KARACHI:
We are living in a world that is moving at a rapid pace. With each passing day, we see our civilisation changing and evolving. This is especially true for countries that believe in the importance of education. For the Western world, education is one of the major pillars of progress. All else comes after. Thus, Western countries have been able to achieve continuous growth.
Their untiring efforts for exploring and understanding the universe has yielded positive results. Their curiosity towards knowledge has turned into a rigorous passion, especially in the domain of science. This is why the academic discipline, STEM — the collective study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — deeply depicts their thirst for growth and knowledge. Contrary to this, we, the citizens of Pakistan, do not pay much heed to education or science. No Islamic country has yet honed the capability to delve into the depths of scientific knowledge, even though Islamic philosophy focuses on the attainment of the highest forms of knowledge. The first word revealed to our Prophet (peace be upon him) was Iqra, meaning read. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are centuries behind Europe and the US. We have become mere users and it seems that we have lost our way.
This is evident from our yearly national budget, in which a meagre amount is allocated in the name of education. Our priorities remain elsewhere, resulting in no positive outcome from any sphere relating to modern scientific knowledge. We have not been able to produce more scientist like Dr Abdus Salam, whose contributions to physics have widely been acknowledged throughout the world. We need to understand that apart from education there is no other way towards progress. It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality education to the masses. The dream of progress will never turn into a reality unless the prerequisite is not met. Quality education should be the top most priority in our national agenda.
Dr Qamar Abbas
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2021.
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