teaching and to their students as well.

The City School partnering with Century to opt for AI tools is just one example, even if there were schools and colleges who were not considering or were not reluctant to take the initiative to use Technology to enhance the learning experience of their students, they had no choice but to opt for technology when after the Pandemic hit and the countrywide Lockdown was imposed but it can be argues that its just a story of the urban cities, what happens in the country’s rural areas, it’s a different question all together.

All things about The City School and its partnership with Century considered, it’s a fact their only exists for country’s elite and upper Middle Class. The rural Population of Pakistan, according to the last consensus, is 62.56% of the total population. The 28,000 students of The City School who were able to exploit the benefits of AI to improve their skills and learning experience, belong to a particular class and are in minority as comparted to hundreds of thousands other children who never sat foot in the school. And these are very alarming numbers. We can forget about AI revolutionizing the field of education if we are not ready to deploy proper means and methods to ensure that no child is out of the school and this should be done on emergency basis. And its about time, that we should stop making excuses about the lack of funds, the poor and unstable state of our economy etc. to build state of the art infrastructure. If we are to learn one lesson from the Pandemic, it was that we don not need lavish facilities to educate our children. All we need is some AI tools and teachers who are trained and equipped with modern day technology and can help students navigate through their academic journey. If one private school, with the help of AI startup can help 28,000 students, it sure proves that state, with much better resource and minds, can devise plans and policies to launch several such initiatives to educate children through AI tools (Century etc.).

No one is denying that Pakistan is going through a drastic economic crisis and surely is not able to allocate more resources or budgets on making new schools and colleges, but that’s where AI comes in and by opting for a digital solution, not only we can achieve our desired results, we can equipped our youth with skills that will make their financial condition much better and they can play a productive role in our economy, just like Stuart Argues that AI literally can help us achieve the freedom to live a fulfilling life but the more we delay, the more bad its going to be in the longer run.

Related: Scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI) education in Pakistan

Till now, you all must have seen that disturbing video making rounds on social media, in which a girl is being beaten and abused by three of her classmates, all of them belonging to a posh, elite-class school Scarsdale International School (SIS). The more shocking thing apart from those three girls bullying one of their class fellows was that this was not an ordinary middle-class school or some public sector University where the clashes between two Students’ Unions are not news, nor it was some Madrassah, where such incidents have become quite a norm, sadly. But what was more surprising was the background story and the incident that took place afterwards. Afterall, it was the issue of a “class” and the “influential and untouchable elite” of our country.

Violence and disruption in Campuses is hardly a new thing in Campuses all across the country, from Karachi University (KU) to Punjab University (PU) Lahore. Every other day we hear the news of a new clash, either between two Political groups or between two ethnic groups and sometimes the violence has some religiously motivated reasons too. Many political commentators and journalists have been trying to insinuate that Students Unions were the sole reason behind the violence that we have been witnessing in Campuses for all these years but that’s not the full picture that can explain the never-ending phenomenon of violence in campuses. If we look at the data and figures, it becomes evident that after the Government banned the Student Unions back in 1980’s, the clashes and violence only increased as the political platforms to resolve conflicts were no longer available, hence there was no other option left for Students but to resort to violence. Academics and politicians who present the case for the restoration of Students Unions argue that Unions were banned by a military dictator of that time and the sole purpose of banning that platform was to put an end to the political mobilization in campuses and discard the democratic practices and this ban eventually ended up de-politicizing the youth of the country up to the extent that the term “politics” became a form of abuse. But as stated earlier, putting an end to political activism on campus did not really put an end to violence and disruption as was proposed by the military regime of that time. And I would argue that this was the plan all along, the anti-democratic forces of the country had no problem with violence or disruption, their aim to ban Students Unions was only to prolong their illegitimate rule on one hand and to discourage people from joining Politics (especially the country’s vibrant middle class) on the other. All across the Globe, Students Unions are considered to be the nursery of Politicians as they provide Political Leadership to their countries, so when this institution got banned, it put a serious dent not only on the welfare and well-being of Students but also put the country’s democratic future at stake.

