We all know the importance of
education. It is the most important aspect of any nation’s survival today.
Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a nation. So that’s
why we have to adopt our Education Policies very carefully because our future
depends on these policies………..
ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of
Education according to ISLAM is “to know ALLAH” but I think in our country we
truly lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassa’s (Islamic Education Centers)
are truly educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing
them for “Money”. We aren’t educating them we are just preparing “Money
Machines”. We are only increasing the burden of the books for our children and
just enrolling them in a reputed, big school for what, just for social status???
On the other hand in our madrassas we are preparing people who finds very
difficult to adjust in the modern society. Sometimes it seems that they are from
another planet. A madrassa student can’t compete even in our country then the
World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy.
It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is
also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world.
There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quraan
but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy
and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the current education
system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of widening it. There
is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools and in
madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the space
to become Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan,
Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The education system
we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a way to bridge this
gap between school and madrassa. Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as “The
object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout
their lives.” We should give our youth the way to educate themselves.
Edward Everett said that “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a
standing army.” Sadly, in Pakistan we are spending more budgets on our arms than
on education which depicts our ideology about education!!! Since 1947 not a
single government is able to change this scenario. In price of a grenade almost
20 to 30 children can go to school for the whole year and the other picture....
a grenade can kill 20 to 30 grown people! So a grenade is damaging in two ways
stopping children education and then killing innocent people!!! Why not
authorities think about this? Answer.... we all know that!!! Don’t we?
Now let’s talk about our Policy Makers, it seems they are not working enough.
Every year policy for education is reviewed by the government but the results
are same.... Illiteracy rate is going upwards in Pakistan according to a recent
survey. Somebody starting “Nai Roshni School”, somebody starting “Parha Likha
Punjab” etc. for what to educate Pakistan? Well, I don’t think so. These
“People” are playing with our nation for the last 60 years just for their on
profits and aims. We should and we have to think about our children education
now that are we educating them in the right way? If not, what should we do? We
have to act now otherwise it’s going to be too late for PAKISTAN!!!
In Human development Report Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just
49.9% educated population. In addition to that, Pakistan is ranked at 113th out
of 120 registered UN members according to the research conducted by UNESCO et.
All. Some of the very basic flaws of the education system in Pakistan contribute
to the economic, ethnic and socio-political crisis within the country.
Firstly the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of
education is different in both, public and private sector. This creates a sort
of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught
infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high
dropout rates in rural areas and public school.
Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan
(the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of
Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy
rate is deplorable constituting 29.5% in males and 3% in females.
The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender
discrimination. The current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4,
which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an
increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among
the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms
the quality of education in Pakistan but creates a gap among haves and has
notes.
Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education
policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people
means low standard of education.
Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education is very low. It is only 1.5 to
2.0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that
budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather
increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their
expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on
education.