SUPPORT TO MADARIS STUDENTS IN KP

Madrassahs (religious seminaries)

Madrassahs (religious seminaries) in Pakistan are part of an education system

Madrassahs (religious seminaries) in Pakistan are part of an education system that is not fully integrated into the government’s mainstream educational structure. The graduates of madrassahs are primarily educated in the field of religious education with very few relatively well-endowed madrassahs also imparting contemporary education to their pupils. Notwithstanding the fact that madrassahs have historically served as centres of learning for Islamic scholars—as well as their role as welfare institutions providing food, accommodation, religious education, and a possible livelihood to thousands of destitute youth and adolescents who cannot afford formal education—the graduates of madrassahs do face difficulties in earning respectable livelihoods. The reason is that their primarily religious education in madrassahs does not fully equip them with the knowledge and skills required by the contemporary job market.

Therefore, CODE PAKISTAN supported madaris students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in order to impart employable knowledge and skills to madrassahs youth studying in five madrassahs in KP.

We embarked on the project in testing times of the Covid-19 pandemic where educational activities and schedules were uncertain because of government restrictions. We were, however, able to achieve success by overcoming all the challenges that came our way during the process.

CODE PAKISTAN went through a painstaking process for selection of madrassahs for the project intervention in the province of KP. Once all the madrassahs for the project intervention were shortlisted, a detailed needs assessment of the educational and vocational training needs of each madrassah was conducted.

As per the needs assessment conducted by CODE PAKISTAN in the five target madrassahs, all the target madrassah students opted for computer-based Microsoft Office courses. As per the educational needs assessment conducted by CODE PAKISTAN, the students of all the five target madrassahs save one opted for English language courses. Only Jamia Moeeniya students opted for Legal Drafting/Legal Awareness course.

Although we had set out to train a total of 150 students (30 students per madrassah) in both English language and computer skills, we far exceeded our target in terms of numbers. We successfully trained a total of 223 students (121 in instructional courses of English language and legal drafting/ awareness and 102 in vocational courses of computer).

As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 below, we met or exceeded our target on the number of students for each madrassah.

Figure 1

Beneficiaries of English Language and Legal Drafting Awareness Courses

In addition, despite the difficulties of working with women in the madrassah of the peripheral areas of the country, we successfully completed delivering English language and computer courses in Jamia tus Salihat in the Khadegzai area of the Lower Dir district. We successfully trained a total of 41 female students of the target madrassah in that remote area through our intervention. As shown in Figure 3 below, 19 percent of our beneficiary students were female, which is 4 percentage points higher than what we had initially set out to achieve.

Figure 3

Gender Disaggregated Data of the Beneficiaries

Jamia Rahmania Dargai

Jamia Rahmania Dargai was the only madrassah among our target madrassahs whose students had some exposure to English language learning. The feedback of the students in assessment tests showed that they had learnt the basics to pronounce correct words and link them grammatically/ syntactically in sentences. The instructor of the course recommended more such courses for the students of the target madrassah as well as other madrassahs. He also recommended refresher courses for the instructors as well. 

Jamia Rahmania Dargai

Jamia Rahmania Dargai was the only madrassah among our target madrassahs whose students had some exposure to English language learning. The feedback of the students in assessment tests showed that they had learnt the basics to pronounce correct words and link them grammatically/ syntactically in sentences. The instructor of the course recommended more such courses for the students of the target madrassah as well as other madrassahs. He also recommended refresher courses for the instructors as well. 

Since Jamia Atharia did not have a functioning computer lab, the students of the madrassah had limited acquaintance with computers. The students were, however, quite eager to learn and actively participated in the practical workshops. The instructor of this course was quite satisfied with the learning curve of the students as well as their eagerness and ability to learn quickly. He was further of the view that since the madrassah students had more specified interests with regard to computers, the basic computer literacy course could be supplemented with a course on computer graphic designing with tools like Adobe Suite because after acquiring the basic the students were more interested in learning them.

