‘Teachers can help curb radicalisation in universities’

Some individuals in Pakistan who have recently fallen for extremist messages have higher-level degrees, often in applied sciences; others have fallen for such messages through social media. To counter this trend, teachers can be engaged to teach students skills that open their minds to diverse opinions in the classroom and equip them with tools for using social media with responsibility. 

These thoughts were shared at a discussion in a daylong workshop, which was organised by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), a Pakistani think-tank, and attended by over 40 teachers of universities of Sindh and Balochistan.

The discussion explored the role of teachers in promoting social and religious harmony. Dr Khalid Masud, a former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, said it was being asked how “well-educated” individuals, especially those from applied sciences, could join militancy. One of the reasons he identified was the way these subjects were taught, and that inclined students towards “exactness” – tending to find one specific solution. At intellectual level, then, engineers and doctors fell for radical inspirations, which too painted the world in black and white, ignoring the grey nuances, he said.  

“Another modern factor is that information is being picked from modern social media tools, without checking authenticity. This too contributes in hardening the opinion of the users towards the extreme. Self-radicalised individuals have often fallen through social media.” 

Dr Masud said that because teachers were not much aware of social media, they were unable to understand the emerging trends and how to effectively deal with students.  Participants called for sensitising teachers on social media.

Academic Syed Jaffar Ahmed agreed, saying that the students of today were glued to social media gadgets but did little to zero physical activity. Even playing grounds were fading, he lamented. Encouraging students to engage with each other, in more than one activity, could help in exposing them to multiple worldviews, which was a must to counter radicalisation, he said. 

Experts called upon teachers to uphold diversity, opening students’ minds to multiple views, noting that the curriculum might have flaws such as in the shape of inculcating history through a certain identity framework, that of religion.  Religious scholar Sayed Ahmed Banuri was of the view that the link between curriculum and teacher was mutual. He said teachers could help sensitise students and impart curiosity. 

Dr AH Nayyer, a renowned educationist, said that while differences between different groups were already in the country, those differences widened and exacerbated in the 1980s, as the state attempted to shape a peculiar narrative. 

Experts called upon teachers to overcome parochial biases and not to link their understanding of the world to a single identity, whether ethnic, religious or sectarian. Earlier, Muhammad Amir Rana, director of PIPS, argued that social harmony was the need of today’s globalised world, where the majority in one area was a minority in another area.  He maintained that social harmony was one of the yardsticks through which the progress of any country was assessed.