News:

The Standard Newspaper on Thursday 31st October 2013 reported that the Government plans to vigorously promote a policy requiring women to have only two children. The move comes after the realization that the country can no longer sustain the population at the current birth rates of more than four children per woman. The Kenya Population Situation Analysis released on Wednesday this week by the Ministry of Devolution and Planning says the demand for children is still big in Kenya and must be managed downwards. '' The demand for children is still high and is unlikely to change unless substantial changes in desired family size are achieved among the poor in general, notable in northern arid and semi-arid areas of the country'' says the analysis, the first of its kind to be done in any African country.

Comment:

According to the UNFPA, the world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next twelve years. It is projected to reach 8.1 billion in 2025, and to further increase to 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion by 2100. Much of the overall increase between 2013 and 2050 is projected to take place in high-fertility countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. In contrast, the population of the more developed regions is expected to change minimally, passing from 1.25 billion in 2013 to 1.28 billion in 2100. The net increase is due largely to migration from developing to developed countries.

A closer look at such statistics reveals they are intended to raise alarm on the perceived threat that current population growth rates pose to the world. The basis on which they are based is the Capitalist ideology which presumes that we leave in world with unlimited needs and scarce resources i.e. the economic problem facing the world is that of production. This means that any rapid growth in population leads to a strain on the scarce resources which is likely to result into conflict among nations. Such a view led to many so-called developed countries to encourage population controls through massive campaigns in family planning. Europeans have generally been having fewer children due to the decision of many parents to delay having a family. A total fertility rate of around 2.1 live births per woman is considered to be the replacement level while Europe currently has a level below 1.5. This has had a devastating effect as the labour force rapidly ages without any replacement from new births. Surprisingly, when migrants from mostly Muslim countries try to bridge the gap, complaints are raised about population explosion! The idea of population controls has also brought other undesirable effects like child trafficking and abortions. Children are trafficked for adoptions while abortions are common in many countries. It is of great concern that a country like Kenya claims that the population growth rate is very high yet we have vast swathes of uninhabited land that lies idle due to neglect. Curiously, the statistics stress on rapid population growth in arid and semi-arid areas which are mostly inhabited by Muslims. Could this be a sinister move to control the Muslim population? It is also a wonder that with its claim of most developed economy in the region, Kenya has failed to nurture and fully utilize the abundant human resource available as we see University graduates still doing menial jobs! The greed by the wealthy minority to consolidate more riches compels them to fear the poor majority that might one day rise up against them. That is why for over a century, we have been hearing of such alarmist statistics on population growth rates.

Islam as an ideology has a solution as it views the economic problem as being that of distribution of wealth and not production as viewed by Capitalism. Thus, the State provides an enabling environment in which all citizens have access to income generating activities and those that are unable get State help in terms of Zakah and Grants from the State Treasury (Bait ul-Mal). In fact, Islam encourages progressive birth rates as the youth form the backbone of any State that wishes to have advanced development. The world has got vast resources that are enough to satisfy all our needs and at no time can the human race fill the whole world as our Creator placed a natural way to balance the population through deaths.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Kassim Agessa
Member of Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in East Africa

News:

On the 25th of October 2013 Azernews reported that the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, introduced an education development strategy to create an economically stable education system with infrastructure based on up-to-date technologies and qualified teachers. A cabinet of Ministers have been given five months to submit a plan of action and development goals are to be reviewed annually.

Comment:

Since Azerbaijan achieved independence from Russia the topic of adopting a new education structure has been put on the agenda of the Parliament each year, but to no avail. The low level of public spending on education has resulted in decreased faculty salaries, which in turn resulted in a system rife with corruption and inequality affecting all levels of society from elementary schools to universities. The level of education given at secondary schools does not adequately prepare students for university entrance exams and some teachers intentionally withhold information that will be on the exams in order to set the students back.  21 years after independence from Russia, secular Azerbaijan is therefore still in the process of defining appropriate educational standards and curriculums - a sad reality mirrored within other countries in the region that have also adopted the secular political system and who share the same corruption, inefficiencies, and poor state education structures. In 2010, the Telegraph reported that according to Indem, a Moscow-based think tank, paying for good school exam results, for entrance into university, and to pass university courses is a multimillion dollar industry in Russia.

The secular Azerbaijan leadership has failed to meet the basic educational needs of its people due to its adoption of the liberal secular approach to policy making. This is collaborated by the fact that secular nations such as the US and UK with long standing educational infrastructures that have had plenty of time to refine their systems are also failing their students. A report released in April 2013 reveals that 1 In 4 Americans are completing high school late and that students lag far behind other countries. Chester Finn, a former senior US Education Department official stated that "...despite all of the reforming, the gains are so modest, they ought to serve to energize and even panic today's policymakers" President Ilham's new strategies are therefore doomed to failure, just like those of years past for they are neither sincere nor sound. This is because they are partial cosmetic changes implemented under a man-made system that is inherently flawed and that has been demonstrated the world-over to have failed nations.

A brighter future for education in Azerbaijan can only be secured by the return to the Islamic education system under the Khilafah "Caliphate". Under this state, the Muslim lands led the world in innovation and learning with international dignitaries sending their youth to be educated in our world class universities and institutions. This was due to the complete application of the Islamic ideology that truly values education, views it as a basic right of every citizen - male and female, has a sound economic system to fund it adequately, and encourages individuals to excel in every field of life for the good of humanity, including in academia, technology, medicine, and science. This first-class education system will return once again upon the rebirth of this state in the region. The draft constitution of Hizb ut Tahrir for the Khilafah "Caliphate" states: "It is an obligation upon the State to teach every individual, male or female, those things which are necessary for life. This should be provided freely to all and should be done in the primary and secondary levels of education. The State should, to the best of its ability, provide the opportunity for everyone to continue higher education free of charge." It is therefore, only with a return to this tried, tested, and successful political model as defined by Islam that Azerbaijan's education crisis can be resolved.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Imrana Mohammad

Mukhtarat from The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir   Issue No. 24 Muharram 1435 AH