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"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity".
(surah Al-Imran,ayat-104)
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User Name: Abubakr
Full Name: Abubakr Ayesh
User since: 4/Jun/2012
No Of voices: 26
 
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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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