A very crucial issue which is undermining the basic fabric of our society is being ignored recklessly. Intolerance is indeed one of the biggest issues that has affected the social structure of our society. But unfortunately, it has never been taken seriously by any segment of society, including the government.
The practices of intolerance are very common in offices, organizations, in educational institutions, in markets, playgrounds and generally everywhere in the society. The situation consequently leads to distraction among the people and is ultimately embodied in the professional, ethnic, cultural, religious, tribal and racial prejudices which sabotage the peaceful atmosphere.
Intolerance characterized by dislike is primarily caused due to peoples’ unawareness, ignorance and being ill-informed about the reality. Moreover, injustice, inequality among the social and state structures and egoism and egocentric attitudes in the people are the contributing factors promoting intolerance among people.
The socially constructed phenomenon of “intolerance” is very intense in Pakistan. Very grave crimes and acts are being committed by the people as a result of intolerance. The impunity mode of the state has internally aggravated the situation matchlessly. Intolerance is found excessively in youth rather than the other cohort of the society. The emotional and frustrated mode of youth is very much easy to spark and use against any person or a group.
The examples of Mashal Khan (a student of Abdul Wali Khan university Mardan) and the Sri Lankan engineer and general manager at sports company in Sialkot who were lynched by the furious mobs without any inquiry are in front of us. Similarly, a professor from Peshawar Islamia college university named as Dr. Bashir Ahmed and many other cases of intolerance are witnessed in our society frequently. Recently an incident of a girl in Lahore wearing an Arabic brand dress with some Arabic script on it. Thanks to a lady police officer for meddling and controlling the situation, otherwise she would have been given some humiliating fate. Similar incidents of intolerance are witnessed and reported in different sectors of our society often.
Intolerance is not confined to religious quarters merely, rather it is instigated and internalized socially, culturally, environmentally, economically, politically and at the family level. The unplanned population with scant infrastructure and job opportunities, the high birth rate with no proper education and socialization, the traditional and tribal lifestyle, the churlish traffic and unlicensed drivers and the children driving vehicles and bikes recklessly, the unhygienic health-care centres and contaminated environment, the unethical and bad manners and attitudes of the masses, the dishonesty and fraud in each field and business, the corruption and bribery in government offices, the injustice, the familial embroilments, the political rivalries and the youth being ignored in different spheres of life are the prominent factors and indicators leading a society towards intolerance.
These factors have greatly affected individual and social psychology and have turned our society to a hell-like situation. Hence, this situation needs to be changed on priority basis.
To reduce and counter intolerance in society through educational institutions the sociologists put forward the two broad approaches. Through “Structure Functionalism” the sociologists stress upon the structural rules and principles that may influence the system at the macro level like our overall educational system, subjects, syllabuses, course contents and the educational policies.
Consequently, in our educational system unfortunately there is no any single subject that may guide and train the students that how to behave in the society, how to control emotions, how to promote tolerance among the people, how to interact with the people and so on. Our students may have much potential and talent in respective subjects but due to untrained attitudes they always show intolerant and unethical conduct which may leave a stain on their educational and academic performance.
Intolerance is a cancer for a society. It creates hatred and increases distances among the people. The state should focus on educational institutions more than the other forums, because they are elementary and influential forums to reduce intolerance. The government should revisit the educational policies, restructure the courses, include the contents and stories which could promote tolerance and harmony, and the teachers should update themselves and interact with the students in a soft way, conduct seminars and debates, make aware the students about the drawbacks and repercussions of intolerance and highlight the glory of tolerance and harmony.
Contextually, there is a dire need to introduce subjects that may teach and internalize in the students situational ethics so as to promote tolerance among the social settings. In advanced countries elementary education is completely given to the children to make them understand and aware about the norms and ethos of daily life. Subsequently our existing courses need to be redesigned to imbue the intolerant segment of our society with the ideal societal codes and core values. The contents must be designed in such a way to discourage the anti-social acts, promote tolerance and good manners among the students. The courses should be very finely designed to make students disregard the religious, ethnic, social, cultural, racial, tribal, political, and class-based intolerance, and to view it as disgraceful.
Symbolic Interactionism is the second sociological perspective stressed upon the day-to-day interactions and discussions of the teachers within the classes and outside of the classes with the students. This perspective believes that a soft interaction of a teacher with the students may help to change the students’ thoughts, minimize the intensity of intolerance and boost up the level of tolerance among the students. The teacher should welcome the students with an open mind and care for them with a great zeal.
It is argued that the teacher should be very much emotionally mature, tolerant and having fair control on his/her emotions; free from all kinds of prejudices and hatred. It is further contended that to make the students’ attitude and conduct decent the teacher should be more knowledgeable and updated in terms of his/her subject.
He or she should be very curious about his pr her subject and professionalism, so that the students may follow and imitate him or her as an ideal personality. Research studies indicate that higher the educational level of students, it yields a higher level of tolerance and the lower level of education increases susceptibility to higher social intolerance.
Intolerance is a cancer for a society. It creates hatred and increases distances among the people. The state should focus on educational institutions more than the other forums, because they are elementary and influential forums to reduce intolerance. The government should revisit the educational policies, restructure the courses, include the contents and stories which could promote tolerance and harmony, and the teachers should update themselves and interact with the students in a soft way, conduct seminars and debates, make aware the students about the drawbacks and repercussions of intolerance and highlight the glory of tolerance and harmony.
