Pakistan's two schools of thought

While there are no official figures, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, a New Delhi-based think-tank, estimates that there are more than 15,000 madrassahs in Pakistan today, up from fewer than 2,000 in 1979.

"What's the price of ignorance? It's more costly than educating people," says Ardeshir Cowasjee, a longtime columnist for the Dawn, a leading Pakistani newspaper.

"In Pakistan, we have eight births a minute. That's almost 500 births an hour, 12,000 a day, 4 million a year. You need funds to build schools for all these children, and the funds don't match," Mr. Cowasjee says.

"You [Americans] are worried now," he adds. "I've been worried since 1948."

If liberal Pakistanis like Cowasjee are worried, it is because Pakistan's madrassahs are responsible for spawning militant movements like Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

In 1994, a group of madrassah students answered the call of a charismatic recluse, Mullah Mohammad Omar, to overthrow Afghanistan's unruly mujahideen warlords and purify the country.

Even today, Pakistan's madrassahs frequently empty their halls to send young men to fight for the Taliban during Afghanistan's warmer warring season.

Not all madrassahs are alike, however. While many offer only the most rudimentary math and science, others are more sophisticated, aiming at the same level of education found in Pakistan's more-elite schools.

One of the better-funded madrassahs is the Anjuman Faizul Islam in Rawalpindi.

Here, boys and girls - nearly 700 of whom are orphans - study together up until fifth grade, and then continue their studies separately until grade 10.

This madrassah's library is full of books in both English and the national language, Urdu, from "Gone with the Wind" to "How to Build a Hydropower Dam." The chemistry lab would not look out of place at any American public school. The curriculum includes Islamic studies, to be sure, but the emphasis is on achievement, not on Islamic political causes.

"The big thing in our country is that the illiteracy rate is high [38 percent]. It is ignorance that is making us so backward," says Muhammad Farooqi, principal of Anjuman Faizul Islam.

"The basic aim is so that this orphan, this poor child, he should not become a beggar or a burden to his family. Whosoever is a lady person should not be left behind. We are all human beings created by Allah, the master of the universe," he says.

Students educated in this progressive-minded madrassah, where some female teachers don't even wear headscarves, share many of the dreams of the children of St. Paul's. Ninth-grader Muhammad Aqeer wants to be a software developer. So does classmate Abid Hassan, who also plays a pretty mean game of cricket.

At St. Paul's, Ali Arsan says that education shouldn't be just for individuals to get ahead. Educated Pakistanis must come back to help their country.

"We are the future of Pakistan, we have to make it a better country," says Ali, who attended a madrassah for two years before coming to St. Paul's last year.

"We'll try our best, and in 10 years, Pakistan will be a great country."

Behind him, a number of students whisper reflexively, in unison, Inshallah, "If God wills it."

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