Promoting Inclusive and Tolerant Educational Narratives

Education constitutes one of the foremost components of most of the counter-violent extremism (CVE) models and frameworks currently being implemented in the Muslim-majority and Western countries. In countries like Pakistan, where education, both mainstream and religious, is considered by many to have been a factor in the promotion of ideological radicalization and violent extremism, the need to promote inclusive and tolerant educational narratives becomes even more significant and pressing. Against this backdrop, Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) engaged leading and senior faculty members–mostly from Islamic studies and Arabic departments1–of universities and colleges from across Pakistan in three two-day academic and intellectual dialogue-cum-training workshops in 2016. The purpose was to influence teachers as well as educational discourse in support of inclusive, tolerant and harmony-supporting education including education curricula. This report provides a summary of the proceedings of these workshops including key findings and participants‟ responses collected before and after each workshop through two types of survey questionnaires.