“Education: PTI’s plan exposed” My thoughts.

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