The Impact of Education on Social Change in the Contemporary Muslim World - Research Paper Example

Discuss the impact of education on social change by critically analysing educational modernisation and educational reform projects in the contemporary Muslim world Introduction Education is a continuous process. It starts at the time of birth and ends at the time of death. Education is the bread and butter of a person throughout his entire journey of life. It makes the life of a person more meaningful and purposeful. Knowledge is bursting from all corners of the world and it is not wise for a person to keep a blind eye towards acquiring it. Education is the only mean which helps a person to acquire knowledge and to help him in tackling the problems he might face in his life effectively. In society and in family, only the educated people are well respected. Knowledge makes a person perfect. Knowledge is obtained only through education. The society will hear the words of the educated people better than that of other’s. Only the educated person can handle the challenges posed from the society and the family. Muslim community all over the world is often criticized by others because of their inability to keep in pace with the rapid development happening in the world. They are often blamed for not giving enough seriousness to education in general and the education of the females in particular. The above argument seems to be true at least in the case of some fundamental Muslim societies like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait etc. However, eeducational modernization and educational reform projects are taking place in some countries like India, Bangladesh etc which is raising the standards of Muslim education in these countries. This paper analyses the impact of education on social change in general and the impact of eeducational modernization and educational reform projects in the contemporary Muslim world in particular, by focusing on the educational reforms in India, Bangladesh etc. Impact of education on social change “Education can initiate social changes by bringing about a change in outlook and attitude of man. It can bring about a change in the pattern of social relationships and thereby it may cause social changes” (Education and Social Change, 2010). Education drives a person from a known to unknown world. We are living in a mysterious world in which we do not know much. In fact what we know so far is negligible when we consider what we do not know yet. Even then it is better to know more about the knowledge which is revealed to the world because of the efforts of eminent scholars and scientists. Education is the only way to achieve knowledge about the unknown world. Knowing more about a particular thing will help a person to fine tune his personality and attitude. For example, earlier we thought that the diseases were the curses of God. Later we identified that the diseases were caused by some germs or viruses and this knowledge helped us to find out medicines suitable to kill these germs or viruses. In other words, our attitude towards diseases has been changed a lot because of the advancements in medical science. In short, education helps us to change our established perceptions and attitudes or it helps us to polish our knowledge. “The traditional education was meant for an unchanging static society not marked by any change. But today education aims at imparting knowledge. Education was associated with religion”(Education and Social Change, 2010). Religions and religious beliefs influence the education process very much. A child is entering this world, not as a free person, but as a person born in a particular region. In other words, religious beliefs are the first knowledge a child is getting in his/her life. All other streams of knowledge came only at the secondary place. Most of the new scientific knowledge entering this world has questioned some of the established beliefs or teachings of the religions and hence many of the religions are not much keen in encouraging education. However, it is difficult for the religions to keep a blind eye towards the realities forever. Because of the above awareness, even among some of the Muslim fundamental societies, educational modernization and educational reforms were started. India and Bangladesh are two best examples to study the educational modernization and reform processes witnessing among the Muslim societies. Educational modernisation and educational reform projects: Aligarh Muslim University, India Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a residential academic institution located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1875 and was granted the status of Central University in 1920. It was started as a college, Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College in 1875. The founder of MAO College was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, (Sayyid Ahmad Khan) Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India. “His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims in India” (An Architect of Modern India, 2009). Later in 1920 an Act of Indian Legislative Council elevated the M.A.O. College to the status of a Central University and named it as Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Today AMU is one of the prominent universities in India because of the quality of education and the diversity of courses offered. Lot of educational modernization and reformation processes are going on in AMU in recent times. AMU Schools brought under a Directorate of Education.  