Access to Education

In the name of Allah the most Merciful Beneficent

Access to Education

The education is one of the most indispensable issue for all social reformers and policy makers. No break through is possible without educating the man and making him capable of acquiring basic cognitive and non cognitive skills necessary to think logically. The objective of school education is to equip people with the range of competencies including both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, knowledge and attitudes which are necessary to lead productive, fulfilling lives fully integrated into their societies and communities. The lack of education is a global challenge which is a failure to master the many distinct competencies-decoding, cognitive skills, factual information, socialization which is necessary to mingle with society and take advantage of available opportunities. So in this context the basic schooling is a means to acquiring the skills and competencies that contribute to a fuller, more humane, and productive human existence and remedying a lack of education implies that each individual has sufficient exposure to learning opportunities to achieve mastery of the basic competencies needed in her society and economy.  A report by World Bank on Education in  Middle East/North Africa counts the benefits of education in the words:  "Education is a powerful force that can speed up economic growth, improve income distribution, facilitate social mobility, and reduce poverty. It can also improve the quality of life for citizens by contributing to longer life expectancy, lower fertility and infant mortality rates, and a more cohesive national identity"
Lets have a brief overview of scenario of education at global level particularly in developing countries where access to education is a serious issue, as we advance we'll discuss the scenario in Muslim countries. Official data on enrollment rates in primary schooling show a varying magnitude of “out of school” children across countries and regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa lags all other regions of the world with only 56 percent of primary school-aged children enrolled in school.
South Asia and the Middle East/North Africa also have well less than 100 percent net enrollment
ratios. In Middle East/North Africa the net enrollment is around 84% while that for South Asia, East Asia, Latin America, and East Europe is 83, 93, 97,88 per cent respectively. After enrollment comes the issue of persistence. The available data show a significant drop out rates. In Middle East and South Asia deficit from universal grade 5 completion due to "drop out " and deficit from universal grade 9 completion due to "drop out "is 21 %, 16 % and 57% , 39% respectively.
The completion of primary schooling or higher in itself, however, does not guarantee that
a child has mastered the needed skills and competencies. There is tremendous gap with respect to  attainment levels between developed and developing countries. In developing countries the levels of learning achievement are strikingly low.  In most developing countries relative to the
curriculum objectives learning achievement is low. The reasons for low attainment are lack of infrastructure, lack of basic instructional material and unavailability of adequately trained and qualified teachers.
(For detailed information please refer to "Towards A New Consensus for Addressing the Global Challenge of the Lack of Education", Lant Pritchett ,Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

A World Bank report on Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region shows that the region invested about 5 percent of GDP and 20 percent of government budgets in education over the past
40 years, and made tremendous gains as a result. Currently, most children benefit from compulsory schooling; quite a few have opportunities to continue their formal education; and learning outcomes are much better than they were before. The region also saw significant improvements in fertility and infant mortality rates as well as in life expectancy, as education spread widely among the population. Despite these improvements, however:
 The region has produced fewer educational outcomes than many competitors, as measured by years of educational attainment in the adult population. The educational achievements are compromised in
part by high dropout rates, and by relatively low scores on international tests. Literacy rates remain low and the education systems produce more graduates in humanities than in science.
 The region has not made the best use of its accumulated human capital. Unemployment is particularly high among graduates, and a large segment of the educated labor force is employed by governments.
Not surprisingly, the link between human capital accumulation and economic growth, income distribution, and poverty reduction in the region is weak.
 The education systems of the region are not yet fully equipped to produce graduates with the skills and expertise necessary to compete in a world where knowledge is essential to making progress.

In recent years there is good progress in attaining education MENA. Most of MENA countries have enshrined in their constitutions the right to education. The Islamic Republic of Iran has two articles on education:

Article 3. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has the duty of directing all its resources to the
 following goals:… (3) free education and physical training for everyone at all levels, and the facilitation and
expansion of higher education.
Article 30. The government must provide all citizens with free education up to secondary school, and must
expand free higher education to the extent required by the country for attaining self-sufficiency.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the top nations making tremendous progress in expanding education. Iran also comes on the top in university students adopting engineering subjects(around 38%) in whole MENA region.

For more information please refer to ""The Road Not Traveled Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa"  by World Bank.

The scene of education among Muslims in South Asia which has the largest Muslim  population concentration is really abysmal. For example in India which is house to second largest Muslim population a report revealed that 65 percent of Muslims are living below the poverty line( i.e., whose income is below Rs.1000/- per month) The literacy rate among Muslim Minority is 18%.The lowest literacy rate is observed among Muslim women and is only 8%. In South India which is hub of IT industry I saw the similar picture. In Bangalore I used to go office by taxi. Often the taxi drivers used to be Muslim. I would ask them where they belonged to, they would say to Bangalore. I would take a sigh that people like me have come from thousands of KM far to take advantage of Bangalore's IT boom, and the local Muslim population lacks in proper education to receive any benefits. Sadly I noticed the same waywardness among the local Muslim youths. The most they would think of would be to take a job in a call center. The condition is worse in Hyderabad and Lucknow which have large pockets of Muslim and particularly Shia population. Encouragingly in both of these cities sincere organizations are working toi uplift educational status of shia community. In Hyderabad Imam Zamana Mission is running schools which targets shias living below poverty line and in Lucknow Unity Mission School is providing free education facilities to very poor students.
Given the so much emphasis of Prophetic traditions and Hadiths from Ahlul Bayt(AS) on attaining education ,the condition of Muslims is really sorry. We'll end our discussion with quoting of some traditions from holy Prophet(S) and his chaste Ahlul Bayt(AS):
‘Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim. Let it be known that Allah loves those who seek knowledge."- Holy Prophet(S)
"Seeking knowledge is obligatory." -abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.)
"If only people knew how much reward there is for seeking knowledge, they would have sought it even if they would have had to shed their blood for it or dive in large waves. Allah the Blessed and Most High revealed to Daniel saying, ‘The most hated among my creatures are the ignorant ones who disrespect the scholars and do not follow them. The Most beloved to Me in My servants are the pious ones who work hard to become entitled for greater rewards, who always stay close to the scholars, follow the fore-bearing people and accept (the advise of) people of wisdom."-- Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.)