But the question that one might ask, what exactly is the link between the culture of Violence in Public Universities and the bullying we witness in private schools? (What happened at Scarsdale International School was just a tip of the iceberg, it was only able to get our attention because the video went viral on social media). The answer to that question lies in the argument of famous Philosopher, Michael Foucault, as per him there is nothing in this world, that is “apolitical”. If we try to unpack this, we can see that anyone who invokes this term “apolitical” is often coming from a state of privilege that allows him the luxury of being indifferent towards the injustice and oppression that’s happening around him. Like for example, the father of the girl who got beaten by her classmates has no option to be apolitical anymore, he has to fight the case of his daughter in the court of law. The events that followed make it clearer that it was after all, the issue of class above everything else. The girls who were involved in committing that heinous crime, were able to get the pre-arrest bail, and they didn’t even have to appear before magistrate. This speaks volumes about what goes on in such private schools and how the administration of school with the help of our state’s machinery covers up these acts under that garb of “teenage anger” etc. And the story just does not end here, the victim’s father while speaking to an online news channel said that not only, he is being blackmailed by the school to cut a deal with the families of the perpetrators, but also, he is being threatened to face severe consequences if he will not oblige because, the opposite parties are “powerful”. He also said that his daughter was beaten up for straight 45 minutes and no one from the administration stepped in or tried to stop them. It is quite evident that they had no fear to face any consequences for their actions and maybe it was just a routine activity for them, only God knows.

There are people who are terming this whole incident as just a routine school bullying and that there is no need to involve the authorities and put these teen girls through the juvenile detention system, only the detention from school for a certain time period should be enough. This argument may have some substance but just for the sake of it, let’s assume if things would have gone out of hand? Like they did in the case of Shahrukh Jatoi, where he ended up killing a youngster for the same very reason, because he thought he had the power and the impunity and that he was “untouchable”. From the claims of the victim’s father, it is undeniable that the motivations of these girls were the same because it’s not the mindset of any individual but is prevalent in the whole class.

No one is denying the importance of parenting, corporal punishments by the school, counseling and other such efforts when it comes to fight and take actions against bullying, rather it is an established fact that children in most cases take after from their parents, but we have to keep in mind that sometimes it gets beyond the control of their parents and state has to step in, especially when there are power and class struggles are involved and in such cases, state should protect the vulnerable and weak at all costs. And that’s where I think Unionization should play its role. Instead of discouraging youth from participating in Politics, this act should be encouraged and Unions should be promoted, not the other way around.

The ruling elite of 1980’s decided to deprive the students from their right to mobilize and unite to raise their concerns and it’s been four decades now that the country’s youth have no Political platform and the country’s democracy is on the decline for the same reason. The only possible solution for us to make things better both in Schools and in Campuses, is to break down this myth that Students taking part in Politics and their Unions are somewhat the only reason we see the violence, the opposite of that is actually true. The more political space students will have, the less violent they will be. The example of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is right in front of us, where Students have empowered Unions and they are the forefronts of the struggle against the fascism of the current regime. The President of JNU Students Unions is as powerful as any State Minister. And maybe that’s what exactly scares our ruling elite and the establishment. They do not want that much power in the hands of any Student leader and that too belonging to a public sector University and hence they have made it illegal and unlawful for Students to do “politics”. The absurdity of this claim cannot be stated enough, I mean how can a country who claims to be a Constitutional democracy can put a blanket ban on the nursery of Political Leadership and can deprive a vast majority of its citizens of their fundamental democratic right. This has resulted into the political suffocation that often takes up the shape of violence in campuses. The suffocation that has been created by the state intelligentsia to suppress the idea of a multinational diverse society and to bestow upon it a homogenous, artificial identity must be changed. Students must be allowed to find spaces to share their ideas and respect their identities and ideologies. This is the only way out of Pakistan’s many crises.

The only possible and likely solution, if one is seriously thinking to end this cycle of violence for good, is to revive the culture of Students Unions, so Students can have a peaceful dialogue among, can learn to accommodate political differences and develop this sense of co-existing with their political rivals, and only then, not only the violence can be abolished but in the long run, country’s democracy will be strengthened.

Related: Bullying By Teachers? Yes, It Happens All The Time

World Teacher’s Day 2022 is observed to pay tribute to the builders of the nation. Numbers of ceremonies were organized at the government level, schools, colleges, and universities. Seminars, and conferences, were among the programs organized to mark the day.

Punjab Schools Education (PSE) Minister Murad Raas also shared his message on Twitter in connection to World Teachers Day. He tweeted, ‘To all the Honorable Teachers on this Teacher’s Day, I thank you for all your hard work and dedication towards our children. My request is to handle our children with love and care. You are Nation-builders. The future of Pakistan is in your hands. Best wishes from me.