A modernization action plan on par with Navodaya Vidyalaya of the Government of India worth Rs. 82 crores has been submitted to the Government of India. Based on the publications made, the University has been ranked in 2008 as Twelfth among Universities in India and selected for special funding under "INSPIRE" programme of the Department of Science & Technology.   A Central Instrumentation Centre is proposed to be created. The campus connectivity was .5 mbps in 2007 and this has now been expanded to 34 mbps making fibre connectivity available in every Department of the University. About 600 computers have been distributed to the Departments, as a first step, a "Computer Hub" has become functional in the Departments, Halls of Residences and Dean's Offices.  The University has now been identified to be part of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) under which about 1000 prestigious institutions in the country will be interlinked, and the University will be provided with 1000 mbps bandwidth during the course of this project (Aligarh Muslim University, 2008) Communication is the blood of an academic institution which help the institution to sustain its life just like our blood help us to sustain our lives. An institution cannot attain success or growth in the current digital era, unless it concentrates on building its reputation in information communication technologies. AMU has realized the above fact very well and did everything possible to improve the infrastructure needed for the modern communication technologies. Computer based technologies are normally used at the academic world nowadays in order to improve the standard of education. Internal and external networks like Local Area network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) are used specifically by the current academic institutions to communicate with the internal and external world. AMU has incorporated all such facilities to its study centers for the betterment of education. Lots of expansion programs were undertaken by AMU recently in order to raise the levels of education in its campuses and also to reach out the wide spread population, especially the Muslim population in India. Five Special Centres of AMU at Murshidabad (West Bengal), Katihar (Bihar), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Pune (Maharashtra) and Malappuram (Kerala) at an estimated cost of Rs. 2000 crores are in the implementation stage at present (Aligarh Muslim University, 2008). Apart from undertaking expansion programs, AMU is giving more emphasise while offering courses to the students. For example, Islamic banking is gaining popularity all over the world at present after the recession. Some of the renowned banking institutions were destroyed as a result of the current global recession which forced the public to think in terms of more secured banking methods like Islamic banking. AMU was quickly grabbed the opportunity and introduced courses Islamic banking and finance. Many people have the illusion that AMU is offering courses in Islamic studies alone. In fact AMU is one of the most advanced universities in India as far as science and technology is concerned. The courses related to Nano technology and remote sensing, were introduced in AMU in 2009 as part of their modernization and educational reformation process. “The Aligarh Education Endowment Fund (AEEF) has been established for the enhancement and modernization of education and improvement of educational opportunities for the underprivileged sections of the Indian society, especially the minorities”(About AEEF, n. d). Even though India has achieved tremendous economic growth in the last few decades, a substantial portion of the Indian population was left behind because of lack of education. Muslim community constitutes a major share of this population which was left behind. The Aligarh Education Endowment Fund (AEEF) was proposed by AMU in order to address the above problem. “Although numbering 150 million, the Muslim community constituting 13.5% of the population in India, has produced only 1.5% of the graduates in technical and medical fields”(About AEEF, n. d). The above discrepancy is mainly because of the lack of education among the fundamental Muslim community. The AEEF was organized as a non- profit entity in order to work for the betterment of education among the Muslim community. Educational modernization and educational reform projects: Darul Uloom Deoband, India The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic school founded in 1866 by several prominent Islamic scholars (ulema), at Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Haji Syed Abid Hussain were the leaders of these scholars. In quenching the thirst of the seekers of knowledge of different sciences and the whole of Asia is redolent with the aroma of this prophetic garden. Among the hundreds of thousands of seminaries in the world of Islam today there are only two such institutions on which the Muslims have relied most of all: the one is Jam'a-e-Azhar, Cairo, and the other is Darul Uloom, Deoband. The Darul-Uloom, Deoband, India, is today