In Pakistan, education sector has recently emerged as a promising business area. It has attracted masses from every stratum of society. Witnessing the prospects, people have come to the sense that education is the easiest means of earning—not necessarily confined in the hands of potential investors. It is why we cannot make even a vague distinction between true educationists and businessmen today. The concept of service in education appears no longer a valid idea. Moreover, the engraving of Lord Macaulay’s “controlled education” on the face of Subcontinent could never literally be undone when it comes to Pakistan. In fact, our neighboring countries of India and Bangladesh have uplifted their educational standards from the strands of Macaulay Doctrine. Pakistan could not, however, prove lucky enough to redeem its people.
The education structure in the present-day Pakistan raises some serious questions. As we have two well-defined categories in our education structure, public sector and private sector, the past performance of both requires to be critiqued in order to determine the healthy as well as unhealthy trends in the system. The imposition of English as the only medium of learning for Pakistanis can be justified on various grounds so much so it can be criticized with equal potential. The fundamental question is, however, related to Urdu's *raison d’etre* in the wake of the Anglicizing-experiment of Pakistani education. Do we really need Urdu in our education or it is only dust in the public eye? Private sector had already ignored Urdu in order to reap the commercial prospects of English as, supposedly, the best medium of learning. Now even the public sector has found the solution of educational problem in replacing Urdu medium with English. It is here where the slave-mentality of our society can be seen at its worst. The false impression of rapid success in life by dint of English has, to our depravity, developed into a devoutly held belief. If English were the only channel of development and modernization, China, Japan and Russia would not have progressed by the use of their own languages.
Another such problem is rooted in the ambition of ‘unique identity’. In the thrill of 'exposition mania', much akin to TV channel's breaking-news mania, every private educational institution attempts to set up its distinct appearance. The chief characteristic that falls prey to such an approach is the uniformity of student-stratum. For instance, 'uniform' is made distinct in every possible way; syllabus is not kept identical; students are given such mental treatment as to make them offensive towards "others"; so on and so forth.
The noble profession of teaching has turned into an easy-to-abuse, least attractive profession in today’s Pakistan. Generally, only such individuals like to become teachers who are good for nothing. Individuals with better caliber prefer to drive on other avenues of economics. Moreover, teachers are not well-paid, particularly, in the private sector, though the situation in public sector is not encouraging either. Can such a mindset with inherent drawbacks introduce healthy trends in Pakistan’s extant education system? Can we really cultivate a crop of inventive and free-thinking minds in such depravity? Certainly not. The whole ingenuity, in fact, gets badly affected in this type of environment.
We assume in our illusive perception that, by increasing the study hours and providing tutoring, we are educating our children in Western lines. However, this erroneous perception is immediately out when we take even a cursory glance into the Western education model. Schools and colleges have five working days a week in the West; and students are relieved with two holidays towards weekend. Furthermore, study hours at school level hardly match our routine. We far surpass them in our study labor, but with extremely poor results. Unfortunately, this notion has found root in our society that we are doing a great service to our children by overburdening them with educational materials and imprisoning them into the systematic clumps of a 10 to 14-hour study a day. Schools offering morning-till-evening teaching service are not only doing a handsome business, but they are also boasting an ever-increasing number of students.
In such circumstances of unhealthy educational atmosphere, the ordeal of Pakistani students is manifold. The hurdles can be classed under three broad headings up until the secondary school, as follows: (i) non-native medium of learning, (ii) unskilled teaching, and (iii) mind-racking study burden.
Is there a solution to our educational problem? Indeed there is a solution to every problem; but, as it is taking us so long to fix the problem, we do not have one probably. Nay, we do not want a solution, and one must not forget in this current scenario that ‘where there is a will, there is a way’.
The education structure in the present-day Pakistan raises some serious questions. As we have two well-defined categories in our education structure, public sector and private sector, the past performance of both requires to be critiqued in order to determine the healthy as well as unhealthy trends in the system. The imposition of English as the only medium of learning for Pakistanis can be justified on various grounds so much so it can be criticized with equal potential. The fundamental question is, however, related to Urdu's *raison d’etre* in the wake of the Anglicizing-experiment of Pakistani education. Do we really need Urdu in our education or it is only dust in the public eye? Private sector had already ignored Urdu in order to reap the commercial prospects of English as, supposedly, the best medium of learning. Now even the public sector has found the solution of educational problem in replacing Urdu medium with English. It is here where the slave-mentality of our society can be seen at its worst. The false impression of rapid success in life by dint of English has, to our depravity, developed into a devoutly held belief. If English were the only channel of development and modernization, China, Japan and Russia would not have progressed by the use of their own languages.
Another such problem is rooted in the ambition of ‘unique identity’. In the thrill of 'exposition mania', much akin to TV channel's breaking-news mania, every private educational institution attempts to set up its distinct appearance. The chief characteristic that falls prey to such an approach is the uniformity of student-stratum. For instance, 'uniform' is made distinct in every possible way; syllabus is not kept identical; students are given such mental treatment as to make them offensive towards "others"; so on and so forth.
The noble profession of teaching has turned into an easy-to-abuse, least attractive profession in today’s Pakistan. Generally, only such individuals like to become teachers who are good for nothing. Individuals with better caliber prefer to drive on other avenues of economics. Moreover, teachers are not well-paid, particularly, in the private sector, though the situation in public sector is not encouraging either. Can such a mindset with inherent drawbacks introduce healthy trends in Pakistan’s extant education system? Can we really cultivate a crop of inventive and free-thinking minds in such depravity? Certainly not. The whole ingenuity, in fact, gets badly affected in this type of environment.
We assume in our illusive perception that, by increasing the study hours and providing tutoring, we are educating our children in Western lines. However, this erroneous perception is immediately out when we take even a cursory glance into the Western education model. Schools and colleges have five working days a week in the West; and students are relieved with two holidays towards weekend. Furthermore, study hours at school level hardly match our routine. We far surpass them in our study labor, but with extremely poor results. Unfortunately, this notion has found root in our society that we are doing a great service to our children by overburdening them with educational materials and imprisoning them into the systematic clumps of a 10 to 14-hour study a day. Schools offering morning-till-evening teaching service are not only doing a handsome business, but they are also boasting an ever-increasing number of students.
In such circumstances of unhealthy educational atmosphere, the ordeal of Pakistani students is manifold. The hurdles can be classed under three broad headings up until the secondary school, as follows: (i) non-native medium of learning, (ii) unskilled teaching, and (iii) mind-racking study burden.
Is there a solution to our educational problem? Indeed there is a solution to every problem; but, as it is taking us so long to fix the problem, we do not have one probably. Nay, we do not want a solution, and one must not forget in this current scenario that ‘where there is a will, there is a way’.