Education, Gender And International Development

How gender and identity is shaping the educational experiences of refugees in Pakistan?

Abstract

This paper explores how ideas on gender and identity are shaping the educational experience of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. There is a specific focus on madrassah education and how current debates on gender and identity in Pakistan lead refugees in an unfortunate state where they have limited access to basic rights, one of them being right to education. The interviews carried out in the data analysis section will be used to argue how the policies in Pakistan, which are underpinned by the religious and political beliefs have not only hindered refugees access to education but also have deprived them of gaining their own identity. Theoretical frameworks such as GAD, WID and CA will be used to analyse the debate on refugee education. The findings from this research will be used to show how there is a dire need to reconstruct the policies around access to education and immigration in Pakistan.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow." Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human. Malala Yousafzai.

This quote highlights the significant of education and its ability to overlook the identity of individuals. This thesis looks carefully at how Afghan refugees in Pakistan access education how their educational experiences have been shaped through gender and identity views which have been embedded in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the largest hosts to millions of refugees in the world. It is a country known for its culture, religion and conflicts. Since 1947, the country has had ongoing struggles with its neighbour India and its conflict with the West has always been apparent. With an unstable political dynamics and strong views on gender identities and an education system that is struggling to survive, the voice of the refugees living in Pakistan have become background noise to all the other dominating issues. There is a scarcity of scholarly assessment on bringing religion, culture, gender and education under one umbrella which consists of refugees. This research aims to bring all these concepts together and give voice to those who have been feeling lost for years by asking the following questions: what role does religion play in shaping an identity of an individual? How are dynamics on gender and identity portrayed when they are married with religion? What role does culture play when religion seems to dominate the ideologies of the citizens? How is education manipulated by the elites who claim to be the gatekeepers of religion, culture and education? Finally, how are refugees being treated in a place where once the citizens were refugees themselves. This research attempts to provide answers by asking those who are being affected: the citizens and the refugees who live under the shade of one country.

The above questions will be woven throughout the thesis in the following ways: firstly, there will be an in-depth discussion on the context of Pakistan, looking at the role of religion and politics as this will illustrate how much influence the religious leaders and politicians have on the social and education policies. Then there will be a discussion on the gender dynamics in Pakistan as this will highlight the issues around gender identity. Then the focus shift to looking at the different educational experiences, formal and madrassah education which will be integral to the discussion on the type of education refugees have been able to access. A large part of this thesis is embedded within the Context chapter and this is so that it can be understood how the ideas around gender, religion, identity and education, are all interlinked in Pakistan which is why refugees are finding it difficult to gain access to education in Pakistan. The thesis will then review the different literature around the refugee education debate and outline current debates and views scholars have put forward. The literature review section will also discuss the idea of genderless refugees followed by the theoretical frameworks: GAD, WID and CA. The frameworks will be used to analyse the debates around refugee education, gender and identity. This will be followed by the Methodology chapter where I will discuss the limitations and how my thesis was guided by the literature. Finally, the thesis will look at the data through the different themes from the interviews conducted and come to a conclusion on the debate of refugee education, gender and identity.

Ultimately, this research is a learning journey for me as a British Pakistani Muslim who feels the loss of identity in the West and the East but feels that education brings ultimate content to the heart and mind, creating peace and happiness wherever it travels.