In June 2014, the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a special ruling for the education sector in Pakistan, calling for the development of appropriate curricula at educational institutions ‘to promote a culture of religious and social tolerance.’ The court ruling appeared in the backdrop of increasing incidents of religious intolerance reported in the country. The Supreme Court ruling referred to the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief pointing out the need to foster ‘a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples.’ 

In keeping with the Supreme Court ruling, the Government sent a directive to educational institutions recommending a revision of Social Science curricula to promote tolerance of religious, ethnic and cultural diversity in Pakistan. Prior to the aforementioned ruling by the Supreme Court, the content of social, political and civic education in Pakistan was already a subject of debate amongst academics owing to its perceived link with religious extremism. A plethora of academic and policy papers scrutinised curricula and pedagogies in madrassahs (religious schools) and public schools in Pakistan to identify the risk factors and suggest reforms to counter extremism.

The current study takes a fresh look at the old debate on the role of education to counter extremism in Pakistan. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux and Stephen Ball, the study suggests that if education has to play a role in countering extremism in Pakistan, the education policy of the country should refrain from blindly following the discourse of neoliberal education. For higher education in particular, the global neoliberal agenda must be viewed with caution. Instead of marginalising the critical function of education, universities should aim to flourish critical perspectives in Social Sciences, as fostering critical and reflective thinking abilities of students remains the best defence against the pull of extremist ideologies. This study examines the impact of global neoliberal discourse on contemporary higher education policy in Pakistan and argues that radical education and critical pedagogy as per tradition of Freire and Giroux must be revived in universities if we wish to counter extremism through education.