- Right kind of education
Leo Buscaglia, an American author and motivational speaker, once said: “Change is the end result of all true learning.” Thus, education in its entirety is a medium of learning, not only that of transfer of knowledge. However, the propagators are often castigated for being irresponsible and negligent towards fulfilment of their duty. While such a check on educational institutions is an important measure in being aware of what information is being disseminated, sometimes parents and this society become the biggest hurdle in the way of showing children the wider and much more complete perspective.
In general, private school systems have been subject to incessant censure since forever. From unaffordable fee to snubbing the use of Urdu language on campus, private schools remain in news for one reason or another. The latest one, however, has brought into spotlight a very disturbing mindset nurturing in our society. Our ‘ghairat brigade’, a faction of society that dutifully prefers putting their noses in others’ business instead of minding their own, lashed out at the administration of Beaconhouse School System after accusing them for promoting anti-Pakistan narrative by including such content in their curriculum. Let’s analyse each allegation one by one.
An excerpt from an examination paper was circulated on Facebook and Twitter along with hashtag ‘#BoycottBeaconHouse’ to emphasise on the severity of alleged treason. A question that was highlighted for clarity read: “Why was India successful in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan?” All those, including parents, who think this is a well-planned breach of faithfulness and loyalty towards our beloved country should be eyed with nothing else but compassion. Why? Because this question and this exam was not set by any Pakistani syndicate but by that of the University of Cambridge that conducts O and A Level examination all over the world, not only in Pakistan. That university established in the United Kingdom is absolutely not interested in getting aligned with Pakistan’s narrative, or of any other country’s for that matter, and disseminates only unbiased and impartial form of history, or at least which it deems to be so.
Nigel Smith’s “Pakistan – History, Culture, and Government” published by Oxford University Press complies with Cambridge O Level Syllabus and not with Pakistan’s version of history. Irrespective of how true our perspective is and how incorrect their facts are, the book and question paper were meant to be in accordance with a foreign or ‘imported’ examination system. Thus, why we should pity those parents who are blaming the school network for this content is because they are unaware of what their children are being taught and how they are being examined. They receive foreign education because this is what their parents have chosen for them as they do not trust Pakistan’s education system that comprises books published by Pakistani historians and Pakistani publishers. The students must answer such questions in examination because none of the teachers here, except a few, take the pains of formulating new questions; it is a norm to copy and paste questions from several past papers and compose one for term exams.
In the end, education and pedagogy solely cannot be held accountable in corrupting the minds of our children
Another accusation was of printing such maps in textbooks used in the network’s schools that showed Kashmir as part of India. According to this logic, half of the world’s atlases should be banned from making it to the bookshelves in Pakistan and only the other half allowed to be published, for one half of the globe believes in one narrative while the other one supports the flipside. As per this notion, Pakistan should discontinue harmonious relations with all those countries which do not respect this narrative and do not display Kashmir as Pakistan’s territory. Sounds illogical? So does the allegation on Beaconhouse School System.
The need of penning down these points weeks after the episode originally surfaced is because this is not about just one incident; it is about our collective mentality as a nation that is turning out to be dangerous and devastating. The ‘ghairat brigade’ holds opining as a national duty but forgets that opinions metamorphose into facts and verdicts within no given time on this stretch of land.
It was an opinion that Mashal Khan had committed blasphemy by posting a few verses of famous poems by renowned poets on Facebook. This opinion was credited as a fact, a consequence of which was mob lynching of an innocent student within the premises of his university in broad daylight.
It is an opinion that a group of students from LUMS have committed blasphemy by visiting Rabwah, the headquarters of the Ahmadi community. Considering it a fact, extremist elements have issued a warning to the management of varsity to bring ‘anti-Islam’ activities to a halt or be prepared to face dire consequences.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, once expressed: “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” By teaching our children to be extremists, not tolerating any other perspective other than what suits us, what kind of progress are we expecting in the future?
Shakuntala Devi, a renowned Indian writer, rightly emphasised: “Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.” When we are willingly and consciously inculcating in our children the tendency of being hesitant towards acknowledging the presence of several versions of one fact, how can we expect such things from them as widening their horizons and competing with the world?
In the end, education and pedagogy solely cannot be held accountable in corrupting the minds of our children. We, ourselves, are contributors in this crime. Before we cleanse our education system and institutes, we need to cleanse our minds and allow for extensive and perambulating research in order to enable our children of devising their own opinions rather than believing the conventional ones.