Memorizing is no Wisdom
By Sarmad Shahbaz
Education is one of the pillarsof the society. Without educating a child, the nation cannot grow. The nation cannot get the development in both cultural and moral sectors. In Pakistan, the major problem regarding education is the memorization of a line, a paragraph or a full chapter in the book. This is the typical illness found in each department from pre-schooling to college and then to university level. Memorizing a line does not mean that you are able to implement the achieved knowledge. Even if you are able to apply this knowledge but not in the right direction. There are schools which a kid attends from 8 to 2 and after this you, the kid has to deal with the homework which ends the day in burning the midnight oil with no bearing. There are lots of flaws in the schooling system as well as all the educational institute in Pakistan. The basic one is timing. Scientifically a person’s brain start’s working from 9 AM onwards. Starting at 8 Pm is the disastrous thing for children. That is the reason that every student sitting in the classroom is not paying courtesy to the sermon. The literacy rate (measured by the capability of reading and writing) in Pakistan is 57.9% according to recent statistics.
The education system in Pakistan is generally divided into 6 sections including pre-schooling, primary schooling, middle and high schooling to intermediate level and at the end going all the way to university level.
Passing through these process in the growing age, most students in the society just know how they can get good grades with impressing the people around them. Also, the student is worried about the selection of subjects. If a student is going for Fine Arts (which has become an ancient lower level subject according to mental illness of the society) then he/she is a person who didn’t get admission in any of the so-called good colleges in Pakistan Or if a person chooses to I.COM or ICS in pressure then his/her whole life is ruined because of this tiny mistake. Student of Pre-Eng. Or Pre-Med. Are considered to be the angels in education. Because in Pakistan, there are only two careers, one goes to the engineering (mostly for boys according to Pakistani mentality) and the other one Pre Med. Is for girls (similar reasoning). This is the sickest material found in the education system in Pakistan. Here I will raise a point which never came into the eyes of the media loudly.
“English IS A LANGUAGE. NOT KNOWLEDGE SO YOU SHOULD TREAT IT AS A WAY OF COMMUNICATION.”
This approach should be encouraged as early as possible.
Furthermore, another issue in the education system in Pakistan according to me is the division of Educational Boards. The books, the syllabus, teaching methods, examination of each Educational Board is just a snob culture in the name of education. This snob culture has gotten its grasp on the poor minds in Pakistan by differentiating the level of studies. Considering the pupils studying from Federal Board or Punjab Board more intellectual is a naïve. There are basically three major educational boards in the education system of Pakistan. Namely A/O Levels Education, Federal Education. and Provincial Education.
These three educational systems are the chief of the Education in Pakistan. The division is unnecessary in my views because if you want to educate the child, give him all you got. There’s a quotation.
“The light of the candle doesn’t decrease by blooming the surrounding.”
According to my point of view. There shouldn’t be division when we are talking about education. Learning is the basic right of each and every human being. Muhammad (P.B.U.H) once said
“Education is mandatory for both males and females.”
Keeping this in mind, as a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Every person belonging to any age group must strive to learn. That is why there should be a maintained only single group of education which should be taught in every school. By this, the discrimination chances will decrease to a minimum and the literacy rate will increase to the maximum because the child in the rural is studying the same paras as the children who are sitting in the classroom of an urban school. The standard of education will be maintained all around Pakistan with any doubt.
According to a Recent search of Alif Ailaan (Pakistan’s Biggest Educational NGO). They stated according to statistics that.
Pakistan today faces an education crisis of unprecedented proportions with nearly 22 million out of school, 43% of government school lack basic facilities, 21% of government primary schools are operating with a single teacher and 14% with a single classroom and the only reason behind is lack of budget for education.
Moreover, including the educational crisis in Pakistan, the last thing I would like to add is that memorizing the lines and script is not education but to see beyond limits, to nourish your skills, to work with brain and to serve humanity is a real education. There should be a regular activity in all educational institution in Pakistan whether its school or university, about practical working and implementing new things, serving humanity and try building the student’s caliber. The government should relate a single educational board to all the schools in Pakistan and make the budget more clear and worthy in education. This can be a return process in the economy of Pakistan. Plus it would be best to build educational institutes, private or government, in an open area and demolish the snob culturing institution which is working in a house or doing fraud with education with no co-curricular activities. If the government works with 10% will of the above-mentioned processes, then Pakistan would be a better place to live and learn the meaning of life.
In the end, the overall personality of a person is the education of a person. Behave Good, Do Better and Believe Best.
The writer is Rawalpindi based award winning social activist