To all the Honourable Teachers on this Teacher’s Day, I thank you for all your hard work and dedication towards our children. My request to handle our children with love and care. You are Nation builders. The future of Pakistan is in your hands. Best wishes from me.

— Murad Raas (@DrMuradPTI) October 5, 2022

President All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) Kashif Mirza said, “About 22 million teachers are working in moreover 131000 Public schools and 203800 Private Schools of Pakistan. About 7 million teachers are working in public schools and 15 million in Private Schools in Pakistan. But unfortunately, 49 percent of government school teachers and 86 percent of private school teachers across the country received no formal training during the past ten years, sparking a decline in student enrolments. All Pakistan Private Schools Federation’s survey has shown — both in the public and private sectors — that almost 58 percent of public-school teachers and 78 percent private school teachers have no knowledge of the national curriculum and also have not been offered any courses on assessment techniques during their pre-service training. Despite having better-qualified and more experienced teachers, public schools fail to match the education quality of private schools.”

The situation of teachers in Punjab province is not as per standards, as there are more than 80,000 posts of teachers vacant across the province. According to the Annual School Census 2020-21 there are 448,637 sanctioned posts of schoolteachers in Punjab and of these 366,671 posts are filled while 81,966 posts are vacant.

World Teachers’ Day is held annually on 5 October to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.

The renowned scholar Syed Abul Ala Maududi, in a joint gathering of Shia and Sunni people, delivered a speech in Urdu on the topic of Shahadat e Imam Hussain (RA). It was later published in July 1960 in Tarjuman ul Quran, now being presented in English translation, done by Mr Ali Abbas, for the interest of masses.

THE OBJECTIVE OF BEARING WITNESS

Every year, in the month of Muharram, millions of Shi’as and Sunnis alike mourn Imam Hussain (RA)’s martyrdom. It is regrettable, however, that very few of these mourners focus their attention on the objective for which the Imam Hussain not only sacrificed his life but also the lives of his kith and kin. It is but natural for his family members and those who foster feelings of love, respect and empathy for his family to express their grief over his martyrdom. The nature of this sadness and grief is apparent universally and also from those who bear relations with them. The moral appreciation and futility of this sentiment with the persona of this individual is nothing more than the love that bears out as a natural consequence with his relatives and sympathizers of his kin. But the question is, what is so particular about Imam Hussain that even though 1320 years have elapsed our grief is afresh? If his martyrdom was not for a sacred objective, the mere continuation of this remembrance on a personal level is meaningless. And in the eyes of Imam Hussain, what value would this mere personal love and devotion hold? If his own self were dearer than the objective, then he would not have sought sacrifice. His sacrifice bears witness that that he held the objective dearer than his own self. Therefore, if we do not work for this objective and to the contrary work against it, our mere continuity of lamentation and the cursing of his killers will not earn us an appreciation from the Imam Hussain on the day of resurrection, nor should we expect that our actions will hold value with God.

Now, we are to ask, what was that objective? Did the Imam Hussain (RA) affirm his claim to authority and rule by virtue of personal right, for which he staked his life to vindicate his claim? Anyone who knows the high moral standard of Imam Hussain’s household cannot harbor the vile notion that they would cause bloodshed among the Muslims to gain political power. Even for a moment if we consider this viewpoint acceptable – the opinion that this family held a personal right to rule- a glance at the fifty-year history from Abu Bakr (RA) to Amir Muawiyah (RA) bears evidence that waging war and causing bloodshed merely to seize power had never been their motive. As a logical corollary, one has to admit that the Imam Hussain (RA)’s keen eye discerned symptoms of decay and corruption in the system of Muslim society and the Islamic state, and thus he felt impelled to resist these forces –even if it required treading a path of war which he not only considered to be legitimate but an obligation as well.

