Heritage education: Books alone are insufficient: Alam

Speakers stress the need to create an affinity with our past

ISLAMABAD: To keep our heritage alive, teachers will have to adopt the art of linking heritage with education and teaching. This was said by speakers at a session titled ‘The value of heritage education and what can teachers do to promote it’, as part of the Teachers Literature Festival at Lok Virsa on Thursday. 

Panellists said heritage is not only dance, music, drama, books, and archaeology, but a life which circulates in our body. They said teachers were the means to transfer this life to students.

Lok Virsa Executive Director Dr Fouzia Saeed said heritage is all that we eat, wear, talk, think and observe. She added that it cannot be considered a sub-set only. She further said aligning with one particular identity alone is very dangerous, and to avoid this we need to accept multiple identities.

“We will have to accept ourselves as Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi and Pathan, rather than only Pakistani,” she said.

Renowned ceramist Sheherezade Alam said what we learn from books is not enough as there is a lot more which is part of our heritage; for this we will have to look beyond books. She said it is a teacher who can create love and affection in children regarding their heritage, and for this they should adopt new ways and methods.

Alima Bibi, another speaker, said we should adopt the culture of telling our children about our forefathers and ancestors.

Moderator Farah Ali said that though heritage has some anomalies, we will have to carry the weight of both the good and the bad to keep our heritage alive.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2015.