The Educational Dilemma
and the Probable Solutions
Education can be described as the moral,
ethical and economic backbone of any society. Lack of literate individuals in a
nation means that not only the ethical and moral corruption-in terms of
bribery, theft, vandalism, dishonesty and indiscipline-is rampant in society
but also that the economy suffers from mismanagement and ineffective use of
human capital.
If we consider the situation of Pakistan,
this phenomenon aptly fits its circumstances. Education is not available to
masses in rural areas as well as those who are counted as slum population in
urban areas. The literacy rate is 50% and the figure- given the feeble and non
pragmatic criteria of defining an individual as literate-is exaggerated to say
the least. The foremost problem is that of our education system: it not only
founders to promote the fundamental ethics and morals of humanity but also
discriminates among the “seekers of the light of the lamp” on the basis of
social class and gender. Consequently, our education system produces the
“educated illiterates” who consider their existence over and above the law and
believe that following the basic set of ethics will degrade their social
status. Yet another dilemma is the imminent social discrimination in the
educational system: current statistics reveal that out of the 40 million
children who attend primary school, only 0.8 million have access to modern
education in English medium schools. The rest fail to construct a holistic
personality and thus, suffer if they want to pursue higher education and bear a
series of laborious challenges before they can succeed in practical life. Furthermore,
92 million adults remain illiterate!-the ratio is 47% among males while it is
as high as 72% among females. On average, 2 out of 8 children have never been
inside a classroom. The fact that government schools-where bulk of the student
population are taught-are in shabby condition and are devoid of many basic
facilities further aggravates the problem.
The situation demands an urgent action not
only from the government but also from the civil society; the civil society is
required, perhaps, to play the most important role in this “campaign.” Creating
awareness and contributing to the society on petty basis should be efficacious
enough to inaugurate and direct the change. Therefore, it is imperative that
the foundations of the education system are strengthened since only students
with a sound intellectual base can contribute substantially to the country and
ensure high standards of higher education. Specialized personnel are employed
to ensure that the syllabus is up to date with the standards entailed nowadays.
While it may be argued that improving infrastructure of government schools and
building more schools in remote areas requires finance which-given the economic
slump prevalent in the country-is scarce, steps must be taken to ensure both
construction and maintenance of (at least) primary schools. More effective and
direct taxation policies are absolutely necessary if the discrimination is to
be reduced for ensuring that at least primary education must be accessible to
everyone on equal grounds. The point I want to make is that the inequality will
only cease to exist when the children from a posh area and from a slum
population will both receive the same kind of education. Yet another problem
that needs to be addressed is the reformation of the whole system-including
teachers, students and the curriculum-so that those who claim to be educated
understand the basic values of humanity, learn to abide by the rules and fathom
the importance of preferring national interest over personal interest. Proper
legislation has to be introduced to ensure that inefficiencies in the system
can be curbed.
Indeed, I have only summed up the solutions
to such a wide, diverse and comprehensive problems in a brief paragraph given
the barriers of caste, creed, imperialism, ideology, poverty, lack of awareness
and inhumanity-just to mention a few-exist in our society. While it is easier
said than done, the first step needs to be taken immediately, small and modest
it may be though. If we will not raise the voice today, then the dark and
looming future of our future generations shall not be difficult to foresee for
without education barbarism will become an impending reality.
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