CHANGE IN THE STATE’S TEMPERAMENT, OBJECTIVE AND RULE

What was that imminent change? Obviously, people had not changed their religion. All people including the ruling class had faith in God, the Prophet and the Qur’an in the same manner as they did in the past. Laws for the state had not changed. Judicial courts carried out decisions of matters in the light of the Qur’an and tradition of the Prophet [Sunnah] during Bani Umayyah’s reign, as they were carried out prior to their reign of government. As a matter of fact, no legal change ever took place in any Muslim state in the world prior to the 19th century. Some people highlight Yazid’s personal character, giving currency to a common misunderstanding that the stance taken by Imam Hussain (RA) and his uprising was to prevent the ascension to power of a man of reprehensible character. But in spite of presenting the worst possible picture of Yazid’s character, and its acceptance thereof, still prevents us to accept, that even if the state is founded on correct principles, the ascension of a man of reprehensible character to the position of governance, is not a matter of concern, that would incur an impatience attitude from Imam Hussain: a man of wisdom, foresight and knowledge of the Shari’a. It is for this reason that the persona of the individual is not the correct reason for the mental perturbation of the Imam Hussain. A deep study of history will bring to our realization that Yazid’s nomination as his father’s successor, and his later coronation as king, marked a radical change in the object and conduct of the Islamic Constitution. Although the consequences of this change were not apparent at that instant, a farsighted person could easily comprehend the nature of the change, and the eventuality of the course it embarks upon. It was this change and the catastrophe towards which the Islamic State was heading that Imam Hussain (RA) foresaw, and he resolved to stake his life to prevent it.

POINT OF DEVIATION

In order to fully understand this situation, we have to find out the characteristic feature of the constitution that had been guiding the state administration for a period of forty years under the leadership of the Prophet and the rightly-guided caliphs. Further, what were the main features of the administrative system of a new Muslim state taking birth under the aegis of the Umayyad, Abbasid and subsequent dynasties right up from the time of Yazid’s nomination? With this comparative study we shall be able to establish the course of its development, and what course it took after this point of deviation. Also, from this comparative study we shall understand why a person who was brought up and trained under the guidance of the Prophet, Sayeda Fatima (RA) and Hazrat ‘Ali (RA), and who shared the companionship of the best of the companions from his infancy to adulthood, would take a stand and resist the new change –irrespective of the consequences when the point of deviation was setting in.

BEGINNING OF KINGSHIP

The first and foremost feature of the Islamic State would reflect that rather than mere oral assent, a conviction from the heart and conformity of deeds with actions attests and bears witness to the faith (in the following propositions): that the sovereignty of the Muslim state is wholly vested in the Supreme Being; the people are God’s subjects; the rulers are accountable to God; the government does not exercise power over its subjects, nor are the subjects its slaves. The rulers are first to exercise their servitude and bondage to God and then to implement the divine laws among their subjects. Yazid’s nomination as successor marked the beginning of that type of kingship in which the concept of God’s sovereignty was reduced to mere oral assent. Practically, he adopted the same view that has always been maintained by monarchs, i.e. sovereignty is vested in the monarch and his family, and he is the undisputed master of life, property, honor and every tangible and intangible entity of his subjects. The Divine Law, if instituted in his kingship, was enforced on the subjects; the King, his family, the nobles and the officials were exempted from it.

NEGLECT OF THE MORAL OBLIGATION TO ENJOIN WHAT IS RIGHT AND FORBID WHAT IS WRONG

The objective of the Islamic State was to establish those virtues and their propagation that are dear to God, and to suppress and eradicate those evils that are disliked by Him. But after having chosen the path of monarchy, the objective of the state was none other than indulging in the possession of land, self-aggrandizement, the collection of tribute and the gratification of sensual desires. The monarchs were rarely inclined to serve the purpose of living up to the sacrament of witnessing [the shahada]. The monarchs, their nobles and their officials were instrumental in propagating vice than virtue. Most of the godly persons who contributed their mite to the promotion of good, suppression of vice, preaching the religion of Islam, compiling books on religion and carrying research work in Islamic studies –incurred the displeasure of the rulers and were hardly ever patronized. Despite the opposition of the state authorities, they continued to adhere to their mission. Despite these efforts, the mode of life and the policy of the rulers, officers and their subordinates continuously led the Muslim society to moral degradation. For their own personal sake, they even surpassed the limits, and did not hesitate to create obstacles in the propagation of Islam, and the worst example of this practice being the imposition of tax on the revert Muslims [those who revert back to Islam after being raised in a state other than submission].