a renowned religious and academic center in the Islamic world. In the sub-continent it is the largest institution for the dissemination and propagation of Islam and the biggest headspring of education in the Islamic sciences. Such accomplished scholars have come out from the Darul Uloom in every period that they, in accordance with the demands of religious needs of the time, have rendered valuable services in disseminating and spreading correct religious beliefs and religious sciences. These gentlemen, besides in this sub-continent, are busy in performing religions and academic services in various other countries also, and everywhere they have acquired a prominent status or religious guidance of the Muslims (In The Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, n. d.) The major success factor of Darul-Uloom, Deoband remains is the fact that it succeeded in blending scientific knowledge and religious knowledge. Even though, Darul-Uloom, Deoband gives more emphasize to the religious teachings, it never shied away from explaining the modern scientific knowledge in terms of religious beliefs. While most of the other religious institutions keep silence over the issues which conflict with the religious teachings, Darul-Uloom, Deoband tried to explain all such issues on the basis of the religious beliefs. Thus, the students who came out from Darul-Uloom, Deoband may not have many problems in accepting religious beliefs and scientific knowledge; both at the same time. Darul-Uloom, Deoband is giving education not only to the Indian Muslims, but also to the entire Muslim world as well. It is the most popular educational institution in the Islamic world. Some of the renowned religious doctors or Ulamas are the alumni of Darul-Uloom, Deoband. The Fatwas of Darul Uloom have been recognized widely across Indian Muslim societies and across the entire global Islamic world. “According to historian Mushirul Hasan, the Deobandis opposed Partition, rejected the two-nation theory and strongly supported the nationalist movement led by the Congress” (Khan et al, n. d, p.13). It should be remembered that Darul-Uloom, Deoband was an institution which opposed the partition of India into two different countries like India and Pakistan. The British deliberately divided India into two different countries in order to reduce the strength of India as a single country. Darul-Uloom, Deoband opposed this attempt made by the British at the time of giving freedom to India even though, Indian Muslims have strong differences with the dominant Hindu community. In other words, Darul-Uloom, Deoband always succeeded in taking stands which is acceptable to the modern world. They were never motivated by the selfish interests of their religion. They always gave priority to the country’s interest first. Many people consider Darul-Uloom, Deoband as an institution; however it is not merely an institution alone. In fact Darul-Uloom, Deoband is a movement or independent school of thought which is constantly working hard to the betterment of the human life on earth. As mentioned earlier, it works in conjunction with the scientific knowledge in fighting against the social evils and superstitions. Darul-Uloom, Deoband has no hesitation in accepting scientific facts even if it is against their common beliefs. Muslims normally have an inferiority complex among other societies because of their reluctance in accepting scientific knowledge. Darul-Uloom, Deoband has succeeded in eradicating such inferiority complex of the Muslims community. Besides their great services in the revival of Islam, they awakened political consciousness among the Muslims and took leading part in the struggle for freedom as a result of which the countries of the sub-continent acquired independence. Even as in the past the Darul Uloom, Deoband, has rendered invaluable services to the cause of Islam, the Muslims and the religious sciences. It is hoped that in future too it will continue to discharge the obligation of inciting the Muslims power of action, of strengthening the faiths and of preaching and propagating Islam (In The Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, n. d.) Modernization and educational reform projects including Islamic education in Bangladesh “At present, Bangladesh has 10,500 Madarsahs, of which 7,500 are funded by the government. Till 1999, there were a total of 7,122 registered Madarsahs supported with government grants, including three full-fledged government ones” (Khan et al, n. d. p.11), Bangladesh is one Islamic country which is undergoing rapid progress in educational modernization and reformation process. The country is currently having a stable political administration and free from any political or social unrest which encouraged the government to concentrate more on the educational sector. A turning point in the area of linkage between education research and reform is observed towards the end of the last century in Bangladesh. A very structured education reform program had been undertaken at the advent of the new century. Ministry of Education assisted by IDA, undertook a reforms package covering four major areas:(i) Area 1: Effective System Management (ii) Area 2: Teacher Recruitment, Education and Training (iii) Area 3: Curriculum and Textbook (iv) Area 4: Vocational Educational and Training (Feroja, n.d, p.5). Modern