‘Societal issues emerging as students drift away from history’

The post-colonial system distanced people from their legacy, history and languages, and that created great societal issues and promoted nationalism.

This was stated by Dr Syed Nomanul Haq, the adviser on social sciences and liberal arts at the Institute of Business Administration, while speaking at a lecture, titled “Tolerance in a multicultural society”, which was organised by Karachi University’s faculty of social sciences at the Arts Auditorium on Thursday.

He said that the Palestine issue was the result of the post-colonial divide between nations. “Education has become a business. Our students are going far away from history and their legacy. As a nation, we are in a suspended state. Distance from history, languages and culture develops narrow-mindedness in the society and that has happened to us.”

Dr Haq was of the view that only those who managed to adopt an enlightened approach remained connected with their history and culture. 

“Today, acquiring a job has become the motive of education, which is the national irony.” He said that quoting Iqbal and talking about him was once a fashion, but “now it’s out of fashion”.

The educationist further said: “The minds of our youths are weakened due to the lack of intellectualism in the society.

A great divide has been created in the society between Urdu and English. Technology must not be adopted blindly and all the cultural factors must be taken into consideration; otherwise, its repercussions would be alarming. There is no civic sense in our society.”

The dean of the faculty of social sciences, KU, Professor Dr Moonis Ahmar, encouraged the students to develop the reading culture and an intellectual approach. 

He said that students had not been deprived of learning opportunities and they had a bundle of opportunities of learning in the modern times. “Now, it is their responsibility to develop their academic and intellectual mindset,” he added.

“Either we face an extreme superiority complex or an extreme inferiority complex. I myself studied from Karachi University, taught abroad and travelled to many countries, but always returned to Karachi University and I am here for good.”