Balochistan has lately been described as an information black hole, emphasizing the frightening silence maintained in the country when it comes to Balochistan. Amidst pervasive, all hopelessness in relation to education and development, a recently published research paper on girls’ education in Balochistan seems to be the beginning of new hope.
The paper titled ‘Girls’ education in Balochistan, Pakistan: exploring a
postcolonial Islamic governmentality’ published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education is authored by Javed Anwar, Petter Kelly, and Emily Gray. Among the authors, Javed Anwar belongs to district Awaran of Balochistan – Pakistan. He has extensive experience working as a civil servant, development expert, researcher, and policy actor. Javed Anwar has accomplished his Master’s degrees in ‘Political Science’, ‘Gender, Education and International Development’ and ‘Public Policy and Management from renowned universities such as the Institute of Education, University College London, UK, and the University of Melbourne, Australia. Currently, he is pursuing doctoral research from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, Australia. The other two co-authors of the paper, Professor Peter Kelly and Dr. Emily Gray, are senior academics, renowned researchers, and authors of a number of seminal books, research papers, and journal articles on development, gender, education, policy and other related areas.
In the effort of understanding gender disparities in rural schools of Balochistan, the paper explores the key aspects of ‘access, enrollment, and retention. In order to disentangle the complexities of education policy and practice, the paper has attempted to develop an innovative theoretical approach to offer a new dimension to the policy problem and solution. Taking advantage of substantive political theories like Michel Foucault’s theory of governmentality, Mitchell Dean’s illiberal governmentalities, and Salehin’s pious governmentality in Bangladesh, the paper develops a productive theoretical approach of ‘post-colonial Islamic governmentality’ to broaden the discourse on education governance not only in Pakistan but also beyond – at the international level. The authors examine the ways in which the transnational organizations, colonial legacies, and the politics and culture of a particular version of religious practices in different ways attempt to govern and shape girls’ access and participation in rural and remote areas. They suggest that at the intersection of Islamic principles and practices and modern education sustainable development goals can be achieved at the rural locations.
Foucault conceptualizes that power is present in every relationship and it is exercised and circulates in the networks. He emphasizes that three forms of power should not be seen as replacements of each other; rather, they ought to be conceived as mutually fulfilling in the triangle of sovereignty-discipline-government, with the population as the primary target and apparatuses of institutions as the essential mechanisms. Based on Foucault’s legacy, the framework of post-colonial Islamic governmentality proposes that ‘the complex assemblage of historical, religious, economic, and developmental political rationalities and governmental technologies emerge from and shape various attempts to mobilize power and authority in order for the government to work’. In his concept of governmentality Foucault emphasizes the ‘problem of regulating the behaviors and dispositions of persons who are imagined as choice-making, responsible subjects capable of living lives characterized by a well-regulated autonomy’. In this sense exercise of different forms of power produce knowledge and truth in the changing perspectives of social, cultural, and religious contexts. The theoretical approach of post-colonial Islamic governmentality suggests the productive participation and willingness of the governed in negotiating with governance challenges in a post-colonial Islamic context. It also provides an understanding of the ‘contestation and intersection’ of discursive construction at global, national, and local levels in education policy processes. Given this, Islamic and secular discourses together collaborate and shape the discourse of girls’ education in the country.
This qualitative study makes use of data collected from nineteen individuals and five focus groups through semi-structured interviews. The Interviewees selected for data collection are all involved in the education policy and governance of Balochistan at different hierarchical levels. The individual interviewees include provincial and district level civil servants; the focus groups are comprised of Parents Teachers School Management Committees (PTSMC), fathers and mothers of Out of the School Girls (OOSG), and members of the Policy Planning and Implementation Unit. The authors have also made use of various official documents such as Education Policy White Paper (EPWP) 2007, National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, and Balochistan Education Sector Plan (BESP) 2013.
Contending that the political rationalities mediate between Islamic and secular forms of governance, the paper looks into the global influences of education policy with regard to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), conceptions of neoliberal globalization along with the bearings of colonial legacies and religion on framing national, provincial and district policy narratives. In order to scrutinize the challenges of the state, Balochistan has been chosen as a case study to investigate the problem of girls’ education due to its lagging behind other provinces in almost all social indicators. It presents a bird’s eye view of the cobweb of governing challenges due to its rural and urban, and gender disparities in schools.
The study recommends two key applications for the conceptual framework of ‘post-colonial Islamic governmentality’: first, this framework might be useful in realizing the promise of long-term progress in girls’ education. Second, it declares that this innovative framework is an attempt to contribute to academic debates in Foucault’s theoretical legacies.
Pakistan, being a post-colonial Muslim majority state, is governed by parliamentary democracy, civil and military bureaucracy, and Islamic principles and practices. Post-colonialism, in the paper, is understood in two different ways. First, the period following the departure of the British colonial rulers. Second, as a theoretical lens, it unfolds the ways through which geography, politics, social, and cultural lives are understood both within previously colonized as well as colonizing nations. The paper also provides a historical development of continuities and ruptures in the educational policy priorities and mediations. It emphasizes the two key education policy influences and policy shifts during the ‘cold-world war’ period of the decade of 70s and 80s and the other during the so-called ‘war on terror.