management principles were implemented in the Bangladeshi educational system in order to manage the educational process more effectively. Educational system has been perceived as an organization at present and at each level, different educational managers are managing the educational functions. Another major reformation process undertaken in the Bangladeshi educational system was the training and development of teachers. Bangladesh has realized that only the development of teachers is important in the development of educational system in Bangladesh. Knowledge is bursting from all the corners rapidly at present and the teachers should have their knowledge updated in order to excel in their profession. The above awareness motivated Bangladesh to implement a comprehensive teacher training and development program. Bangladeshi educational curriculum was outdated earlier. While, the comprehensive educational reformation process undertaken in the 1990’s Bangladeshi educationalists put more emphasize in changing the curriculum methods and text book contents. The current curriculum and text books in the educational sector in Bangladesh are matching the global standards and hence the quality of education in Bangladesh has been improved tremendously. Bangladesh has realized that, in a changing world, instead of giving more preferences to the normal academic subjects, it is better to give more importance to the vocational subjects. Thus vocational education has gained more popularity in Bangladesh from 1990’s onwards. Privatization of Textbook publishing, School based Assessment (SBA), School Performance Based Management (SPBM), Reorganization of GPA System, Introduction of ICT in Education, Female Stipend Projects, Ensuring 30% female participation in the teaching force, Widening of girls' education, introduction of Foreign Language Training Centre etc are some other educational reforms introduced in the secondary educational system in Bangladesh as part of the educational reformation process (Feroja, n.d, p.7-8). Privatization of text book publishing helped Bangladesh to improve the quality of the text books published in the country. SPBM helped Bangladesh to give more emphasize to the performances of the students rather than injecting a bunch of unnecessary curriculum materials in the educational system. In order to improve the participation of the Muslim girls in the education process, around 30% of the teaching posts were reserved for the females. Such a reservation strategy helped Bangladesh to improve attendance of more female students in schools and colleges. Earlier, the fundamental Muslim society prevented the girls from gaining education. However, the comprehensive educational reformation process undertaken in the 1980’s and 90’s, given more attention to the female education and as a result the female literacy levels in Bangladesh have been improved considerably over the last two decades. It should be remembered that Bangladesh has got a woman prime minister at present and nobody can anticipate such a revolutionary step in any other Muslim countries, at least in the near future. With the Digital Bangladesh initiative, the Prime Minister is working to improve core infrastructure in the country like roads and transportation, but also recognizes the value in education. Like a lot of countries, they’re exploring individual technology devices for each student, looking for opportunities to train people in new skills, and extend digital content (Salcito, 2009) Unlike the rulers in many other Islamic countries, the current Bangladeshi prime minister is a highly educated lady and she knows the importance of education in a country’s progress, especially the female education. She is very much interested in bringing modern technologies in to the soil of Bangladesh. She knows better than anybody else about the necessity of educated man power in the construction of a modern prosperous Bangladesh. To conclude, Islamic community at some parts of the world is witnessing tremendous advancements in the educational sector. India and Bangladesh are two best examples, in which the Islamic community have developed a lot as a result of the educational modernization and reformation happened in the Islamic institutions and educational systems in these countries. Based on these changes in the educational sector, Islamic societies in these countries were also undergone drastic reformation process. The outlooks of Muslims in these countries are entirely different from that of some other fundamental Muslim societies in the world. Works Cited 1. “An Architect of Modern India”, 2009. Web. 08 February 2011. 2. “Aligarh Muslim University”.2008. Web. 04 February 2011. 3. “About AEEF”. Web. 04 February 2011. 4. “Education and Social Change”. 2010. Web. 04 February 2011. 5. Feroja, Hosne ara. “Educational Research and Educational Reform in Bangladesh”. Web. 04 February 2011. 6. “In The Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”. Web. 04 February 2011. < http://www.darululoom-deoband.com/english/index.htm> 7. Khan, Amir Ullah,. Saqib, Mohammad and Anjum, Zafar H. “Madarsah System in India: Past, Present, and Future”. Web. 04 February 2011. http://www.idfresearch.org/ipnservices/pdfs/madarsas.pdf 8. Salcito, Antony. “Education Transformation in Bangladesh”. 2009. Web. 04 February 2011. Read More