A recent report pointedly entitled Education Emergency: Pakistan highlights the crisis facing childhood education within contemporary Pakistani society. One could make the case that the dilemmas listed in the report hold equally for many other Muslim countries, particularly those facing dramatic population growth and development challenges. Several other studies commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Arab states also reinforce this notion of failure and crisis. In particular, all these studies disclose setbacks in literacy (especially among females), inadequate schools and resources, and a general lack of attention to the educational needs of children. These trends have led to great inequities in educational attainment and a marginalization of poor or rurally based children. One major consequence, as the report on Pakistan claims, is that an increasing number of children do not even have access to schooling, thereby undermining their ability to thrive and their long-term chances for socio-economic stability.

Of course, a small number of select children do have access to quality education in many Muslim countries and go on to form an educated elite, but, relatively speaking, increasing numbers of children are simply denied any meaningful educational opportunities because of poverty, neglect, and inadequate state policies. While in some parts of the Muslim world, we have witnessed a steady growth in traditional madrasas (literally, “places of study”), the politicization of many of these madrasas and a narrow, ideological bent have meant that in some parts of the world they are unable to contribute effectively and sustainably to children's quality of life.