The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the government’s overall current policy towards higher education are incurring tremendous flak. The financial cuts on universities have added further venom to the criticism. Silence from government quarters on the subject has added a strange air of mystery to the whole situation. Scrutinising the reform process that is underway at present, the economy is clearly the most daunting challenge confronting Khan’s government.
Overall, the economy may be bolstered by cozying up to the big powers and ensuring improved law and order. Being internationally isolated and the absence of political stability and predictable environment, issues concerning the economy can be addressed, provided one has good intentions and the policy framework is drawn up scrupulously.
Having conceded the significance of economic difficulties in the context of Pakistan, the most difficult of all the reform initiatives are those regarding education. The resolution of problems, such as the medium of instruction in particular, seems almost impossible because they have a deep-seated socio-political resonance, which hinders the compromise required for the settlement of issues.
The status of English as a medium of instruction is highly contested, partially because of the elitism associated with it and partly because it is not properly taught here, thus rendering it difficult for the majority of the students to master it. Urdu has also been made controversial by the fact that less than 10 percent of the country considers it their home language.
In smaller provinces, there is a bias against Urdu where it is seen as a tangible tool of Punjab’s hegemony. Provincial and regional languages have suffered from official indifference. Thus, most of them suffered a stunted growth. A lot of attention has been paid to regional literature rather than languages. In this scenario, reeking of political rancour and suspicion, the best prescription could be the whole-hearted adoption of English because of its neutrality and its international sway.
Special focus should be given to the under-privileged in English teaching. In a society with such socio-cultural diversity as Pakistan, accepting English as the official language as well as medium of instruction in Universities and colleges remains the only workable proposition. One may also suggest that all regional languages should be given the status of national languages, including Urdu. Such an act, despite its potential to evoke acerbic responses from various quarters, may work positively to end a polarisation which has created many fault lines.
Similarly, a great number of universities, created during the last 20 years, are asked a number of questions about the quality of instruction they impart. The regulation of higher education, which is currently split between numerous (often fractious) bodies, has made things far too intractable for their proper resolution unless some drastic measures are taken that seem highly unlikely in the current circumstances.
Provincial higher education commissions and higher education departments are seemingly eager to put each other down. Consequently, no agreed upon national policy on higher education is presented and polarisation is accentuated, not bridged, with the sort of education being imparted to our youth. Differences in academic standards as well as in fee structures, particularly in the case of private universities, have made any possibility of forging uniformity of any sort extremely difficult in the socially differentiated atmosphere provided by school and university education.
Hoping not to be read as arbitrary and unilateral in my assertion, I earnestly believe that higher education has, over the years, accentuated the class differentiation that plagues Pakistan. The question of class in Pakistan has neither been properly comprehended nor theorised. It would be interesting to take it up at an academic level without appending it with any ideology. Otherwise, the class consciousness will express itself through sectarian or kinship allegiance, which are the social dispensation of antiquated nature. Class consciousness at least does not arrest the process of social evolution in the society.
Postgraduate education is currently a mockery conjured up around number-crunching. All that happens at the expense of quality. Much has been said about lack of profundity in the scholarship demonstrated in M.Phil and PhD programmes. Many methods have been devised to enable course to slip through the regulatory net put in place by HEC.
Most public-sector universities have, sadly, become employment exchanges. The criterion for employment is usually a personal relationship and not an institutional need. A lot has been said about the need for autonomy of universities but the conclusion that autonomy will resolve most of the problems of the universities is flawed to the hilt. Whatever autonomy university administrations enjoy is mostly misused.
In many public sector institutions, anybody with a PhD degree from a good university of international repute is not shortlisted for final interview at the selection board. More so, the locally produced PhDs are beset by the sense of insecurity vis a vis foreign-qualified academics.
In this scenario, the regulatory authorities may toughen up the standard for the locally produced PhDs wanting to be the supervisors, supposed to guide the M.Phil and PhD candidates because at present post graduate education is in a state of total mess. It is largely because of such people.
Most of the universities should be divested of the privilege to offer post graduate degree. They should be advised to concentrate only on their undergraduate programmes. To achieve these ends, regulations and strictures are needed but they should be clearly stated and applied unequivocally. There are some signs that indicate that the HEC is moving in that direction. But still, research journals need strict oversight, because they are a big source of trivialising research.
Last but not the least; some equilibrium needs to be struck between the social science, live sciences as well as material sciences. These are the subjects (research journals and social sciences and their importance) of serious deliberation and I will address these issues some other time.