By: Junaid Ahmed
"Without education, it is complete darkness and with education it is light. Education is a matter of life and death to our nation". This is a quote from Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan who has stressed the importance of education. An education system that is to be upheld but unfortunately, the education system in this beautiful country is highly compromised. Old and outdated syllabus in colleges and schools represent the lack of interest and initiatives by the relevant authorities. The fact that "Goodbye Mr. Chips" was removed from the college syllabus after 55 years shows how late we are in modernizing and updating our curriculum.
A major cause of concern for our nation is the promotion and advancement of our own languages which are near to extinction. Very few schools in Punjab have Punjabi as a subject and even being offered as a subject in Masters, its privilege is undermined. Similarly, the importance of our languages such as Balochi, Sindhi and Pashto is not being accounted for and we are falling deeper and deeper into the pit of making them extinct from our education curriculum which would lead to our youth not being able to represent their own country as they have not been taught about their languages in their own schools.
Now, let’s get an insight into the public schools: broken chairs, barren grounds, unhygienic canteens, destroyed walls, and the poorly standing buildings are the places where the future of Pakistan is being shaped. The irony is that our leadership is sitting in highly furnished and equipped buildings with all the facilities of life while our youth is forced to study in the most extreme weather in classes whose fans barely work. Pakistan is a country with a 24.3% poverty rate according to the Asian Development Bank, and major employment in agriculture means the majority is poor and has to send their children to public schools. Is this how the future of Pakistan going to study? Is this how we are going to develop as a nation?
Furthermore, coming to the examination department in our education system. The story of students giving board examinations with books opened and with the help of mobile phones in Sindh schools is known by everyone. Several scandals regarding the leaking of papers, biased results have risen and sources claim that even the high authorities of several boards are involved in this racket. Now the question we face is that, in times of such unprecedented events, would our Education system come up with some good solution? The future of around 98,640 children is at stake. Would the already weak Pakistani education system able to make it through these crises? Is there any ray of hope amidst such a crisis?
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