Tamour Ali
It is fair to say that if we observe the birth of a child in Pakistan or any developed country like the USA we would find that each child has the same features and qualities everywhere. There is no difference among children related to birth skills. Then which thing makes the difference between developed and third world countries? It is education that determines the fate of any country. The unavailability of quality education is the main factor which lacks in the undeveloped nations. And that’s why Pakistan is experiencing the negative repercussions of the decayed educational system. Unlike developed nations, this educational system has failed to produce renowned scientists, quality engineers, young entrepreneurs, and reputable doctors. Mournfully, already 23 million children are out of school in Pakistan. And those who go to schools have learning poverty. Institutions and teaching staff don’t pay attention to critical thinking, logical reasoning and a conducive environment for arguments and counterarguments. Their main focus is to complete the syllabus of textbook boards for a year and for that, they consumed all their energies. To achieve this narrow target, they rely on cramming, bookish knowledge, and exhausting homework. As a result, the skills, and grooming, that are necessary to obtain by the students in their early childhood, are completely undermined. Therefore, students cannot think beyond what their books preach to them.In addition, there is a class-based education system in Pakistan. A variety of schools have been established across the country, for instance, elite schools, public schools, Danish schools, ghost schools and private schools. The upper class accommodates their children in the elite schools which cost more than the salaries of an average person and cannot be affordable easily. No doubt, they are good at providing quality education, but lack in giving moral education. On the other hand, the rest of the schools have daunting challenges of poor infrastructure, untrained teachers, internal and external politics, insufficient resources, and budget constraints. As far as Higher Education is concerned, only 5 to 10 universities come into the ranking of the top 1000 universities of the world. Most public and private universities are doing business, and are producing graduates who only feather a degree in their caps with no skills. A powerful hierarchical and bureaucratic system has been installed in the universities where students are ignored and all power existed in a few hands. There is no liaison between the universities and industrial markets. That’s why fresh graduates have to suffer because industries and the corporate sector demand skilled staff for their work. Why would they teach new inductees at their own cost? Due to the below-par performance of the universities, companies demand sufficient experience to hire employees. Adding salt to injury, quality education is never a priority of our state. Whether a civilian government or a military regime, the education sector has been ignored. Developed nations like Japan or South Korea spend more than 5% of their GDP on education. Sadly, we spend only 2 to 3% on our education. That’s why our country with a population of more than 220 million only received two Noble Prizes whereas a small country, Norway, with only a population of 5 million achieved more than 100 Noble prizes. Unfortunately, whenever a government faces economic turmoil, it cuts off the budget of education or decreases the salaries of the teachers or professors. Moreover, it is no secret that being a community, we don’t respect and appreciate educated persons. In our country, preference has been given to power and money rather than education. It is depicted in the electoral process where no one casts vote for an educated or decent man. Everyone likes to give his vote to feudal lords, big industrialists, business tycoons, or capitalists, for small vested interests. Even persons with a collection of degrees also have the same attitude. The reason is that this dilapidated education system produces educated robots who are designed in such a way that they cannot break the shackles of slavery and shades of colonialism. Undoubtedly, quality education is the backbone of every country. Countries like Vietnam are speedily progressing just because of giving better education to their citizens. Likewise, Indians are securing top slots in multinational organizations such as Google and Twitter. They have well-renowned doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. On the other side, our educational institutions are engendering unemployed graduates at a faster pace. It is necessary to mention here that the ratio of educated unemployment is three times higher as compared to uneducated ones in Pakistan, as reported by The World Bank Report. To conclude, let’s understand one thing very clearly, without quality education, we can’t become a civilized and modern state. No leader can place Pakistan on that path that Allama Iqbal once dreamt of unless he ensures equity and quality in education. Otherwise, all other slogans of making a new and progressive Pakistan are hollow ones. There is no silver bullet for that except quality education.
