The PTI and education

Letter February 10, 2012
Are we meant to deduce that people with beards do not have anything intelligent to say?

KARACHI: This is with reference to Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article of February 9 titled “Education: The PTI’s false promises won’t help” who has quoted from recently-launched Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and the plight of education in Pakistan. However it doesn’t take him long (three paragraphs to be precise) into the article, before the learned doctor retreated to his favourite pastime — criticising Imran Khan. This time he had to dig into the PTI’s chief personal life and decisions to make a rather bizarre analogy.

At this point, it may be pertinent to point out that the meeting he mentions where he met Imran Khan was a private one. This, by definition, is one which entails a frank exchange of ideas and a meaningful meeting can only be one which includes an exchange of a range of diverse opinion. For starters, one could easily accuse the writer of being prejudiced because he seems to basing his opinion of them on their appearance, saying that three of the six participants were “bearded maulanas”.


Are we meant to deduce that people with beards do not have anything intelligent to say? Or does it signify in the stereotypical world of our elite that anyone from middle class or lower middle class with a religious disposition is not even worth engaging with?


The article then moves from talking about education to a critique of Imran Khan as a person. In all this, Dr Hoodhboy seems to miss the point that Mr Khan is not condemning education per se, but the mindset that it creates and perpetuates. The writer also makes an unsubstantiated charge against the PTI chief when he implies that the latter is against scientific advancement. No concrete evidence is given to back this claim. As for the suggestion that the PTI chief sends his children to the school that he despises, the latter has never ever suggested or said anything against his former school or university which would suggest that he ‘despises’ these institutions.


The writer also doubts the PTI desire to introduce a single syllabus across the country to bring uniformity and equality in the mainstream system of education. The writer clearly misses the point that part of the PTI tsunami is to bring about comprehensive change to the country’s system of schooling and education.


Kashif Jan


Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2012.