The power of the arts

One can hardly overstate the significance of the arts for human societies. Unfortunately, over decades, Pakistan has moved away from art and culture – be it music or dance or drama or painting. Much of that has happened as society has regressed to an almost unrecognizable level. The worst victims in any such regression are a nation’s younger citizens, whose first contact with the arts should ideally be at the school level. We have seen how dangerously the arts – particularly the performing arts – have been framed: ‘Western’, anti-religion, even anti-state. In this context, the government of Sindh’s decision to introduce music and fine-arts as elective subjects in public schools across the province comes as a breath of fresh air. One hopes that this will go a long way in transforming the art and music teaching landscape in the province. There is substantial evidence from research across the globe that art, music, and cultural activities play a crucial role in challenging fascist ideas. And Pakistan has seen more than its fair share of violence, extremism and regressive thought and behaviour, since the dark days of Gen Ziaul Haq who deliberately stifled creative pursuits unless they fit in his own narrow scheme of things.

Of course, some words of caution are in order. First is the process of hiring teachers for music and fine arts. Government departments are notorious for their opaque and unfair practices in recruitment. There is a need to develop a transparent mechanism to hire only the most suitable teachers rather than inducting those who are novices or themselves not familiar with the intricacies of arts and music. This is important because we have seen many subject teachers who are not able to teach what they are supposed to. Essentially, teaching the arts means nourishing talents, and if the instructors themselves don't have the required skill and understanding the entire exercise would fall flat and simply consume a lot of resources with little results.

There are plans to recruit 1,500 fine-art and music teachers, apparently through a third-party recruitment process. The Sindh education minister has talked about involving Indus Valley School, Napa, and the Arts Council in the selection process. These organizations will need complete autonomy for transparent recruitment. Then there will also be a challenge of procurement in musical instruments and fine-arts material. Here too utmost transparency will be significant, because substandard instruments tend to break down and there will be a constant need to fix them; we have already seen how low-quality hardware gathers dust in computer and science labs in public schools. There are hopes that the initiative will create a conducive environment in schools and will encourage students to learn fine art and music. In the pilot project initially 750 high schools will offer these subjects. If other provinces too follow this example set by Sindh, perhaps there is some hope that art and music can transform social conditioning into a magical experience that allows our young ones to feel affinity with the unfamiliar.