Jamia Ghousia Moeeniya Peshawar

Jamia Ghousia Moeeniya Peshawar was the only madrassah among our target madrassahs that had chosen Legal Awareness/Legal Drafting course instead of English language course, for which our partner institution had hired a very able former judge of the KP judiciary as the instructor. The understanding of the students about the basic legal structure of the country was quite limited to begin with.  The instructor of the course was quite pleased with the response of the students to the course. The students as well as the administration of madrassah highly appreciated the effort and thanked CODE PAKISTAN for arranging the training, according to him. The students shared with him that the training and basic legal awareness would help them understand the basic legal issues and enable to respond to such issues in accordance with the law. The administration also shared with him that knowledge of legal drafting would help the madrassah students to use this skill as a source of earning livelihood for themselves and their dependents. They told him that the process of skill development in different fields should be extended to all the madrassahs, affording an equal opportunity to all the students to learn and then utilize the same for their economic empowerment, after graduation

The students of Jamia Ghousia Moeeniya had very little familiarity with computers. Even though the madrassahs is centrally located in Peshawar, the level of awareness about computers among the students was very limited. Even though the final scores were in line with the existing level of knowledge of the students about computers, the instructor was not as satisfied with the performance of the students as some of our other instructors in other madrassahs were. The instructor was of the view, however, that when the students overcame their initial lack of awareness about computers the pace of their learning improved. Edara Ghousia Tibyan ul Quran Malakand The initial level of English-language understanding among the student of Edara Tibyan-ul-Quran was quite basic. The students had had no exposure and opportunity to learn English before our course. The instructor of the English-language course was of the view that the course brought about a sea-change in their skills and competence. The students who were unable to introduce themselves at initial level were able to talk, understand, and comprehend the target language till the end of the course. He added that the students were highly motivated to take such courses in future too. He listed boosting the confidence of the students as a challenge and as they were religious students so it was a challenge to attract the students to some new environment. He recommended such courses for the madrassah students because. He added that English had become very important in today’s world so such courses needed to be regularly taught to madrassah students as they were deprived of such courses. Like the students of Jamia Ghousia Moeeniya in Peshawar, the students of Jamia Ghousia Tibyan ul Quran were also unacquainted with computers. The instructor had to begin the course with a basic introduction of the computers before proceeding to delivering the Microsoft Office course in which he can only impart a basic training to the students in the available time and resources. Even though the final scores were in line with the existing level of knowledge of the students about computers, the instructor was not as satisfied with the performance of the students as some of our other instructors in other madrassahs were. Despite a start from a very low base, however, the instructor was quite satisfied with the eagerness of the students to learn more about computers and even recommended introducing more similar courses in the same madrassah. As he mentioned, the students were quite fascinated by the potential of computers as a source of livelihood for them Jamia tus Salihat Khadagzai Lower Dir The students of Jamia tus Salihat had very little exposure to English language before the introduction of our course. The initial level of all students was A1. They could only understand basic words and phrases. In other words, they were at a very basic beginner level.  The instructor of the English-language course was of the view that it had brought a lot of positive changes among the students in language skills and personality grooming. All the four skills of language like listening, speaking, writing, and reading had been improved, according to her. According to her, the whole process of implementation went extremely smooth and that she received much support and interest from the management and students. She shared that the students desired a permanent course like this in their madrassah as they wanted to learn more. Their interest in learning English had increased during the course, according to her. She strongly recommended introduction of similar courses in other female madrassahs. Despite being a female madrassah and despite the fact that the students had little knowledge of computers before the initiation of the course, their interest in learning about computers was exemplary. The female instructor was very satisfied with the results and the training itself despite the fact that the students were introduced to computers for the very first time. She added that although the students faced some initial issues because of their unfamiliarity with the operating system they eventually felt at home and surprised her with their quick learning ability. She also recommended more courses for the students, especially in the field of graphic designing; something in which the female students could exercise their creativity. As the project, CODE PAKISTAN also held constructive dialogues between the students of madrassahs and contemporary education system. For the purpose, CODE PAKISTAN conducted the following four dialogues between the students of madrassahs and the students of the contemporary education: Jamia Islamia, Batkhela, and various Peshawar-based contemporary education institutions on “The Meaning, Purpose and Role of Education in Personal Development and Societal Evolution: Perspectives from Madrassa and Mainstream Educational Institutions;” Jamia Rahmania, Dargai, and various Peshawar-based contemporary education institutions on “Pakistan in the 21st Century: Youth’s Role in Economic Development and Positive Social Transformation;” Jamia Atharia, Peshawar, and Islamia College University, Peshawar on “The Importance of Tolerance in Peace and Prosperity of Nations;” and Jamia Ghousia Ghousia Moeeniya, Peshawar, and Islamia College University, Peshawar on “Fundamental Human Rights and Our Social Responsibility.”