Education Seminar -letter

It is heartening to learn that a seminar on education was held in Chitral in which some of our intellectuals  presented their theses to pin point the hindrances in the way of quality education in our country.  Given the fact that the quality of education suffers a steep fall at all levels in our country, such seminars are indeed a glimmer of hope to revamp it and rectify the slapdash education system as well. Of course there are multifarious factors involved in the degradation of quality education, let alone the dichotomies existing in our education system. We observe that mushrooming of private educational institutions without proper physical infrastructure and other paraphernalia tips the scale in favor of those who gain the benefit in monetary terms, leaving the seekers of knowledge to their fate. However there are a few good institutions serving the kids of the elite few.

 It is the responsibility of the state is to chalk out a plan to reform the system of education in the country, which lies in tatters. The allocation of funds in the national budget must be enhanced and properly utilized to reform the education in the public sector, but, it does not seem likely in the near future in view of the growing cases of corruption in almost every sector of the government.   If utilized with an utter sense of sincerity and   integrity even this meager fund might prove to be productive in the long run but no such hope is displayed to our great dismay.

Another important factor that plagues education is the shortage of research facilities for the faculty members as well as the students. Hardly any research work is carried out even at the higher level which in turn leads to the sapping of one’s ingenuity.  Research students become prone to plagarising others’ research work getting credit for themselves, as happened in the case of a few university professors found guilty of plagiarism. Cramming has been the sole modus operandi for our students to get through exams; and this practice is deliberately not discouraged regardless of the probability that like the aforementioned professors they may also end up in plagiarism at a later stage.

Education in the present times is taken as a way to gain an access to accumulate material wealth. The reformative side of it is in most cases discarded negating the ethical values responsible for the build-up of character. Progress and prosperity in the modern sense of the term is not a guarantee to ensure the prevalence of these values the dearth of which has caused the unrest in the World. Ours is a society where due shortage  of ethical values the young ones cannot be taken along to the ultimate end in terms of quality education.

In a nutshell, there is a dire need to evolve a well thought out strategy to overhaul the prevailing system of education in our country by sidelining the class-based education. The syllabus needs to be revised keeping a parity between the haves and have-nots. The educational reforms introduced time and again have proved to be counter productive; unless such reforms are translated into actions, mere a paper work will not help. In such a bleak scenario arranging education seminars would definitely prove a fruitful initiative towards the rectitude of education in our country.

Khalid Pervez

Peshawar