The soul of the Islamic State rests in piety and fear of God, and it’s witnessing is born by the head of the state. The state’s employees, judges and military officers are imbued with this spirit, and in turn they infuse it into society. But once they tread the path of monarchy, the Muslim states and their rulers adopted the pomp and pageantry of Caesar. Oppression and injustice overruled justice. Instead of righteousness, profligacy and luxury had come into vogue. The failure to distinguish between the lawfulness and unlawfulness of affairs, rendered in a lack of character and actions of the rulers. Politics was no longer cogent with morality. The rulers kept their subjects under fear instead of instilling the fear of God; and instead of awakening their faith and conscious they bought them by virtue of briberies.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC CONSTITUTION

Such was the deplorable change in the spirit, purpose and character of the Muslim rulers. A similar change also appeared in the fundamental principles of the Islamic constitution. While the constitution was based on certain important principles, each of them underwent a transformation.

1. Free Election

A government is to be established on the free consent of the masses and this is the foundation of the Islamic constitution. [This was meant to ensure that] No individual by his struggle be able to secure power for himself, and that the masses should entrust power to best among the candidates after mutual consultation. Allegiance should not be secured based on rulership but be a consequence [of assuming power]. There should be no maneuvering to secure allegiance [or oath of fealty] on the individual’s behalf. Everyone should be free to exercise their right to pay allegiance or to refuse it. Unless the oath of allegiance is secured, no one should seize power; and when confidence is lost [in his rule], no longer should the individual be in a position to rule. Each of the righteous successors to the Prophet came to power according to this prescribed article. In the case of Amir Muawiyah his position [of claim to succession] became dubious. This is the reason why he was not included among the righteous successors [of the Prophet], despite of his being a companion [of the Prophet]. And, eventually it was the drastic event of Yazid’s nomination [as Muawiyah’s successor] that overturned the [validity] of these articles. This resulted in the beginning of a chain of hereditary monarchy –and ever since, the Muslims have not been able to revert back to the [principle of] electing a caliph. Now individuals had assumed rule not by virtue of free and consultative deliberations of the masses but by their dint of power. Allegiance was secured through power instead of securing power through allegiance. The masses were not free to give or hold back their oaths of allegiance. Securing allegiance was no longer a prerequisite of acquiring power. In the first place, people had no option to refuse allegiance to the ruling individual. And even if people refused to give allegiance, the person ruling did not part with it [rule]. When Imam Malik (RA) during the reign of Mansor Abbasi committed the offense of asking the caliph to abstain from coercive methods of securing allegiance, he was flogged and his arms were amputated.

2. Principle of Consultation

The second important article of this constitution was the establishment of a consultative system of government, where advice should be sought from individuals of learned, pious disposition [also possessing] sound judgment, who enjoy the confidence and trust of the masses. During the period of the righteous successors, members of the consultative council were not elected. By modern day standards they were elected by the consent of the people. They were not appointed as advisors by the caliphs because they would serve as “yes men” or [men who would] serve their interests. As a matter of fact, they chose the best people from amongst the community with all sincerity and an unbiased attitude, who were expected to uphold the truth; express their opinion according to the dictates of their conscience with integrity. There was not the least suspicion that they would permit the government to astray. Had elections been held in this time in accordance with the existing norms, the general Muslims would have reposed confidence in the same persons only. With the advent of the monarchy, the consultative system underwent a transformation. The monarchical administration was based on autocratic and despotic methods. The prince’s sycophants, courtiers, provincial governors and military commanders served in council as members. Adviser’s positions were assumed only by those persons who, if opinion polls had been taken in their case, would have scored thousands of votes of censure against one vote of confidence. The truth loving, the learned and the God-fearing persons who enjoyed public confidence had no value in the eyes of despotic rulers. Instead, they incurred the king’s wrath or were looked upon with suspicion.

3. Freedom for Expression of Opinion

The third principle of the constitution provided for the freedom of expression. The furtherance of virtue and suppression of evils have been enjoined by Islam not only as the right of Muslims, but as an obligation. Freedom of conscience and speech was the pivot on which the Islamic society and state administration functioned in the right direction. The people must have the liberty to find fault with the most prominent among the Muslims in case they went astray and be outspoken in all matters. During the tenure of the righteous caliphs, the rights of the people were not only protected, but the caliphs regarded it as their duty and encouraged the people in the discharge of such a duty. Freedom of speech, giving a warning and demanding an explanation from the Caliph himself was not restricted only to the members of the consultative council, but this was enjoyed by each and every individual Muslim. If they exercised this right, they were not taken to task. On the other hand, their bold step was extolled and applauded. This freedom was not a gift of the ruler, but it was a constitutional right bestowed upon them by Islam and they regarded it as their duty to pay due respect to it [i.e. the masses exercising their rights]. The use of this privilege for the vindication of truth was an obligation entrusted on every Muslim by God and his apostle, and it’s very purpose served to keep the atmosphere of the society and state congenial for the fulfillment of this obligation, which [upholding this right] was considered to be an integral part of the function of the Caliphate.

