The state of education — or rather the management of education — being what it is across the country, there is hardly anything that comes as a surprise anymore. Imran Khan had been quite critical of the laptop scheme in Punjab, but in his “Naya Pakistan” up north, he recently charted out a plan to revamp education, and the integral component of the plan was, again, the spread of information technology to even the most remote of areas under his party’s government. So, it basically goes round and round and round … and round again.

Sindh, however, has shown a tendency to do some original thinking and it does come up with creative ideas to go linear rather than circular. The only problem with Sindh’s approach is that “original” does not always mean ‘good’; ‘creative’ does not always mean ‘practical’ and ‘linear’ does not always mean ‘progress’. A backward movement is also linear, isn’t it?

Take, for instance, the decision to make Chinese language a compulsory subject across the province. Yes, indeed, it was a decision taken by the previous government and a couple of years have lapsed since then during which a general election also took place.

However, the government remains very much the same in terms of both orientation and even personnel. It continues to be led — some would say “misled”, but that is beside the point — by the venerable Qaim Ali Shah. The man who had made the decision about the Chinese language now happens to be the speaker of the provincial assembly, and the person he has replaced is now heading the education ministry. So, it is very much the same team we are talking about.

The meeting two years ago, headed by Chief Minister Shah, had found it sensible to introduce Chinese language as a compulsory subject from class six onwards in all educational institutions across the province from the academic session starting 2013. This has already started — luckily, without any involvement of the Chinese language. The sole reason for such a step, which was called “revolutionary” by the high-profile participants of the meeting, was the simple fact that China was “an all-weather friend and neighbour with whom trade relations were growing with every passing day.”

A little while earlier — almost immediately after taking over after the 2008 elections — the provincial legislature had smoothly passed on the eve of the country’s 62nd Independence Day, Bill No 6 of 2008, which effectively transferred the control of educational boards across Sindh from the governor to the government. In the words of the provincial education minister, the step had been designed to improve educational standards. This, indeed, was a lofty proclamation for which the minister deserved due credit, but it brought to many minds the occasion in the not-so-distant past when a federal education minister with a military intelligence background, had used the same plea — “improving the standard” — during a press conference while justifying the decision to increase the duration of summer vacations in schools across the country from 60 to 90 days.

But, keeping it to Sindh, is there something tangible and concrete that the provincial administration can show in terms of improving educational standards with the two decisions cited above? The most diehard of the supporters would struggle to name one. And yet, the government has recently taken two steps that are indicative of the same approach. One, it moved to make space for itself in running the affairs of the public-sector universities. And, two, it set up a committee for supposedly bringing about uniformity in the school syllabus.

Both the decisions reek of political activism and surely have as much to do with education or education management as was the case with some of the decisions cited above. The decision related to the universities is to expand the scope of interference from the education boards to the seats of higher learning. This entails, most of all, appointments at all tiers — from the bottommost right up to the vice chancellors.

The state of public-sector universities is just a microcosm of what is going on at the federal level in almost all fields: no money to manage their affairs. The NED University of Engineering recently made public how bad things are at its end. The University of Karachi is managing month to month payment of salary to its staff with every month being a mountain to surmount anew. And yet, politics is a game of politicians — and the army men when they are in power — love to play.

The other decision about the curriculum, again, is a political tussle with the federal government over the execution of the 18th Amendment. Curriculum has dimensions that need elaborate discussion — and we might as well pick up the thread next week — but the manner in which the Sindh government is unfolding its agenda in the field of education, despite the history of failure in similar attempts in the past, is quite visibly driven by politics and has hardly anything to do with even an attempt to set things right. What a shame.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com