Disclaimer: This is mainly a personal analytical breakdown of Dr. Hoodbhoy's Article Published in Dawn on July 18th, 2020; entitled "Education: PTI’s plan exposed"
Education: PTI’s plan exposed
Let’s
start with that “exposed” title, shall we. I thought Mr hoodbhoy was not like
the ones who would cater to sensational media tactics but I guess anything can be expected now-a-days.
“BE prepared, Pakistan! Imran Khan’s government
is poised to inflict damage upon this country’s education system in a manner
never seen before. Its so-called Single National Curriculum (SNC) hides
systemic changes going far deeper than the ones conceived and executed by the
extremist regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. Implementation is scheduled for 2021.”
Relax sir
this isn’t that big of a deal that you are implying; at best, it will either
remain the same or at least improve a bit in some levels (Depending on what
they are). So to call it “poised to inflict damage… in a manner never seen
before” or “BE prepared, Pakistan!” with a negative connotation seems slightly off the
rails, lets break this down ahed.
“At first glance a uniform national curriculum is
hugely attractive. Some see it striking a lethal blow at the abominable
education apartheid that has wracked Pakistan from day one. By the year, a
widening gap has separated beneficiaries of elite private education from those
crippled by bad public schooling. So what could be better than the rich child
and the poor child studying the same subjects from the same books and being
judged by the same standards?”
About this,
“education gap” in public and private schools… yes indeed it is recognized and
that standardizing something might help in achieving a uniform goal in terms of
quality if applied correctly
“But this morally attractive idea has been
hijacked, corrupted, mutilated and beaten out of shape by those near-sighted
persons now holding Pakistan’s future in their hands, and who, like their boss,
kowtow to the madressah establishment. Prime Minister Khan was widely
criticised in 2016-17 for making huge grants to madressahs of the late Maulana
Samiul Haq, self-professed father of the Taliban who was murdered by an
associate in mysterious circumstances.”
We
understand your basic trope or anyone else’s problems with our current leader
but again we trust we keep it to basic argument regarding education and not
sensationalize things by using morally loaded statements or words, such as “high
jacked” etc etc. The system is not much better or worse than it was before when
under previous governments. Also to highlight; despite all the negativity that
is thrown around “madrassas”, supporting them and continuing them isn’t a bad
deed. The positives are almost never highlighted nor do they come to light (Such as dealing with essential problems in remote areas of poverty, basic education, reading and writing skills, religious education, nikah(marriage) contracts, Qurbani, inheritance, handling family and social issues, acting as community leaders/arbiters etc) . So
a general institution amongst many others, getting some financial support isn’t
much of an issue or an issue worth highlighting in this article. We might deal
with specifics of this topic of madrassas and their positive and negative
outcomes later sometime.
“The SNC massively prioritizes ideology over
education quality and acquisition of basic skills.”
This can
be debated regarding when the specifics of SNC are brought forward side by
side. However it is imperative to understand that the ideology is the backbone
of any education system. If one is not motivated by true ideology of a future
then they are not likely to do anything with the education they are provided.
So indeed we do not need to take one ounce from the importance to ideology of
our nation rather if there is some lack in terms of quality and acquisition of
basic skill then we must highlight those essentials and bring them as one of
our main contentions without disparaging anything from the ideology.
“As yet only SNC plans for Class I-V are public.
But the huge volume of religious material they contain beats all curriculums in
Pakistan’s history. A column-by-column comparison with two major madressah systems
— Tanzeemul Madaris and Rabtaul Madaris — reveals a shocking fact.”
Imagine
making religious material as an “issue”. We understand your bias against
religion overall professor but it is a non-issue to us. There isn’t much of
problem with material in of itself. So if it is more of it then that’s good.
Hopefully it instills in our morally degrading nation a level of rise to
overcome their personal faults and learn of their legacy for motivation.
“Ordinary schools will henceforth impose more
rote learning than even these madressahs. Normal schoolteachers being
under-equipped religiously, SNC calls for summoning an army of
madressah-educated holy men — hafiz’s and qaris — as paid teachers inside
schools. How this will affect the general ambiance and the safety of students
is an open question.”
