Month: February 2010

Pakistan: Special note. The second part of yesterday’s PBS show Frontline concerned the condition of the public school system in Pakistan. It has collapsed in nearly every respect.

The video report noted that nearly half of the 65 million school age kids in Pakistan do not attend public schools. It did not follow-up that datum to report that a large percentage of the children not in public school learn to read and write in religious schools associated with mosque. The madrasah teaches boys and girls to read, write and recite the Quran, among other basics. In many regions and cities of Pakistan, attendance at the madrasah is the only path to semi-literacy for the children of the poor.

The collapse of the public school system has been the subject of editorials and studies for decades.  The video report was not newsworthy on that account. It was significant that the overcrowded, open air school that was the subject of the video is in Lahore, one of the largest cities of Pakistan. The visual setting looked like a remote tribal village, not part of a large urban center.

Of great interest were the reporter’s brief interviews with a pre-teen Pakistani girl who attended the open air school in Lahore.  The girl believed in education and said she wanted to be a teacher. Concerning the US, she said her teacher told her to hate America.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Pakistani Education as Weapon Against USA–The Failure of US Militarization”