August 19, 2007

I HAVE grown up listening to teachers who denigrated the deplorable situation in Pakistan by pointing out the lack of libraries and schools as a cause of all our educational and social woes. While libraries and a reading culture are important to any society, it seems to me that we have ignored, and are continuing to ignore the potential role of the museum in shaping our educational and cultural lives.

Our concept of a museum in Pakistan is limited and a far cry from what potentials this institution has in shaping the socio-cultural future of our country. In Karachi, most denizens frequent the PAF and the Maritime museums. Surely, the history of Pakistan is not the history of its military? To affirm cynically that it is so is to propound a dangerous sense of cynicism. Tasteful exhibitions at the Mohatta Palace are meant to elicit wonder and admiration at the grandeur of the past. But a museum should be a place which reflects upon the cultural memory of a nation in order to foster connections with the present. Our museums at present are a potent symbol to our commitment to the past without any bearing to the future direction we aim to take as a nation.

A product of both the Matric and British systems of education, I feel quite confident when I say that Pakistani education serves as a deterrent for original thinking and deep conviction. Both, to different degrees, encourage rote learning and reproduction because the ultimate purpose of all information in-take is the Dreaded Exam. Now, 24 years of age and having completed my Masters, I cannot help feeling that I have been cheated of a ‘real’ education.

There are different philosophies concerning what education should achieve. But living in times where prejudice, hatred and rigidity is compounded by the scenes on our television set, what is needed is an approach which leads to a celebration of diversity and multiplicity while at the same time instilling a sense of pride and belonging in the mind of the Pakistani student. It isn’t just libraries with their plethora of books or schools with their rigorous examination schedules which will help to achieve that. But a children’s museum, committed to education and based on the philosophy of tolerance and diversity, will.

The vision for a children’s museum is a powerful one. It is a vision of an institution which aims to provide a social relevance to what children learn in school. A children’s museum will not, as some cynics quip, feature dead skeletons of the children of ancient pharaohs. Rather, it will serve as a centre of learning where students of history will learn about, say, the effect of war through documentaries of the Hiroshima bombings. It will be a place where international children’s movie festivals are held, a specialised adaptation of the Kara festival if you like, where students can learn about different countries through the medium of the cinema. A museum should incorporate the institution of the library (although it cannot be allowed to supplant it) where children can read about the topics closest to their hearts: such as religion, globalisation etc and then participate in workshops on the same topics, with experts who will help them to channel their views in a focused manner so that learning can lead to direct action. Theatre and children’s performances will educate the children about social issues in a manner both entertaining and thought provoking. That is the kind of place I missed while growing up.

The desire for a holistic approach to education is being keenly felt by our students who are clamoring to get scholarships in order to study in the west. It is a sad situation because the very concept of diversity and multiplicity raises eyebrows – why such a fuss in arriving at the truth when all of it has already been related to us in the Quran. Conservative critics say that those to tot the importance of multiple perspectives are actually advocates of confusion. Why do we need museums, libraries or all this “fluff” to provide us with a bewildering array of options which results in uncertainty and even fear in the mind of a student?

But is uncertainty so bad? Should we, like certain bearded individuals, cling rigidly and blindly to certain principles? It is easy to make up one’s mind based on no or few facts. But provided with an array information and ideologies, it is inevitable for one to stop in one’s tracks, to turn around and look back, sideways, forward, downward and upward before declaring: “I may be wrong, but it seems to me, at this moment, that this is what I know and this is what I do not know. Any decision or verdict I will issue is therefore subject to change.” Re-evaluation is a product not of uncertainty and ignorance, but of enlightenment.

And it is time for us to re-evaluate our priorities and our educational aims. We must foster a sense of optimism and action in our youth which is already beleaguered with an alarming sense of apathy. Having experienced this sense of apathy and indifference, the Children’s Museum of Peace and Human Rights has taken a welcome step in this regard – work is underway to build a museum with an aim to foster a sense of belonging and action into our students and perhaps, even their parents. It is just one step towards peace, but a step that is taken with conviction and with all the encouragement it can get. Noam Chomsky said: “If you believe there is no possibility of change, you guarantee there is no possibility of change.” It is high time that we empowered our students with the passion for positive change, so that education, in its truest sense of the word, can play a meaningful role in our lives, in our country and in our world.