India and Pakistan

IT is education that is under attack in Swat and not just schools for girls. To prove this point, militants — intriguingly, they act in the secrecy of night and under the cover of curfew — blew up five schools on Monday in the valley. This was, so to say, in response to the federal information minister’s stern warning in the National Assembly that attacks on girls’ schools will not be 'tolerated.' The attacks can also be interpreted as confirming that Maulvi Fazlullah meant business when his deputy announced last month that female education would be banned in Swat from Jan 15. This is a pity. It has grave implications both for the government’s writ in areas under attack from the militants and for the future of education in Pakistan which is already bleak. If the government with the help of a massive army presence has failed to provide protection to the people of Swat from anti-state elements, it is something to worry about. It certainly does not help infuse public confidence in the state machinery. Moreover, the government’s failure to counter specifically the Taliban’s proclaimed policy of targeting girls’ schools points to the apathy of our rulers towards the education sector and their indifference towards the need for the empowerment of women in our society.
This approach should cause serious concern in all circles that are committed to the development of an enlightened Pakistan. One cannot be certain how much importance the administration attaches to education. Some statistics are revealing. If the militants have torched or blown up 180 or so schools while occupying another five of them, the security forces have set up their bases in 18 schools displacing over 7,000 male and female students. It seems that education is the first casualty when two sides are locked in a tussle. Taking a leaf from the book of our governments since 1947, the militants have adopted a policy of destroying education to ensure that people cease to think and thus help anti-people regimes perpetuate themselves in office. Moreover, it is not just girls’ schools that have been targeted in Swat. Over 42 per cent of the institutions destroyed had boys on their rolls. Learning from the famous dictum ‘When you educate a man you educate an individual, when you educate a woman you educate a family’ the militants have shrewdly sought a more effective way of annihilating the education base in Swat.
Another message to clearly emanate from the destruction of schools is in respect of the status of women. Nearly 80,000, by one count, girls have been deprived of education while 8,000 women teachers are without a job. With decrees banning women from leaving their homes, can one expect any improvement in the status of women?