Education, which way forward?

The 2016 QS rankings were published a month ago. It didn’t come as a surprise that the Pakistani universities failed to make a mark in the rankings. In fact it was disappointing to see that the institutes which had previously ranked higher, such as AKU and Quaid-e-Azam University, tumble down the rankings. While NUST and LUMS stepped up in their rankings, still it was grievous that not a single institute from Pakistan made it to the top 100 institutes in the Asia, let alone making it to even being close to the world’s elite. This puts the education system of the entire country in a fix. Pakistan is the only Islamic and one of the ten nations in the world with the disposal of nuclear weapons and nuclear power at its disposal.  With such a vibrant nuclear program, millions of dollars in aid from US, surely one would expect the education system in the country to be top notch, for research and development sector to be flourishing. The case is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Many multi-nationals are restricting their operations or closing down in Pakistan. SIEMENS, BASF, ICI. Akzo-Nobel to name a few. This, however unfortunate, is not utterly surprising for a citizen who is well aware of the conundrums and the state of the country’s education system. Corruption being so prevalent in the country, has deeply affected both the health and education sector in Pakistan. And what is more important is to consider is the extent of and how deeply entrenched; corruption has become a part of the system.Let me elaborate upon the height of how the education system has failed over 180 million population of Pakistan. The first and foremost is the prime example of plenty of ‘ghost schools’ being present through-out the country, most shockingly, in major urban areas as well. A further explanation of what I mean by a ghost school; a school building registered with the education commission of Pakistan, with salaries being handed out to teachers and the school stuff and budget being allocated to the forth running of the school, only once you reach that address, only to find no existence of a school. These funds, being funneled to incompetent teacher’s pockets (who now run part time tuition centers), to local district mayors and union council heads and to anyone they deem fit to put on the school’s employment list. How can you expect a country to progress when the right to basic and primary education is lost wherein the fundamental flaws of the system? When everyone knows about these ghost schools, why isn’t there any action across the media or the government higher officials to address this issue?In order to answer these questions, maybe, it’ll be more understandable if how the elite and top institutions of the country are being run. Maybe that will help understand how deeply flawed our education system and why for the foreseeable future the state is doomed for failure. I am a student who is enrolled in one of the top institutes of the country, NUST for the matter. Having close friends who are enrolled in IBA, LUMS, GIKI, UET and NED, let me give you an idea of the state of these top institutions of the country.

1. . First things first, rote learning is common and very important no matter which program you are enrolled in, especially goes out to most of the departments at NUST. If you don’t write in the exam what the teachers want you to, no matter how logical the answer might be, you are doomed for failure. This straight out dishes out creativity, inquisitiveness and the thrust for knowledge over grades. These surrogates which we can proudly call our future engineers, doctors, and scientists will be in charge of the industries, hospitals and oh not to forgot running our schools, colleges and universities in the years to come. It’s a proud moment as one generation of incompetent engineers gets ready to nurture and train another generation of incompetent professionals while carrying over the baton
   
2.   Teachers are god! They control your grades, can and do indiscriminate against you based upon trivial things such as your ethnicity and even your personal liking. I distinctly remember my teacher in NUST (who is known through-out my department by every other student for his lack of knowledge and teaching ability) dishing out in response to student complaints against him by stating out that ‘I do not like the people and the students who are from Karachi, they seem to be troublesome and they complained against me because I am a Punjabi.’ These statements pretty much sums it up when prestigious institutes’ of the country have teachers stationed who instead on focusing on educating and bringing about a cultural union, are more focused on creating ethnic divisions. If such is the sad state of the best there is in the country, I believe it’s now understandable and pardonable to excuse the un-educated citizens for riots and killings on basis of ethnicity and culture.
   
3. Whether you are in LUMS, NUST or IBA, the Industry liaison department is no good. There is little or at times no collaboration between the universities and the industrial sector of the country. What the students are taught for almost four to five semesters, is when they visit industrial sites or intern over the summer, they realize utterly pointless and is not applicable for progress or entry into the corporate and industrial sector. No more is that knowledgeable useful for Graduate programs abroad. The students in utter limbo, have moved on to starting up their own little business, probably if you have noticed so many burger and paratha joints opening up across Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, in order to earn their livelihood.
   
4. There is little or no emphasis in life outside academics. The sports facilities and infrastructure, compared to international standards, is far off even at the top institutes in Pakistan. This again explains many of our shortcomings in the field of sports, debate and other extra-curricular activities. Pakistan is the sixth largest country in the world in terms of population but again it was of no surprise that the Olympic squad failed to make a mark in Rio 2016. With a country with such a large pool of people, it should be natural for talent to exist in the 180 million population. The issue remains of the lack of infrastructure and with the mindset of the current Pakistani society. Even at NUST, I don’t see sports or a career in disciplines which are considered un-orthodox being promoted, advertised or inspired amongst the students. I see little or no sports scholarships for promising athletes in the country. These universities, the officers, the people in charge remain ignorant of the fact of the importance of sports and arts in the development of our society. Katie Ledecky, the 19 year old who won 3 gold in women’s swimming event this year in Rio, has been offered a fully funded sports scholarship at Stanford. She will continue to train with the Stanford team, whilst managing her studies side by side. My father told me how Hanif Muhammad was presented with his matriculation certificate based upon his exploits with the cricket team. Why isn’t LUMS, UET, NUST, GIKI, IBA promoting this trend? I believe it’s natural that gone are the days of Pakistani talent coming to age and blooming on international stage, surely gone are the days of Jehangir Khans, of Hanif Muhammads, and Sohail Abbas. I hope you realize the difference between why US, China, India and even smaller and young countries like Singapore and Hong Kong continue to progress as Nations while 69 years after independence, Pakistan still struggles to find its identity!

With such a broken educational system, the progress of both the country and we as a society seems to be limited in the years to come. We might get solid ground infrastructure in the near future (thanks to CPEC), even get rid of the ever present power crisis plaguing the country, but with our education system as crippled as now, it’s a far cry to believe Pakistan to become a leading nation in the years to come!