During the military regime of General Ziaul Haq, the objective of Islamisation reoriented the trajectory of education by the development and implementation of the Education Policy of 1979. Pakistan also committed to the global agendas of Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the following years, creating hopes for improved girls’ education and closing the gender gap. Despite these assurances, there has been inadequate improvement in the field of female education due to the inevitable effects of Zia’s rigorous Islamization policies. Conservative lobbies gained disproportionate representation and voice in the policy arena that led to gender segregation and women/girls’ marginalization across the country including rural areas in multiple ways.
However, General Pervez Musharraf pressed for moderate Islam and apparently attempted to accord more space to women/girls in the public sphere through multiple initiatives. This shift in the education policy attracted international donors and transnational organizations to assist the girls’ education policy and practice. There was also an emphasis on the decentralization of governance through the initiatives of Devolution of Powers Ordinance (2001), and later Eighteenth constitutional amendment (2010) which transferred the education policy governance responsibilities to the provinces and districts. National Education Policy 2009, aided by the tremendous technical and financial support of international donors could not achieve education-related UN millennium development goals (MGD) by a great margin. Pakistan recommitted to the UN sustainable development goals (SDG) objectives in 2015 and also made it a part of its national development strategy. Nonetheless, all gender inequalities across the urban/rural split and socioeconomic class remain significant and are expected to worsen as a result of COVID19.
Balochistan is a sparsely inhabited rural province, which like the rest of the country is a patriarchal society. Gender relations are defined by social, cultural, and religious norms and practices. Benefiting the least from the policy development and international initiatives, it has the highest gender disparity in education compared to the rest of the provinces. The paper argues that the ‘sparse rurality’ of Balochistan poses multiple challenges. The latest figures in the paper show that there are around 3974 schools for girls and 9700 for boys. Given the scattered population of the province, more funds are required to educate all the children including girls. The paper suggests alternative solutions for mobile schools or flexible schools in rural areas.
Moreover, in the absence of certified teachers, children are frequently taught by the pesh imams of the local mosques. The local communities trust pesh imams due to their respectable role in spiritual, social, and community activities. In such circumstances, the paper advocates for imams of mosques to be mainstreamed by teaching and training them in contemporary education, since they already teach Quran and Islamic studies. The Quran and other Islamic subjects are already compulsory in public schools. In this case, two advantages of the application of the conceptual framework of post-colonial Islamic governmentality are suggested. First, the participation of pesh imam improves girls’ opportunities in rural areas to receive modern education as well as religious instruction, and second, it brings local religious actors, development organizations, and public institutions closer, allowing for a productive relationship between religious and secular/modern forces.
The challenges of public-school availability beyond the primary level and the low quality of public schools is another theme in the paper. This has resulted in a growing tendency of girls’ enrollment in informal madrassahs. Around 3200 of the province’s numerous Madrassahs are officially registered with the government. These madrassahs and/or mosques with pesh imams – as teachers in the locations where girls’ schools and female teachers are not available – can become schools for girls in the primary level and beyond.
The paper highlights that social and gender relations in Balochistan are guided and understood by the discourse and practice of Balochi Riwaj in the province. Balochi riwaj is a set of traditions and norms evolved from the historical constructions of social relations which have been influenced by Islamic norms and practices over time. Under riwaj, women/girls are thought to be the honor and dignity of the family and clan/tribe. Islamic norms and practices interplaying with riwaj in the local context differently shape girls’ schooling. Simultaneously, the paper shows that the intersection of local cultural and Islamic practices does not stop girls from going to school. Balochistan’s culture, in contrast, to a great extent facilitates and supports girls’ education in different ways. It gives the example of hospitality through which the local population provides accommodation and other facilities to the female teachers and their families to stay in the schools’ premises and teach their daughters. However, the authors simultaneously contend that the decisions are taken by the village malik/elder who is a male, and the governance of girls’ schooling strengthens his authority to enable and control girls’ education.
The paper ends with suggesting that the status of girls’ education could be analyzed by employing post-colonial Islamic governmentality, which proposes that the roles of pesh Imams of mosques could be understood as a potential teachers in the rural location. He can enable enhancing girls’ participation in schools at the intersection of spiritual and modern discourses and practices of governing education in a postcolonial Islamic context. The role of Balochi Riwaj can be viewed as an enabling and controlling practice through hospitality and the role of malik/village elders in shaping girls’ education. This paper also provokes many questions for further research. For example, what will be the mechanism of equating the qualification and skills of pesh imam enabling him to teach Science, IT, and other secular courses in addition to the spiritual? Will pesh imams stay in the same village if they are provided the employment opportunity of a teacher? How can the enabling role of hospitality and malik find a space in education policymaking? Even if these issues get resolved, how girls imparted with primary education by the imam of the mosque would be pushed forward to continue their education further. To study further means to move to cities because villages do not have qualified teachers and institutions. Thus, as girls go up the ladder of education, different obstacles in their way keep multiplying. In this sense, postcolonial Islamic governmentality as a theoretical approach can be expanded to be applied at different junctures and locations to analyze girls’ education in the country.
I conclude that the paper provides significant insights which are scholarly articulated and discussed, and underpinned by rigorously well researched theoretical and empirical tools and methods. This is a very powerful and educating read which draws on insights from numerous theories, research papers, and thinkers. It provides an academic understanding of the problem of girls’ schooling. The paper merits a thorough reading by the policymakers, scholars, academics, researchers, policy analysts, and all stakeholders to understand the nuances of the policy problem with regard to girls’ education in the country.
