Future depends on education system

The future of a state is linked to its education system, so one should bear in mind good education makes a student intelligent, progressive and law-abiding citizen. That is how patriots are thinking seriously.

The father of the nation had attached great importance to education, health, defence and economic self-reliance. So did the civil and military men who as teachers and public servants, remaining away from politics, spent their time and energy in the national build-up.

Now old teachers of Rawalpindi and Islamabad say the quality of education, in general, has declined while middle and lower-middle class find it hard to bear heavy expenses of their children's education.

They recall the Quaid's message to the national education conference soon after the achievement of Pakistan wherein he had pointed out that the future of the state would and must greatly depend upon the type of education to Pakistani children and the way they're brought up as future citizens of the country.

Elders assert selfish motives have scaled down the nation's goals. Education system has derailed, it has become almost commercial. Sons and daughters of a majority of the people were, and still are, deprived of school and college education on account of the class system. Merit ignored, admission to institutions was restricted to children of the rich and influential politicians.

Senior citizens say the advice of the founder of Pakistan was thrown into dustbin. An excellent English teacher ran a college in Gujarat. He used to teach the illiterate persons when he was a student of fifth class. Basically, the education system that prevailed half a century back did not undergo any change. He explained things that prevailed then and are today also.

"We were given to understand that Pakistan shall prove a land of milk and honey for the common man. We had hoped that with the birth of Pakistan, the state will co-operate to create through education a new type of man in keeping with the aspirations, ideals and traditions that were responsible to make Pakistan a reality.

"In the domain of education, things were too bad to admit of quack and half-hearted treatment. We, therefore, looked to the government to realise the need and importance for intelligent planning co-ordination of activity and canalising of enthusiasm, and finally assume responsibility to produce effective citizens for Pakistan.

"It is indeed pathetic to find that men occupying positions of eminence and responsibility in the educational and administrative fields would have made the confusion worst confounded by their ill-conceived utterances and short-sighted policies. All that so far said and done about education in the name of 'reforms' leads one to the conclusion that pressure groups have been out to hatch a conspiracy to deprive the poor of the scanty opportunities they had for self-development. Two-kind education was imparted to our boys, one to the rich to select rulers and the other to the poor to turn them into docile instruments."

The question is: Where do we stand today? Why it is being said that the rich are turning richer and the poor poorer?

— zasarwar@hotmail.com