I AM an educationist, Montessorian, teacher trainer, youth counsellor and social worker. As a child developer – a word unknown in Pakistan — I am saddened by what is being done to our children. Research in Pakistan has shown children who go to public schools are less intelligent than children who do not go to school.

What is education? Is it high fees, high marks, best infrastructure, PCs, foreign-trained teachers, fancy advertisements and fancy words for school names – or is education a source of guidance for children to enable them to use their God-given capabilities to grow to their full potential?

In all the seminars and conferences I have attended in Pakistan, not one speaker gave importance to the material in hand, i.e. the child. Not one person understood what child development is.

A child is a product of his/her heredity and environment. All children are born geniuses; it is the environment that determines their future. A child starts learning as soon as he is born. In fact, 80pc of the child’s brain development is complete by age six years. If a child is mishandled by age six, the damage can never be undone.

The environment of a child includes his home, parents, siblings, family, teachers, mobiles, society, media and the net. The onslaught of so much makes it even more vital that children be guided to have self-confidence and self-respect.

I have volunteered to teach in public schools – to see why public schools are not as good as private schools. In my research I have seen the behaviour and mentality of public school teachers and those in private ones. I have seen the environment they both have. As I research on how boys and girls learn differently, I cringe when I see boys drop out of school and notice the increase in madressah environment. What are we doing to our children?

When I give teacher training workshops the teachers are surprised by what I tell them about how children learn. I believe the whole nation can be educated, guided and trained by the use of technology. The means are already there; it is the will that is needed, and the methods are simple.

I volunteer again to achieve this goal.

Mrs Kausar Pervez

Islamabad

Phone 051-2656477

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015