The present condition of education in Pakistan forces us to cry out loud. Our educational system has not undergone any change with the change brought about by political independence. It bears no imprint of freedom and appears to be as listless as it used to be during the days of slavery. Our universities still remain glued to that old colonial era pattern. The imperfections of that pattern are now keenly felt and there is a great need to introduce a radical change in the educational system.
Low literacy rate and poor quality of education are the major drawbacks of the educational system in Pakistan. Our education system is influenced by a number of factors. Some of them are more prominent, such as low enrolment and high drop out rate at the primary level, different standards of education, low budget allocation for education sector, political interference, low quality of curricula and textbooks, rapid growth in population, poverty and unemployment, poor quality of teachers and irrelevant induction of duties, and our substandard evaluation system. Although the government claims for some bold steps to overcome these problems, there is still room for improvement.
On the other hand, the students play no active role in the attainment of knowledge. Their entire education is passive and mechanical. Our educational system, in the words of Dr Annie, is just cramming the boy’s head with a lot of disjointed facts poured into the head as into a basket, to be emptied out again in the examination room, and the empty basket carried out again into the world. This is the reason why a student who succeeds so well in his college examination fails so miserably in the examination of life. Students have no love of wisdom, no thirst of knowledge, but only a desire to get certificates and diplomas to find reasonable jobs.
There are many complaints about Pakistan’s primary schools and the lack of quality education found in them. One of the main concerns is the lack of proper teaching, teacher training and teacher motivation. Teachers are not professional and they are damaging the whole system.
In view of the foregoing defects and imperfections, our system of education calls for a change. One of the first and most important tasks is that we have to improve our educational machinery. We have to develop schemes of education so that complete and harmonious improvement can be possible.
We can improve our education system if we adopt modern method for teaching. There should be commitment of the teachers with their profession and private educational institutions should play their active role. Educational policies with complete check and balance should be implemented.
Education system should provide not mere book worms and job hunters, but intelligent citizens.
KIRAN TAHIR
Garrison Post Graduate College for Women, Lahore