Dr Nergis Mavalvala was in the news for being part of a team that had made a historic scientific discovery by detecting gravitational waves. We are delighted at her Pakistani background. However, the fact that Dr Mavalvala’s success is not reflective of the state of education and scientific innovation in the country has largely been ignored. This point has now been brought home by the Global Innovation Index Report of 2015 in which Pakistan ranks an abysmal 131 out of 141 countries. This is not surprising since, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the current allocation for research and development is only 0.29 percent of our GDP. There is no clearer way than this to indicate our lack of interest in higher education and science.
In order for there to be innovation, educational institutions should have a culture of promoting curiosity and critical thinking. Unfortunately, the current atmosphere only encourages the attainment of high grades through rote learning. Questioning conventional wisdom and forming independent conclusions are not encouraged. The Ministry of Science and Technology now claims to have developed a strategy to reverse this trend. One can only hope that it will be implemented and the next Dr Mavalvala will not have to move abroad to make a scientific breakthrough.
Muzamil Maqbool Khonbhati
Thatta