Examining the new trend in education

Dr Akbar Zaidi discusses the emergence of social sciences in Pakistan at the Alliance Française

KARACHI: To shed light on how Pakistani society has changed and new areas of study that have emerged in the past few years, economist and social scientist Dr Akbar Zaidi shared his experiences at a special lecture series on 'Social Science in Pakistan' at the Alliance Française on Thursday.

In the last 15 years, the overall situation has changed drastically, said Dr Zaidi. Some 15 year ago, economics used to dominate the social sciences sector, he said.



Today, however, there is a boom in social science subjects, for which many new universities have emerged. The saddest part of the education sector in Pakistan is that if a teacher has completed a specific number of years of service, he becomes eligible for the post of head of the department, but abroad you do not get promotions until you have published some research papers, he said.



The main change in social science subjects was witnessed after the formation of the Higher Education Commission, according to him. "There was a reform in the education sector and many in-house employees were sent abroad for their doctorate degrees, which has been profitable for research studies and change," he explained. The second reason he gave for the change was the growth of private universities in Pakistan. "Many new universities are offering exceptional courses of social science, which increases the percentage of students opting [for these subjects, compared to] medical and engineering degrees," he added.

Dr Zaidi also said that the generation that had settled abroad is now returning to the country with their children. "Many scholars and researchers who had joined the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other such organisations have retired and are now coming back to Pakistan," he pointed out, adding that they are setting up their own institutions and promoting subjects like sociology, anthropology and history. "They are opening institutions mainly focusing on research and studies conducted by students," Zaidi said.



Emergence of LUMS

Another reason for the change, according to Dr Zaidi, was the establishment of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 1984. "LUMS brought in the finest social scientists and has produced a large number of new social scientists," he said, explaining that these students often went abroad for their Masters and came back to promote social sciences and its scope in the country.

After the formation of LUMS, Fullbright scholarships have given exposure to students belonging to the middle class to study subjects that are not offered in Pakistan, he claimed. "Scholarships have spread awareness regarding subjects other than economics," said the economist, explaining how, before such opportunities, students only opted for economics.

Despite all these reasons for the change, there are still some issues in the field of social sciences. "Working for NGOs and donors and doing research for them is not social science," he shared. Giving examples of poverty in Pakistan, taxation issues and security, Dr Zaidi said that due to the donor-driven agendas, there are many topics on which research has been done extensively, which are not even needed.



The evolution of social media has changed the domain of research and publication, according to Dr Zaidi. Where there were once discussions and debates on research, there is now only 140 characters to express your views, he said, citing an example of Twitter. He also questioned how the number of shares and re-tweets can define the quality of a publication. "Due to such practices the work is left far behind and only numbers are there to count," he concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2015.