A profound knowledge partnership between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan

In the common knowledge of ordinary Pakistanis and Saudi citizens, perhaps the relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Pakistan is an association built around mostly security pacts or financial assistance. No doubt from Riyadh’s tacit support to Pakistan’s atomic program, to the Pakistan army contingent deployed to defend the kingdom’s borders, to the pledge to provide security to both houses of God, it has been an endless stream of protective security measures in the making. So has been the case of financial aid, especially in the form of deferred payments on oil, which has prevented Pakistan, on innumerable occasions, from caving under the burden of its ever-rising import bills. However, another facet to this relationship, which has rarely been in the spotlight, is the Pakistani Saudi education support/ exchange program.

In a recent development, KSA has announced 600 full scholarships to Pakistani students to pursue higher education in 25 universities of KSA. Both Pakistanis living as expats and those in Pakistan are eligible to avail the opportunity. 

Saudi Arabia is expending its resources in the realm of language to conserve Islamic culture and heritage. In this regard millions of dollars are being invested in building a research and cultural center at the new International Islamic University Islamabad campus. The medium of education would be the Arabic language. State of the art digital facilities will be installed so people from anywhere in the world can learn online from trained linguistic professors that the Kingdom shall send to teach Arabic, Sharia, and other Islamic subjects. Under the project, 250 scholarships will be given to deserving students. 

In Pakistan, it is generally perceived that Arabic is a means to only attend to Islamic education, which is not the correct approach toward a language that revolutionized Arab civilization because of its brevity and inexhaustible vocabulary. Therefore, notwithstanding the importance of scientific education, the exposure to Arab literature can bring significant finesse in our thinking and thought process just as Russian or English literature did in the last century when the contours of a new world were in the formation after two devastating world wars. To keep the flow of knowledge both ways, Pakistan will also, as it has been doing previously, host Saudi students studying in the former’s engineering and medical universities. To this effect, new scholarships have been offered to Saudi students in 2019. 

The exposure to Arab literature can bring significant finesse in our thinking and thought process just as Russian or English literature did in the last century when the contours of a new world were in the formation after two devastating world wars

Durdana Najam 

The history of Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations in the realm of education has been profound and diverse. The initial partnership in this regard was in the religious domain, which encouraged the development of a network of madrassas in Pakistan. In due course, these seminaries became a lifeline for millions of poverty stricken families who had no other means to give an education and two meals a day to their children except in these places of learning. 

The trajectory from madrassas to scientific teaching began, along with other things, with the establishment of the Committee of Scientific and Technology Corporation (COMSTECH) in 1981 through a resolution in the third OIC summit held in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The Pakistani Chapter of COMSTECH spends $250,000 annually on students from the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC), a collection of 57 Islamic countries located in Jeddah. The government of Pakistan gives a bulk of this budget. Reciprocally, Riyadh also donates regularly in COMSTECH for providing scientific and technological education to students from Muslim countries. 

Another breakthrough has been the induction of the entrepreneurial spirit in the education sector. Recently a Saudi educationist, Omer Farooqui, has announced to provide STEM education to about six million children across Pakistan under the public-private partnership format. 

Understanding that knowledge is a shared asset waiting to be spread and get ownership in maximum countries, KSA has gone global in its pursuit to eliminate education inequality in low-income and violence-ridden countries such as Syria and Yemen. The KSA pledged to grant $3 million in the strategic plan of the Global Partnership for Education held in the UK this July. This was in line with Riyadh’s Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s G20 2019 presidency agenda. 

Unlike Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has to cover miles before it fulfils its constitutional obligation to provide universal education access. Unfortunately, we are part of those states in the region where income inequality and the government’s misplaced priorities have resulted in a very high school dropout rate. This situation will only change if, like KSA, we adopt a holistic approach to education, believing that education is the only driver of development and peace. 

*Durdana Najam is an oped writer based in Lahore. She writes on security and policy issues. 

Twitter: @durdananajam