“Army of
madressah educated holy men!” My God! some indeed have thier way around wording
something to show as people here are only ill intended human beings out to
destroy our society and you are the savior acting in defense against this
“army”. We already have a bogged down system where we do not learn much significant about
our religion, our history, our basics or moral basics of conducting daily life.
Individual development as a morally upright kind human being surpasses ones
profession. Our religion provides us with a specific moral development code.
Which we believe is essential for betterment of humanity at large. We indent to
focus on improving all aspects. So we wish to avoid anyone’s loaded statements
into the mix.
“The push for a uniform national curriculum idea
derives from three flawed assumptions:
First: It is false that quality differences
between Pakistan’s various education streams stem from pursuing different
curricula. When teaching any secular subject such as geography, social studies
or science, all streams have to cover the same topics. While details and
emphases obviously differ, each must deal with exactly seven continents and
water being H2O."
We
understand that quality problem is not limited to “only” having different
curricula but it is indeed one of the reasons in quality disparity. Make no
mistake of that. Additionally those details of emphasis also matter a lot as
they are to be adjusted according to the best of their practical utility.
“Instead, learning differentials arise because
students experience very different teaching methods and are evaluated using
entirely different criteria. So, for example, a local examination board will
typically ask a mathematics student to name the inventor of logarithms whereas
an ‘O’-level student must actually use logarithms to solve some problem. The
modern world expects students to reason their way through a question, not
parrot facts.”
We
definitely agree with that professor and we wish to endorse high quality
teaching and evaluating methods all over Pakistan. However understandably we
can see that both of these factors might not have been discussed in the SNC and
we are with you on that. Additionally however at this point we want to remind
everyone that, we do not undermine memory, memory is one the primary essential
elements of intelligence and IQ determination. Indeed even application of any
of the acquired knowledge relies on retaining and recalling that said knowledge
that is to be applied in the first place. So each one of these applied skill
fields, acquiring knowledge forms the base of it. That is also the reason in
O/A levels we have 3 different sections of exam questions and memory holds a
significant part of them. So please we need to be balanced and not undermine
retention one bit, rather develop a unified format along with its applied
element.
“Second: It is false that a hefty dose of piety
will somehow equalise students of Aitchison College and your run-of-the-mill
neighbourhood school. The legendary Mahmood and Ayyaz prayed in the same suff
(prayer line) and established a commonality without ending their master-slave
relationship.”
This is
not what that hefty dose of piety intended for i.e. to equalize everyone across
the floorboard. In Islam everyone contributes according to their capacity, rich
have a chance using the resources they have and giving their due compensation
and so do the poor according to their capacity. Humans are different and there
will be disparity. However our morals may help us to honor each other as human
beings despite our disparities and contribute according to our capacities so a
balance is achieved.
“Similarly, rich and poor schools will remain
worlds apart unless equalised through school infrastructure, well-trained
teachers, high quality textbooks and internet access. How the needed resources
will be generated is anybody’s guess. Under the PTI, defence is the only sector
seeing increases instead of cuts.”
A part of
such projects should be to provide those well-trained teachers and high quality
textbooks and internet across the board. I think this Program (SNC) is one of
those steps towards that goal. We need to be thankful as much we can.
“Third: It is false that school systems belonging
to the modern world can be brought onto the same page as madressahs.”
If they
deal with different subjects, then all they need to do is be best at the page
they are dealing with.
“Modern education rests squarely upon critical
thinking, and success/failure is determined in relation to problem solving and
worldly knowledge. Madressah education goals are important but different. They
seek a more religiously observant student and a better life after death.
Understandably, critical thinking is unwelcome.”
Outright
false. Madressah historically have been the primary hub of critical thinking
and many still are today. Their success and failures are also determined in
relation to problem solving for human daily lives. These institutes have taught
subjects like mantiq (Logic), Mathematics and philosophy since centuries and
their quality was detrimental to moral and social well beings of societies in
which they operated. We understand the lack of quality in these institutions
but a lot of it is grounded in our own negligence and investment in them. Primary
people to blame is none but us.
“While some madressahs now teach secular subjects
like English, science and computers, this comes after much arm-twisting. Soon
after 9/11, madressahs were spotlighted as terrorist breeding grounds.
