Editorial

An ill-educated judiciary

CJP Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has hit several nails regarding the education debate squarely on the head

Editorial May 09, 2016

CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali. PHOTO: FILE

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, has hit several nails regarding the education debate squarely on the head. He was speaking at a conference on judicial education in Karachi and he did not mince his words. The judiciary lacked able and competent judges as a direct result of having come through an education system that was “obsolete and outdated”. It is today difficult to find competent judges because of the inherent flaws in the basic education system. As a consequence, the judiciary is divided into two segments, one having a strong educational background and the other populated by people who had joined the legal profession having failed in other career options. It used to be said that teaching was the last resort of those that failed or were mediocre educationally, and the CJ has just added the legal profession to the national pool of second-and-third best.

This is a sobering admission, but as has been pointed out in these columns many times, given the failure to invest in education at every level, and such investment as there is being insufficient to raise standards, it is inevitable that a poorly-educated workforce is going to be the end result. This is reflected not only in the legal profession, but across every strata of society, and grand talk of Pakistan joining the ‘Knowledge Economy’ in the near future is mere smoke and mirrors. The CJ lamented the fact that perhaps a majority of judges had poor English, the lingua franca of international legal systems. He pointed out the high failure rate of those seeking appointment as judge because of their poor English proficiency — yet that is but a part of the problem. Applicants are handicapped by their poor baseline, secondary and higher education, and not just poor English — they have poor everything and for that they cannot be blamed. The state failed them over their entire span in the public education system. The failure of the education system is systemic and goes to the heart of the question as to why Pakistan is not more developed than it is.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (4)

Umair Ahmad | 8 years ago | Reply @Toti calling @Rao Amjad Ali I will largely agree with you comment in general but he is addressing a different beast here. Most of the legal language in the sub-continent has been Farsi and English. I am not sure about pre-Mughal period but I have a reason to believe it was Sanskrit (no offense intended to anyone). Judiciary has to be very precise in writing these judgement as some of the words and phrases do not have their counterparts in Urdu language which could make a judgement ambiguous and prone to unintended interpretations. You and I refer to Merriam Webster or similar sources for our meaning but lawyers and judges refer to black law dictionary for their meaning and its impact. Philosophy of law largely comes from the Romans researched and adopted by the English communal system and handed down to us. Judges must know English and need to rely on it until Urdu language is researched enough to complement its counterpart in Germanic and Persian languages. For judiciary, English is a must for now and I disagree with you guys.

Noor Muhammad Memon | 8 years ago | Reply We have to realise that english proficiancy was good till public education in Pakistan-continued from pre-partition- was looked after well.This was until late 60's.Educational inspectors used to tour every school and school teacher's career prospects depended on his delievery of results.Teacher was held in high esteem in the society scool premises were sacrosant. Detrioration in public education can squarely be based on the post 70 politicians who politicised education & ignored it in the scheme of things. Can you imagine political parties appointing their workers as teachers without going through the recruitment process AND selling the teacher's job; this is still in vogue. Vow to that nation that neglects its education.

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Rao Amjad Ali | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistani judges will likely do considerably better in both written and verbal English language skills than their counterparts in Italy, France and Brazil simply because English is not their native language. Not exactly sure what is it that Judge Jamali is lamenting? Interesting to note though that no country in the world has ever been able to develop on a borrowed language - English is not native to Pakistan, it is borrowed! And by the way, there is no mystery in the fact that command over the English language is a function of quality English medium schooling which comes at a price that is out of reach of an average parent. This leads to biased streaming of students and culminates in economic apartheid.

Toti calling | 8 years ago | Reply The level of education should not be judged on English knowledge. Majority of people who go to public schools are not very proficient in English compared to those who go abroad or can afford private schools. That is the flaw of the system which helps people who are rich. But those who cannot write English well are not always less educated and less intelligent. If English is the language for measurement, then all schools should have this language as the basic source.

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