With the beginning of monarchy, the voice of conscience was stifled and freedom [for expression of opinion] was denied. Now the norm in session was that if anyone had to voice their opinion, it should be in the favor of the ruler, or else they should maintain silence if the urge of conscience was so powerful that one could not desist from declaring the truth, they had to be prepared for the imprisonment or loss of life. This policy, slowly and gradually led the Muslims to a [moral] decay and they became discouraged, turned coward and time servers. The number of individuals who could risk their life by adhering to truth began to diminish. Flattery and wickedness loomed at large in society and adherence to principles of truth and rectitude lost their value. Highly qualified and honest people severed their relations with the government. People disliked the monarchical government so much that their hearts held no desire to uphold it. When a new regime emerged to displace the old one, people did not move in support of the later. One regime succeeded another. People witnessed the incoming and outgoing spectacle as passive spectators without evincing any interest therein.

4. Accountability before the Creator and His Creation

The fourth principle, closely related to the third principle [freedom for expression of opinion], was both the Caliph and his government are accountable before God and God’s creation. As far as the sense of this responsibility is concerned, it kept the righteous caliphs restless day and night. And in relation to the accountability before [God’s] creation, each of them considered himself accountable before the masses. It was not necessary that the caliph should be questioned before the consultative council only after raising a call motion. They faced the public five times, every day in the congregational prayer at the mosque. Every week on Fridays, the caliphs acquainted the masses with the affairs of the state and also lent them ears. They moved about in the marketplace without being escorted by bodyguards and mixed with the people unprotected by a security force. The portals of the government buildings were open and the caliph was accessible to everyone. On all such occasions, one could solicit questions and seek replies. They [the caliphs] had to be ready to be questioned by anyone, at any time. The right to submit questions [to the caliph] was not restricted to the representatives alone, but was enjoyed and exercised by every individual. The caliphs assumed power with the consent of the masses and they [masses] were the supreme authority competent to remove a caliph and elect another in his place. The elected caliph did not, therefore, anticipate any threat in meeting the masses, and neither were they afraid of being removed from the office. The monarchist government was devoid of the concept of accountability [before God or His creation]. For them the accountability to the Creator was a mere oral assent and was rarely translated into action. And as to accountability to the masses, nobody had the courage to ask them for an explanation [of their deeds]. Caliphs exercised absolute authority over them. They had acquired power by the dint of force, and their slogan was a challenge: to those who had the might to wrestle power from their hands. How can such individuals face the masses, and how can they have access to them? Even when they offered prayers, it was done either in well-guarded mosques in special locations, or if in an open place, they were generally surrounded by their close associates. Whenever they went in vehicles, they had an armed police guard both in front and behind to keep the way clear of traffic. There was scarcely any chance of their coming across to the public.

5. The Public Treasury, a Trust

The fifth principle of the Islamic constitution laid down that the public treasury was God’s property and a trust from the Muslims. Nothing should be received except through lawful means, and nothing should be spent on except lawful purposes. The Caliph enjoyed only so much jurisdiction over it as a trustee has over the property of a minor orphan under his custody, as [the Qur’an says IV:6 Whoever is rich, let him abstain altogether, and whoever is poor, let him eat reasonably. The Caliph was to be accountable for its income and expenditure and the Muslims held every right to ask the caliph for its distribution as well. The righteous Caliphs meticulously followed this principle. Whatever was deposited in the treasury was done so according to the principles of Islamic law, and whatever was spent was done so for due needs. Whoever was well-to-do, performed honorary services without drawing a single penny from the public treasury towards his remuneration. Moreover, he never hesitated to spend out of his pocket for the nation. Those who could not serve without emoluments, they took the minimum to meet the essential requirements of life. Every reasonable person would admit that the remuneration they took was far less than what was actually due. Even a hostile critic would not dare to criticize it. Every Muslim had the right to demand the accounts of the income and expenditure of the public treasury, and the Caliphs were always prepared for accountability. A common man could submit a question to the Caliph: how he was able to prepare such a lengthy tunic for himself although the dimensions of the sheets of the cloth received from Yemen could not make one of so big a size? But when the Caliphate degenerated into monarchy, the public treasury became the exclusive property of the monarch instead of the Divine and of the masses. Money was being received both through lawful and unlawful resources and squandered in legal and illegal ways. No one dared to hold them accountable. The entire revenue of the state was a source of enjoyment which was being exploited by everyone from an ordinary letter bearer right up to the state administrator, according to their capabilities. They were completely unmindful of the fact that authority over administration was not a license for misappropriating public trust. They were fully convinced that they could continue to devour the public treasury and no one would hold them accountable [for their deeds].

