Feudalism’s
Aversion to Education
July
15, 2005
Voices were raised mainly by
the traditional groups of Pakistani politicians
when the Musharraf government laid down that a person
aspiring for a seat in the federal or in a provincial
parliament would have to be at least a university
graduate to qualify as a candidate.
Although this condition was generally acknowledged
as having been laid down to ensure a minimum caliber
for public representatives, its vehement opposition
particularly by the landed aristocracy underlined
the continuing bane of politics being dominated
in the country by rural landowners.
Feudalism and education are anathema, indeed, to
each other. One derogates the other in the present-day
Pakistani social milieu. In Europe, on the other
hand, where feudalism was the prevalent system during
the middle ages, from 800 to 1350 AD, the feudal
barons and the church were instrumental in setting
up educational institutions including several universities.
These pulled Europe out of the Dark Age that followed
the fall of the Great Roman Empire and put Western
Europe in particular on the path leading to renaissance,
enlightenment, science, technology and industrialization.
Emperor Charlemagne, the most prominent intellectual
and king of the age of feudalism, who ruled over
Europe for almost half a century, 769 to 814, considered
literacy and learning essential to the rebirth of
the Roman Empire of his dream. He commanded every
cathedral and monastery of his kingdom to establish
schools. “Take care”, he ordered, “to
make no difference between the sons of serfs and
of freemen, so that they might come and sit on the
same benches to study grammar, music, and arithmetic.”
The path followed by the feudal aristocracy of Pakistan,
after Independence, was totally regressive. The
peasants and serfs were deprived of educational
facilities and treated like slave labor. The Sardars
of Balochistan were the most oppressive.
Fifty-eight years after Independence, one is surprised
to find that the tentacles of feudalism have become
firmer and harsher. Feudal dynasties now control
half a dozen political parties including ML (Q),
ML {N). Ironically enough, the so-called People’s
Party is headed by a prominent aristocrat/landlord,
Benazir. She talks all the time about elections
but has opted to be the chairperson for life of
her own party! That is in keeping with the feudal
spirit.
The end of the British rule in South Asia also marked
the beginning of the end of feudalism - the British
system of indirect control - in all countries of
the region with the glaring exception of Pakistan.
Education has perhaps been the biggest casualty
of this act of omission.
The exigencies of the early years of the new state,
allowed the establishment to put on hold land reforms.
The feudal elite, with the connivance of civil and
military bureaucracies, managed to establish their
hold on the country’s politics. The rapacious
rural aristocracy became the biggest force for the
maintenance of status quo in politics and policy
making. No wonder, the first general elections could
not be held before 1970 - 23 years after the creation
of Pakistan.
The feudal lords of West Pakistan, masquerading
as socialists under Bhutto’s People’s
Party, refused to hand over power to a commoner
from the Eastern wing despite the fact that the
latter had won an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
Bhutto was their leader then and his daughter, Benazir,
heads the coterie now. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan,
a blue-blooded landlord, held the fort for her,
till his death, as Benazir was unwilling to return
to her country to face the corruption charges against
her in courts of law.
During the entire history of the country, education
has remained sadly neglected. Educational reforms,
whenever carried out, such as those of President
Ayub or of Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto, touched the
issues only superficially without developing a questioning
mind among the youth of the country to challenge
the feudal domination.
The result of such a criminal neglect of the educational
sector is that today nearly a third of 5-9 year
olds are out of school and literacy rate is 38 per
cent only. Allocations for education have lingered
for years around 2.3 per cent of GNP per annum as
against a minimum of 4 per cent recommended by the
UN.
Here in the US, highest priority is given to education.
Readers of this column would recall that the single
most significant factor in their ability to reach
this country has been their education back home.
Reverting to the situation in Pakistan, one finds
that now the students who opt for science subjects
fail to apply a scientific approach to their subject,
as the educational system stifles their imagination,
creativity and curiosity. It is the spirit of inquiry
that makes a nation, and its absence mars it and
relegates it to the dustbin of history.
Pakistan is producing now less than 100 PhDs, as
against 5,000 by India!
Education is not, lamentably, considered crucial,
the very life-blood for the society’s survival
and progress.
The generation that came to Pakistan from India
carrying with them a high value for education has
gradually faded out and their children too have
absorbed the feudalistic spirit of getting something
for nothing. Or, they have managed to leave the
country for foreign lands where they could labor
and live well, unhindered and unsuppressed by the
ruling elite.
The unskilled, semi-skilled workers too managed
during 1975-90 to reach the Middle East to earn
respectable wages. Their remittances enabled their
families to send their children to schools. But,
the rapacious politicians and their corrupt bureaucratic
minions had, meanwhile, set up a system of ghost
schools to misappropriate government funds. Ten
per cent of some 42,000 schools in Sindh, for instance,
had become schools on paper only. The percentage
in Punjab was no better. The children of the workers
in the Middle East, particularly those hailing from
remote villages, had acquired the means to go to
schools but there were no schools within easy reach.
So they went to the religious schools attached to
local mosques where they could hardly get the education
that would enable them to eke out a living. The
supremacy of the landlord remained undisturbed.
The opportunity went to waste.
In this depressing scenario, the projects launched
by the present government hold out a ray of hope
of change in the obnoxious system.
Expansion of educational facilities from elementary
school to post-graduate levels, registration of
religious schools, introducing secular subjects
in their syllabi and enabling them financially to
hire teachers for the new subjects, expansion of
higher-level education in science and technology
in concert with other Muslim countries, are some
of the salient features. But, the most important
factor is the change in the value system and the
mindset concerning education.
The negative and hypocritical approach of the landed
aristocracy will have to yield place to genuine
appreciation of the need to spread education in
the country. That can come only when the elected
representatives are themselves educated. Some Pakistani
newspapers have published lists of prominent landlords
who are non-graduates. Some have not even crossed
high school level!
Being thus sidelined would hopefully awaken them
to the reality that the days of inheriting power
and pelf by birth have come to an end. If they do
not see the writing on the wall, the wind of change
will sweep them down into dust.
- arifhussaini@hotmail.com
