DUTIES OF PARENTS REGARDING CHILD EDUCATION IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAM: AN ANALYSIS OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

Parentage is the most sacred relation in Islam. The religion Islam assigns various duties to parents to be fulfilled, which are the due rights of their children. Like other duties, a most important duty is educating children. When a child reaches to the age of understanding and learning, then parents need to provide education and knowledge to grow his/her intellectual abilities that empower the child to identify and learn about how to deal with the different aspects of life. Education elucidates to children the purpose of Divine plan of creation. The Islamic Sharia offers equal opportunities of education to both male and female. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “seeking of knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim male and female”. As acquiring knowledge is an essential religious duty in Islam therefore any carelessness in fulfilling this duty means compromising their responsibility. Many parents in Pakistan are failed to fulfill this duty therefore a huge number of students remained uneducated. This paper is an attempt to know about the duties of parents regarding educating their children, and critically analyze the present scenario in Pakistan.