According to some statistics, fully one quarter of those enrolled in the educational system in Egypt today are studying in religious educational establishments [schools, academies, and colleges run by Al-Azhar]. Other statistics reduce the number to one fifth, while a recent survey places it at no more than one sixth. Even if we assume that the lowest estimate of one sixth, that is, slightly over 16%, is the correct one, this means that more than three million students receive their education from start to finish in religious establishments. And the number would rise to four or five million if we accept the other statistics.
What is certain is that we are facing an educational phenomenon that is bound to have far-reaching social, political and economic ramifications and hence needs to be closely examined and analyzed.
The first question that springs to mind here is “why”. Why does a society like Egypt’s end up sending such large numbers of its youth to study at religious establishments? This question evokes another question: What brought us to this? Was it planned or is it a random development that grew out of a reality not governed by strategic planning but by reactions and bureaucracy?
Before going into the question of why this phenomenon has reached such proportions in Egypt, it should be noted that, apart from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen, no similar phenomenon exists in any other of the more than 200 states in the world. Accordingly, we need to ask ourselves whether we have allowed matters to reach this point because we aspire to be not like Japan, Singapore, France, Canada or Spain [educationally and hence culturally] but like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. And is this what we aimed for when we laid down a strategic educational policy in full awareness of its implications and consequences?
It beggars belief that we could knowingly have put in place an educational policy aimed at having one quarter, one fifth or one sixth of young people enrolled in the educational system receive their education in religious establishments. In fact, I would say that we never did lay down such a policy – or, indeed, any educational policy at all!
In my view, matters evolved in the direction they have done as a result of realities on the ground as well as bureaucracy. The huge forest of educational religious establishments we are now seeing sprouted up haphazardly, in reaction to specific problems, such as the lack of educational establishments within easy reach of children living in to small towns and villages and as a place of educational refuge for pupils who could not, whether for lack of material means or minimal educational requirements, join the general education system. If I am right, and I believe I am, our approach to the problem of education is consistent with our approach to many other issues.
Writing this article forced me to contemplate some alarming facts. Among the most disturbing is that we established the network of religious education as the solution of least resistance, so to speak, for the problems of the lowest social classes and the segments of society with the poorest learning skills. If that is so, this means that from a strategic point of view we are injecting huge numbers of the most disadvantaged elements of society - economically, socially and in terms of learning skills - into a religious educational system that is acquiring gargantuan proportions. Moreover, we have done so without making any effort to consider the strategic results – political, economic, social – of this “solution” on the future of society.
Over the years I have asked many, probably hundreds, of junior employees and workers if their children were attending Al-Azhar schools. The great majority replied in the negative and expressed disdain for the quality of education provided by these schools. Their reaction led me to believe, perhaps wrongly, that religious education in our society is perceived as the last refuge of those who, for lack of social, economic or mental abilities, have no recourse to the general education system. Once again I must emphasize that allowing this phenomenon to flourish unchecked will have dire consequences for society as a whole. The time has come to study the phenomenon and the adverse strategic results it is bound to produce rather than leave it to the culture of improvising ad hoc solutions that has prevailed for decades.
Over the last few decades, our society has been swept by a powerful wave of obscurantism, as evidenced by the primitive and archaic understanding of religion that has become all too prevalent. And yet no one seems to have studied the relationship between this wave and the hordes of mainly underprivileged members of society who have studied in religious educational establishments and who are, for obvious reasons, particularly vulnerable to the appeal of a simplistic understanding of religion.
Have any of our strategic thinkers looked at the phenomenon from another angle and asked themselves what effect these huge numbers of Egyptian students enrolled in religious establishments will have on the country’s scientific, technological, industrial and trade sectors? We have seen other countries expand religious education to the point which eventually gave rise to a cadre of men of religion determined to prevent their societies from joining the march of progress. Can we honestly say that we are not moving uncomfortably close to a similar scenario?
It is also to be questioned whether we have looked at the issue of religious education in Egypt from an extremely important perspective. The values of progress are a set of values that form an integral part of the ethos of every prosperous society. Among the most important are a belief in human diversity, pluralism, the universality of knowledge, human rights and women’s rights. I spent hours reviewing the curricula on offer at Al-Azhar’s educational establishments in various subjects – culture, literature and languages – and found them to be either totally devoid of any attempt to plant the seeds of these values in their students’ minds or actively promoting opposing values. Are we aware of the magnitude of the problem we have ourselves created by producing graduates whose conscience and mindset are inculcated with values diametrically opposed to the values of progress? In this connection, it is well to remember that progress is more a function of a set of values than it is of material resources.
Has anyone considered the possibility that, by allowing such a huge number of religious educational establishments to mushroom in our midst, we are, from a strategic political perspective, ultimately serving the interests of a trend that has rightfully been described by the state as the worst enemy of civil society? Are we as a society and a state financing the enemies of civil society and of progress?
Has anyone reflected on how such an extensive network of religious educational establishments will impact on the general cultural climate, on social peace and on our nature as a Mediterranean society? Or is the issue of such little importance that no one considers it worthy of attention?
Reading this, especially after viewing the LiveLeak version of "Fitna", strikes fear into my heart. While the movie shows the consequence of what Tarek Heggy refers to in his other writings as militant Islam, what he expresses in this article is his concern that this form of Islam is poised to become the mainstream in Egypt. So what? If Egypt, which is seen as the heart and soul of the Arab world, falls to this extremist form of Islam, the world shown in "Fitna" will be increasingly commonplace. At current, this is not the case, but time appears to be running out.
Creating fear and polarization about Islam is not the answer. Read more of Tarek Heggy's articles here and see what can be done.
There was a technical error to the URL link above. Try here instead.
The question is whether families in Egypt who enroll their children in religious schools are sending all of them to religious schools. In Pakistan, the same families send some children to religious schools and others to secular schools. You need to find out if the actual situation in Pakistan is also true of Egypt:
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Mr. Heggy: Since the majority of your audience is American, it will be necessary to explain what you mean by 'religious establishment'.
In the United States, you can probably find a similar percentage of students attending religious institutions, whether they be traditionally religious colleges (Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc. etc.), parochial schools, or independent religious academies. In the United States at least, attending a relgious institution by no means necessarily implies an inferior secular education. In fact, quite the opposite is usually implied compared to large public institutions. In much of the country for example, wealthy people send thier children to private Catholic schools even if they aren't themselves Catholic. And virtually every historically important American Christian denomination has one or more major universities created and endowed under thier name.
My understanding is that the most fundamental problem with Saudi style religious academies is that they don't consider a firm grounding in say algebra, navigation, engineering, and astronomy an essential part of the education of any Moslem. Or for that matter any other non-religious topic, and in stead focus thier efforts almost entirely on teaching the Koran to the neglect of all other matters which might be edifying for the mind. The result, at least in Saudia Arabia, is a generation of young men who are unemployable and it must be said ignorant as well. And the result is of course, state welfare dependency, falling economic standards, vagrancy and indegence.
If Egyptian religious institutions were offering superior academic education, I would have very little problem with the idea that 1/6th of all young people were attending one. I think that it would very much improve the quality of your essay if you explained to the reader in greater detail the character of these institutions first, before launching into a denouncement of them, rather than leaving that necessary task to a short blurb near the end.
Celebrim - I think that Mr. Heggy's audience - Americans and others - know exactly what religious institutions in the Middle East are. The whole world has witnessed the acts of their (not thier) "poisonous fruits". The message is not a "denouncement" but only a wake up call.
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Apologies. Will remember in future posts.