Education reform in context — II
We do need to reform our education system but we need to think through what kind of system we want.
Pakistan has had a fairly inadequate public education system — vernacular schools, madrassas and missionary schools working within the same system — but there was no attempt to think about issues of uniformity or integration in the first education conference held in the country after Partition. In fact, the report of the education conference does not even mention madrassas. It is only in 1950 that we see references to madrassas in official documents on education. But even then, though there is some talk of the need for integration and uniformity in the education system, there aren't any concrete steps mentioned or an action plan given.
Nor does one find much discussion, in official policy documents or the larger debate in society, about what sort of education system the country should have and what role religious and/or cultural education should play in that. There is discussion on language issues, there is even some discussion on the need to ensure science and mathematics proficiency, largely for functional reasons, but there is no in-depth discussion of what sort of humans/Muslims/Pakistanis we are trying to develop. This is, for a nation that had just come into being on supposedly an ideological basis, surprising, to say the least.
The trend set in the late 40s and early 50s has continued till now. We have added tens of thousands of schools to our system, raised literacy and enrollment rates to an extent and done countless revisions of the curriculum but a comprehensive debate on the purposes of education and how to connect these to national objectives has never really taken place. We have, in document after document, harped on about the need for making children better Muslims and better Pakistanis, but the how of it has not been discussed widely and a consensus has never emerged on any of these issues.
Today, we stand in a place where our nation and society are deeply divided along multiple and cross-cutting cleavages. The divide between the haves and the have-nots and linguistic, ethnic, religious, geographic, ideological and even caste divides have become so entrenched in society that all debates and even identities in Pakistan have become fragmented. And though the extent of this is unclear, this fragmentation is starting to pose serious existential threats for Pakistan. Our education system, as well as the kind of education we are giving our children, reflects this fragmentation at the larger level. Private, public, secular, religious, ideological, English, Urdu, vernacular, local or foreign examination system — we can have any kind of education we like. Many defend this as a market place. But this is not a market place, it is reflective of the chaos in our society and the lack of clarity on what we actually want and need from an education system. And the current debate on madrassa reform and curriculum reform is yet again driven by urgent needs, part of the same dynamic and problem.
We do need to reform our education system but we need to think through what kind of system we want and need in a comprehensive way; especially since we have never had such a debate before. This debate has to be driven by our long-term interests and not short-term imperatives. Unless we do this, we will end up making the same kind of mistakes that we have made up to now. And the result will not be any different from the chaos we currently face. Given the challenges we are facing as a country, we cannot afford to continue to live with the existing chaos, nor can we afford another wasted and futile effort of reform.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2010.
Nor does one find much discussion, in official policy documents or the larger debate in society, about what sort of education system the country should have and what role religious and/or cultural education should play in that. There is discussion on language issues, there is even some discussion on the need to ensure science and mathematics proficiency, largely for functional reasons, but there is no in-depth discussion of what sort of humans/Muslims/Pakistanis we are trying to develop. This is, for a nation that had just come into being on supposedly an ideological basis, surprising, to say the least.
The trend set in the late 40s and early 50s has continued till now. We have added tens of thousands of schools to our system, raised literacy and enrollment rates to an extent and done countless revisions of the curriculum but a comprehensive debate on the purposes of education and how to connect these to national objectives has never really taken place. We have, in document after document, harped on about the need for making children better Muslims and better Pakistanis, but the how of it has not been discussed widely and a consensus has never emerged on any of these issues.
Today, we stand in a place where our nation and society are deeply divided along multiple and cross-cutting cleavages. The divide between the haves and the have-nots and linguistic, ethnic, religious, geographic, ideological and even caste divides have become so entrenched in society that all debates and even identities in Pakistan have become fragmented. And though the extent of this is unclear, this fragmentation is starting to pose serious existential threats for Pakistan. Our education system, as well as the kind of education we are giving our children, reflects this fragmentation at the larger level. Private, public, secular, religious, ideological, English, Urdu, vernacular, local or foreign examination system — we can have any kind of education we like. Many defend this as a market place. But this is not a market place, it is reflective of the chaos in our society and the lack of clarity on what we actually want and need from an education system. And the current debate on madrassa reform and curriculum reform is yet again driven by urgent needs, part of the same dynamic and problem.
We do need to reform our education system but we need to think through what kind of system we want and need in a comprehensive way; especially since we have never had such a debate before. This debate has to be driven by our long-term interests and not short-term imperatives. Unless we do this, we will end up making the same kind of mistakes that we have made up to now. And the result will not be any different from the chaos we currently face. Given the challenges we are facing as a country, we cannot afford to continue to live with the existing chaos, nor can we afford another wasted and futile effort of reform.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2010.