Student unions: Nationalist narratives in education discussed at talk

LAHORE:

“The concept of mass education was introduced during the 19th century as a result of the changing social relations caused by industrialisation,” said Ammar Ali Jan, a faculty member from the Government College University. He was speaking at a talk titled Questioning Student Unions, on Sunday.

The talk was organised by the Democratic Students Alliance at Books and Beans. “This was also when nationalism was emerging in industrialised states,” he said.

Jan said mass education became important to explain to the new urbanised societies how state institutions worked.

“Education was also used to assert the identity of a nation state,” he added.

Jan said there was a realisation after the French Revolution among the ruling classes that masses could not be controlled through police and armed forces.

“They realised that the masses must be kept on the same page through ideological means,” Jan said. Jan said when modern education was introduced in the subcontinent under the colonial rule for the first time, it served clearly defined goals.

“The colonisers wanted a particular section of the Indian community to speak their language and enable them to run the British empire as a part of its bureaucracy.”

Jan said the mainstream narrative of Pakistani history had been preached the same way: using nationalism as a means to control people.

“Education and curriculum has a very distinctive role in shaping politics of a state,” Ali said. “There is a need to chalk out exhaustive and appropriate managerial procedures for student unions if you want them to make a meaningful effort,” he added. Zahid Ali, an Awami Workers’ Party activist, said leftist students’ organisations in Pakistan could learn important from Jawaharlal Nehru University union leaders’ experience.

“I personally think that leftist organisations in Pakistan should shift their focus from internal debates to establishing student unions and devote their energies to immediate issues such as making sure that the students are taught the right curriculum and not a false history of Pakistan,” Ali said.

Earlier, moderator Ramis Sohail said the discussion had been organised to debate why students should unionise.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.