Understanding the Nexus between Modern Tertiary Education and Radicalisation: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

Since its independence, Pakistan has been struggling to cope up with various multifaceted challenges. Predominantly, the education sector of Pakistan is lagging behind and has failed to yield quality education for youth. Past few years has witnessed a rapidly increasing involvement of highly educated youth (university graduates) in the extremist activities. This emerging trend of radicalisation among the young generation is an alarming phenomenon and needs to be tackled soon. Although the phenomenon of radicalisation is multifaceted; various scholars have underlined the “sort” of education as an important driver of radicalisation. The present research has explored the relationship between the sort of education and radicalisation in the context of Pakistan by employing the qualitative methodology which involves the semi-structured interviews of engineers, doctors and professors. Consequently; in the context of Pakistan, the research argues that as such there is no direct relationship between the education of an individual and the emergence of radical sentiments. The result of the research showed that besides education; there are various other background factors involved too like friends, family, social circle, personal reasons, ideological, economic and religious factors which influences the individual’s pathway to radicalisation. Additionally, the thesis argues that there is a need to humanise the education system in Pakistan that emboldens liberal, open-mindedness and critical thinking within graduates. Plus, there is a significant need to focus on producing the quality research work and the training of faculty members is necessary too.