Musharraf’s government, beholden as it was to America, ordered them to teach
secular subjects. Most rejected this outright but others were successfully
pressurised. However, madressahs teach secular and religious subjects
identically; reasoning is sparse and authoritarianism dominates.”
No need to
take this “Arm-twisting” narrative as primary, many opted willingly even before
2004 reform ordinance by Musharraf (Such as Jamia Dar-ul-Uloom Waziristan, Wana established its own computer lab in year 2000). Although others did show reluctance, which
begs the Question of reform but under the right people and under the right
intentions and certainly not for secularization. We also have to consider the fact that
these are majorly charity based and not government funded institutes hence to
expect them to deliver same quality just by pressure alone? What are we to expect? We
have to create the means first and hence we work on that.
“While the new Class I-V SNC document also
discusses secular subjects, much of this is pointless tinkering with the
minutiae of teaching English, general knowledge, general science, mathematics
and social studies. They are not accompanied by plausible plans for how the
necessary intellectual or physical resources will be garnered and the plans
implemented.”
Point
taken. Such pragmatics are necessary to account for viable effective outcomes.
“Still bigger changes are around the corner. The
Punjab government has made teaching of the Holy Quran compulsory at the college
and university level. Without passing the required examination no student will
be able to get a BA, BSc, BE, ME, MA, MSc, MPhil, PhD or medical degree. Even
the Zia regime did not have such blanket requirements.”
Why should
it pain anyone to have that kind of teaching? Every higher university
internationally offers compulsory minor humanities subjects as a degree
requirement (Such as University of Cambridge's Equality and Diversity in University & Unconscious bias). Some more or less than others. However a Quran course shouldn’t
bother any Muslim. It is a source of strength for the Ummah and Quran acts as a
reminder. “And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers”
[51:55]
“To get a university teaching job in the 1980s,
you had to name all the wives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and recite some
difficult religious passages such as Dua-i-Qunoot. Still, students could get
degrees without that. That option is now closed.”
What
a horrific nightmare! (Sarcasm implied)
Anyhow seems like author's main issue, is "Islam" and
hence its propagation even at a reasonable level "pains". But we do acknowledge the lack of quality and investment in these levels as-well. There are some institutes where Islamic teaching is taught with focus on Research Ethics. Hence At higher education, work ethics and related subjects can also be the focus of these Quranic teachings as well.
“Starkly inferior to their counterparts in Iran,
India and Bangladesh, Pakistani students perform poorly in all international
science and mathematics competitions. Better achievers are invariably from the
elite ‘O’-/‘A’-level stream. More worrying is that most students are unable to
express themselves coherently and grammatically in any language, whether Urdu or
English. They have stopped reading books.”
We
understand these issues but they have their additional factors for existing in
our society, which must be dealt with and this is our collective struggle which
we are working towards. However it is imperative to note that they are
irrelevant to the introduction or enhancement of religious education as some
seem to indicate. At best they move us in a path to strengthen us to a resolve
for a change in us as a society.
“Significantly, as yet the PTI’s new education
regime is mum on how it will advance its goal of closing a huge skill deficit.
So poor is the present quality of technical and vocational institutes that
private employers must totally retrain the graduates. That’s why private-sector
industrial growth is small and entire state enterprises, such as PIA and
Pakistan Steel Mills, have collapsed. Pakistan’s space programme flopped but
Iran has just put a military satellite into orbit and India is well on the way
to Mars.”
Duly
noted. This is true.
“Empowered by the 18th Amendment, Pakistan’s
provinces should vigorously resist the regressive plan being thrust upon the
nation by ideologues that have usurped power in Islamabad.”
I
understand this is true what you are trying to say but I just want to remind
you that word “ideologue” isn’t an insult nor should be taken as one. For as
you as well are one of primary ideologues of Secularization and
anti-islamization yourself. Alternatively Just like anyone else, is for any
idea they stand for.
“Else Pakistan will end up as the laughing stock
of South Asia, left behind even by Arab countries. Pakistan’s greatest need —
and its single greatest failure — is its tragic failure to impart essential
life skills to its citizens. To move ahead, the priority should be to educate
rather than score political points. “
100% agreed
that our citizens and children lack essential life skills and they need to be
imparted in them through education and pragmatic working solutions.
Muhammad Hamas Ashraf