Abstract:
Education is a moral enterprise. Character building of students is the pivotal goal of
education all over the world. It has ever been a hot issue either religion should be
included the syllabi or secular values are enough for the moral development of young
children. During the recent years, syllabus for Islamyat in schools and Madaris of
Pakistan has also come under objection and revision. However, no research on
relationship of moral development and religion has come to light in Pakistan. For the
reason, a study was conducted to find the, “Effect of religious education on the moral
development of children.” It was a causal comparative ex post facto study with a 3x3
factorial design. The stratified sample comprised 1350 children of 4-15 years from
public schools, Madaris and uneducated from urban and rural areas of Lahore. The
researcher developed a tool MDII (Moral Development Interview inventory) herself.
Its validity and reliability were determined statistically. The data was analysed by
ANOVA and T-test for independent sample. It was found that there was a substantial
increase in the moral development of children during every age stage. Religious
education has also significant positive effect on the moral development of children
because the uneducated children showed the least moral development. The children
from 7-11 (childhood) from schools and Madaris showed equal performance and the
children in early childhood of Madaris indicated no significant difference with
uneducated children. It was concluded that Hifz students were not provided with
illustrative moral content so they lagged behind in moral concepts. The adolescents
studying translation of the Quran and Hadith showed the highest stage of moral
development. It was suggested that Madaris should introduce translation of the Quran
and comprehensible subject matter of religion for young students also.
