Who will be willing to challenge the status quo?
ISLAMABAD: This is in response to Naveed Iftikhar’s article titled ‘Why can’t Pakistan fix education’ published on July 20th. It is commendable that the writer has brought this topic to the limelight once again, as many in the country believe that since the education problem cannot be solved it’s pointless to even talk about it. On the other hand, some — often hailing from privileged backgrounds — don’t even realise that there is a problem. And that’s exactly what Mr Iftikhar has tried to draw the attention towards in his article.
The class-divide in the country gravely affects many institutions in Pakistan. From a multinational corporation to government offices and to academic institutions, you will only be employed or, be worthy of respect, if you belong to a certain segment of society: the elites.
From the big walls surrounding posh localities to uniforms in schools, everything further propagates this mindset and gives way to the concept of ‘us’ and ‘them’. As a result, it further widens the gap which Pakistan will eventually take years to overcome.
Policymakers, bureaucrats and thinkers who have the power to make decisions for the masses, more often than not, hail from the so-called elite class. Just as Mr Iftikhar mentioned, their children are enrolled in private institutions with state-of-the-art architecture, proficient faculty and top class facilities. As a result, they rarely know about the problems and facilities private institutions in a middle-class localities or public schools have or deprived of. Schools where there are no skilled teachers to teach, classrooms without electricity and buildings without proper sanitation. And what’s worse is that these decision-makers don’t even bother to visit these schools to try and rehabilitate their failing academic structures.
They fail to realise, or perhaps don’t want to, that “a class-based education system can’t be a harbinger of social and economic inclusion.”
Unfortunately, in Pakistan it is blatantly clear that “when the powerful elite doesn’t have a stake in improving any public service that service remains marginalised as compared to the one where they have deep interests in.” But the question then arises is how exactly will the problem be solved? Who will be willing to challenge the status quo?
Riaz Muhammad
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2017.
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