6. Rule of the Law

The sixth principle of this constitution was that the country will be governed by law (i.e. the law of God and His prophet). Nobody should be over-and-above the law, nor should they transgress the limits demarcated by law. There should be uniform legal provision for all from a common man to the head of the state, and its enforcement should be for all without discrimination. Partiality should not be allowed to intrude into matters of justice and equity, and the courts of law should be free from being influenced. The righteous Caliphs had set the best example of adherence to this principle. In spite of enjoying more power than monarchs, they strictly adhered to this Divine Law. Friendship and nepotism never induced the Caliphs to ignore the prescribed rules and regulations, nor their displeasure caused harm to any one against the canons of the Islamic law. If anyone happened to infringe their right, the matter was referred to court, just like an ordinary citizen. In case someone had a complaint against them, grievances were addressed in the court of law. Similarly, the governors and commanders in chief were held in the grip of the law, and no one dared influence the judge in judicial matters. Anyone who contravened the provisions of the law had no chance of escaping the legal consequences. No sooner was the Caliphate converted to monarchism, than this article [of the constitution] was consigned to oblivion. Not only the kings, princes, nobles, officials and commanders, but even favorite valets and maid servants connected with the palace were considered over and above the law. People were physically and morally at their mercy. There were two balances of justice: one for the strong weak and second for the influential. Pressure was brought to bear on the judges’ decisions in the courts, and those who observed integrity in deciding cases had to pay a heavy price for their integrity and scrupulous regard for justice. The God-fearing jurists preferred bearing torture and imprisonment to becoming instrumental in perpetrating aggression and high-handedness, lest they fall prey to Divine chastisement.

7. Complete Equality in Rights and Status

The seventh principle of the Islamic Constitution pertained to complete equality in rights and status, which was completely assured in the early period of the Islamic State. There was no distinction among the Muslims on the basis of race, language and place of birth. No one enjoyed superiority over another on the basis of clan, family and race. There was equality in the rights and status of all those who believed in God and His Apostle. If preference was to be accorded, it was accorded based on character, capability attitude and service. When the Caliphate was replaced with monarchism, the demons of prejudice and bigotry raised their heads. The tribes related to the monarchs were assigned position of advantages over other tribes. Prejudice and distinction between Arabs and non-Arabs were revived and conflicts emerged. History bears witness to the extent of damage caused to the Islamic entity by these factional wranglings.

IMAM HUSSAIN’S CHARACTER AS A BELIEVER

These were the changes that appeared in the wake of converting the Islamic Caliphate into a monarchy. No one can deny that Yazid’s nomination as successor to his father was the starting point of all these transformations. It cannot be said that after a short span of time from the point of origin, all the corrupt practices mentioned above came into existence. At the time when this revolutionary step was taken, even though these evils had not yet surfaced, a man of vision could have predicted these inevitable consequences of such a beginning. And predicted that the reforms introduced by Islam in the administrative and political phases of the state would be rendered null and void by these changes. This is the reason why Imam Hussain could not remain indifferent, and he decided to stem the tide of the evil forces by taking the risk of confronting the worst consequences by rising in revolt against an established government. The consequences of this bold stand are known to everyone. The fact which the Imam Hussain wanted to emphasize, by plunging himself into grave danger and enduring its consequences heroically, was that the fundamental features of an Islamic State are valuable assets. It would not be a bad bargain if a believer sacrificed his life and had his family members slain in return for this valuable objective. A believer should not hesitate to sacrifice all that he possesses for preventing the changes which constitutes a danger to the religion of Islam and the Muslim community which is a custodian of the principles mentioned above. One is at liberty to contemptuously disregard it as merely a maneuver for securing political power, but in the eyes of Hussain Ibn ‘Ali, it was primarily a religious obligation. He therefore laid down his life to this cause, gaining the crown of martyrdom.

Other than Shahadat e Imam Hussain (RA), you can also read Lessons from the Life of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA)