The Basic Reasons behind Madrassa (Religious) Education......A case study

Madrassa refers to religious school in which different courses are taught, all concerning about religion. Thus madrassa education is religious education. There are more than 10,000 madrassas currently operating in Pakistan and it is estimated that one to two million children are enrolled in these madrassas. Before the emergence of secular education in Sub-continent, these were the religious schools which produced students who were able to perform different tasks in different fields. But after the emergence of secular education, the recruitment criterion for different jobs, previously occupied by madrassas' students, was changed and most of the jobs were now occupied by the students having secular education. But still large number of students is getting religious education in madrassas.
This research aimed to find out the factors that attract or compel people to opt madrassa education for their children. The locale of the study was a village, Naway Kallay in district Dir Upper (NWFP, Pakistan). In this village there is a great inclination towards madrassa education. Often people admit their children in school and then in the mid or after completing primary education they reject general education and opt madrassa education for their children. So this study aimed to find out the factors behind this inclination.

For understanding any society anthropologically the understanding of its social, economic and political organizations are very important. One can not get insight of that society without understanding these organizations.

Majority of the school age children are getting religious education in madrassas rather than studying in school. Almost all the children have joined madrassas by the choice of their parents. More than fifty percent people gave the reason of poor economy that becomes a contributing factor of inclination towards madrassa education. The village has only one primary school and the people can only educate their children up to primary level. After primary education their economic position does not permit them to educate them with further education. Under these conditions they are obliged to send them to madrassa. Religious factor is also a contributing factor. There are people who send their children to madrassa just for the sack of Islam; for the pleasure of Allah. These people have religious background. These people have the desire to educate at least one son with religious education.
People who do not send their children to madrassa gave different reasons. But the number of such people is very low as compared to those who send children to madrassa. Some people gave the reason of less number of children in their houses as they have a lot of tasks to do and there must be some one in home to perform these tasks.
Also there are people who said that many children of the village have studied in madrassas and still many are studying but none of them have fruitful results. Most of them are wage labors, farmers or doing other such jobs. So they do not favor madrassa education.

There are also some people who have the intention to send their children to madrassa but not yet. For this they gave the reason of less age. They said that at this age (10-12, years) children can not pass time without parents.

Total number of students studying in madrassas from the village Naway Kallay is 57 and majority of these are studying in Bajaur madrassa. Besides Bajaur some are studying in Chakdara and a small number is studying in Dir city. Six interviews have been conducted with students of Naway Kallay in Dir madrassa who also gave the reason of poor economy for joining madrassa.

In this study the researcher tested his hypotheses which are: (1) Absence or shortage of general education has increased people interest towards madrassa education, (2) Madrassas provides free education as well free food thus becomes a source of financial support for the poor people. So it may be the poor economy that compels people to opt madrassa education for their children. So in the study the two hypotheses were verified and it is also evident from the findings that majority of the people send their children to madrassa due to poor economy and lack of facilities for general education in the village.

So, poor economy is the major contributing factor that stimulates people to join madrassa because they can not afford the huge expenses of modern general education and people do not want their children to involve in unnecessary time-wasting activities. So madrassa becomes the only option to send their children to it and they consider madrassa a secured place for their children. Because madrassa education is also job oriented. A madrassa student can get job in schools and madrassa for teaching Islamic subjects. He can also serve as a religious leader (Molvi) in mosques for which he is paid.

The Significance of legal Institutions in Conflict Resolution in Tribal Societies

It is observed that the belief system of any tribal society has unique legal features of judgment in terms of traditions and religious beliefs that are worthy of anthropological attention. There are certain supernatural beliefs attached to two particular objects “fire and water”. These two objects are considered as judicious and arbitrary in their nature which is part of their adherence to fore fathers’ traditions and certain religious events in the history of mankind. So these “naturally” judicial objects are utilized in local conflict resolution and identification of the responsible person for a crime.

Law and its function as a social institution has led to the division of anthropology in its sub-division called Anthropology of Law. In order to put forward the role of law in the society, we need to distinguish the concept of legal from other relevant issues. The most important is to separate the institution of law from political organization of the community. The very existence of politics in a society, especially in the traditional society is linked to some sort of legal institution.

In any traditional community, there are certain norms to which the members of community essentially adhere in the course of every day action. This concept puts the norms in the category of a legitimate body just as the courts and constitution in the urban set up. These norms are always excluded from the “ought” aspects of the moral values of the community. This legal nature of norms produces order in the society which is on the one hand the task of a legal institution in the society and on the other hand a subject of anthropological interest. This interest is primarily concerned with the institutions of legal nature. The study of these institutions, involved their functions in folk societies and the exercise of power in dispute settlement. This power is basically infused to certain authorities by those norms, having the legal character. Religion, mythology, supernatural beliefs and the inevitable need to resolve the erupting conflicts in a society are among various sources of these norms, taboos and institutions in various traditional communities of the world.

Thus the significance and function of legal institutions to create order, cohesion, and equity and conflict resolution in a society are serious concerns of anthropology to be studied and analyzed. This dynamic character of norms and traditions in terms of law has been the hallmark of anthropological observations and studies of traditional societies.

The Issues in Leather Industry....A case study of Kasur

Leather industry in Kasur provides bread and butter to more than 20,000 leather workers in Kasur. It has also the credit of providing good quality leather goods at cheaper rate as compared to open markets. Although the industry is a source of earning permanent subsistence to the leather workers but on the other hand, it is also causing gigantic problems for the leather workers and all of the local inhabitants. If we look at the whole picture, it is horrifying, as the people of Kasur are suffering from different problems which include environmental challenge in the form of ground water contamination that causes so many adverse and severe diseases.

Ground water contamination is the biggest of the problems because it is used for all sorts of purposes, i.e., drinking, cooking, washing and irrigation etc. In these conditions the leather workers and the poor people of Kasur have no way out except to use that dangerous toxic ground water. Apart from this, there are some other problems which have their origin in leather industry and are disturbing the poor human beings very badly. These problems are poor solid waste management, air emissions and noise pollution etc.

The leather industry is situated right amongst the urban settlements. In this kind of situation, the above mentioned problems take a step further towards devastation.

If we try to seek the reasons for these problems, we will come to know that all this is due to miss-management and negligence on the part of government as well as the tannery owners and the local administration. They are not serious to solve these problems and nobody is there to take any responsibility of it. The role of the local political representatives in this regard is also disappointing. It can not be said that the political leaders of Kasur are not influential at the federal or higher levels or they have no ability to convey their messages to the government regarding environmental problems of Kasur. Barrister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri and Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali are the main political leaders of Kasur and both of them have been the foreign ministers of the state of Pakistan in different eras. They have not fulfilled their responsibilities as political representatives of the area properly.

Bureaucracy or administrative bodies have not pondered upon these issues as well. There is no progressive development or policy to solve the problems of the people of Kasur and to introduce any reforms for leather industry so that it can work according to the environment friendly conditions. In this way, the tannery owners are also no exception. They are mainly responsible for the problems caused by their industries. They only think about their capital and multiplying their money. They do not care about the health problems – caused by their industry-- of their workers and the local inhabitants. Due to the above mentioned reasons, Kasur city has reached that worst position and the stage has come that the people of Kasur cannot afford to face those precarious conditions anymore.

The Government of Pakistan along with the political workers should feel their responsibilities and there should be a comprehensive programme on emergency basis to save the tannery workers and the local dwellers of Kasur city. The government should impose strict observation on any kind of project or program i.e. waste management or chemical recycling etc. The program should be very efficient and it should not fail like KTWMA (Kasur Tannery waste management agency) project.

There should be training workshops for the leather workers and for the other effectees to increase awareness about hygienic and unhygienic conditions. Government should try to shift leather industry from urban area of Kasur to any outside area.

Some NGO’s and social organizations are working on these issues but their progress is very slow because that is a big environmental problem and without the help of the government, it cannot be solved. The reason may be that its rehabilitation requires big amount of money.

The seepage of contaminated and toxic leather effluent is so dangerous that it may have its severe effects for 300 years in the future even if some serious steps are taken today. So, the issue needs urgent attention of all the concerned ones otherwise the future of the people working in leather industries and the inhabitants of the locale, is not safe, at all.

Anthropology and the importance of water

This essay consists of two parts, both inter-related with each other. The first part is about the concepts of Anthropology while the second deals with the cultural importance of water in our daily life.

Anthropology is the study of man and culture. ‘To an anthropologist, the term culture generally refers to the customary ways of thinking and behaving of a particular population or society. The culture of social group, therefore, is composed of its language, general knowledge, religious beliefs, food preferences, music, work habits, taboos, and so forth.’[1]

The difference between anthropology and other disciplines is that an anthropologist live in a particular community for a period of time ‘usually spends a year or so live with, talking to and observing the people whose customs he or she is studying. This fieldwork provides the data for a detailed description (an ethnography) of many aspects of the customary behavior and thought of those people’.[2]

Anthropology deals with all the aspects of life and behavior of human beings. The changes in behavior depends on every day life, as the life and its different aspects change with time, the behavior changes as well. The basic needs of humans are Air, Water, and Shelter. Shortage in any of these will result in physical and psychological alterations. Water is the main source of life as 60 percent of human body depends on water. Scarcity of water will result in outer and inner conditions.

Problem of water scarcity in Pakistan does not solely stem from a shortage of resources. Its roots also lie in the realm of awareness and willingness to find a participatory solution that is feasible and sustainable. There was a time when the conventional view was that droughts are natural calamities and are God's way of punishing the sinners. They were either to be endured or to be escaped by moving away to somewhere where there was water. This was fine as long as one was a nomad and could move from one place to another, and there were no international borders. What most people these days do, however, is to the contrary. They opt to settle down in one place.

Pakistan's economy relies heavily on agriculture. According to the latest Economic Survey by the Government of Pakistan, agriculture contributes 25 percent of the GDP and employs 44 percent of the workforce. Water shortage affects agriculture in a way that not only food security is threatened, especially in arid and semiarid areas where irrigation is the main source of water, but also employment and industry. 75 percent of Pakistan’s poor live in rural areas, a large proportion of whom are pushed into poverty because of the instability of income. Poverty denotes economic inequality, relation of inferiority, dependence and exploitation.

Recent task of anthropologists to deal with the public affairs particularly the problems, which the communities are facing, has brought many social and economic issues of traditional communities on the surface particularly the socio-economic problems of third world countries. As anthropologists and the social scientists have focused more and more on the problems faced by third world as they make the often difficult transition to the modern way of life so the study of change has been major concerned.

‘Irrigation has played a major role historically in poverty alleviation by providing

food security, protection against famine, and expanded opportunities for employment both on and off the farm. Development of irrigated agriculture has been a major engine for economic growth and poverty reduction.

The growing scarcity and competition for water, however, stands as a major threat

to future advances in poverty alleviation. Food production is likely to be adversely affected particularly in the semiarid regions, which include two of Asia’s major breadbaskets, the Punjab and the North China Plain. An increasing number of the rural poor are coming to see entitlement and access to water for food production and for domestic purposes as a more critical problem than access to primary health care and education.

The development of tube-well irrigation has contributed significantly to the increase in food production and reduction in poverty. However, in many of the more arid

regions the overexploitation of groundwater poses a major threat to environment, health, and food security—a threat to the welfare of the poor far more serious than that posed by the widely criticized construction of large dams.

In an environment of growing scarcity and competition for water, a comprehensive strategy is needed to improve the productivity of water in both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, and to ensure access to water by poor men and women.

Water is both a commodity and a natural resource and a perceived human entitlement. When Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen (1981) wrote about poverty and famines in Bengal, he spoke of “entitlements” in terms of purchasing power for food. The primary people affected by the famines were the landless rural poor. But in today’s environment of growing water scarcity the problem is more pervasive. An increasing number of the poor—rural and urban consumers, rural producers, and rural laborers—are coming to view access or entitlement to water as a more critical problem than access to food, primary health care, and education.

The typical urban household uses water for drinking and sanitation. But rural areas use water for a wide range of purposes. Even in irrigated areas water is used not only for the main field crops but also for domestic use, home gardens, trees and other permanent vegetation, and livestock (Bakker et al. 1999). Other productive uses include fishing, harvesting of aquatic plants and animals, and a variety of other enterprises such as brick making. In addition, irrigation systems can have a positive or negative effect on the environment. Thus, the withdrawal of water affects the rural household, rural economy, and environment in a number of ways.’[3]

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[1] Carol R. Ember; Melvin Ember. “Anthropology” 6^th edition. New Delhi , Prentice-Hall of India (pvt) limited, , 1993.

[2] Anthopology 6^th Ed. By Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember. New Delhi , Prentice-Hall of India (pvt) limited, , 1993.

[3] http://66.102.1.104/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=cache:4W99h3zYuOMJ:pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/Pnacj818.pdf+impact+of+water+scarcity+on+agriculture+in+pakistan

culture

It is the start of blog on influence on culture.