KARACHI:
The education system of Pakistan is deplorable. It fails to meet any of the international standards, and despite many efforts the development of education still remains stagnant.
Recent statistics indicate that even though more than 70% of the country’s population is comprised of youths, there is still no cohesive plan to engage them in worthwhile educational activities. Not much introspection is needed to come up with the conclusion that those at the helm are least concerned about education. After all, if you educate young people, most of them will become serious competitors in the future or may even rebel against the status quo. Therefore, in order to enforce subconscious control, political, religious, social and ethnic divisions are created among the masses in order to fragment them into less vulnerable groups that constantly fight against each other. A house divided amongst itself cannot stand.
The future prosperity of the country relies solely on the education we give our young ones today. Therefore, if authorities are actually sincere to this nation, it is necessary that they put an end to corrupt practices and nepotism while at the same time ensuring that every student is provided equal opportunity to learn and grow. We need to make education accessible to those who cannot afford it and for this it is vital that teachers are professionally trained. Many advanced countries like Malaysia and Finland have increased their literacy rate by reforming their teacher training methods. They give continuous professional development training to teachers throughout their careers, equipping them with the best pedagogical and technological knowledge.
In Pakistan, however, while teachers know what to teach they don’t know how to teach. The alarming situation is that the country lacks quality teachers, in turn compromising the quality of education. Therefore, Pakistan needs to launch training sessions for the continuous professional development of teachers. The recruitment process should be transparent, valid and reliable so that a candidate must be scrutinised critically.
Muhammad Hussain Khosa
Balochistan
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2020.
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