PLATO once said: “If you want to judge the quality of a civilisation, have a look at its teachers.”

By teachers he meant the state of education in a country.

Education is a process which develops the potential of a man and helps him to concentrate his energies on whatever aim he likes. Nations are made not by wealth but by men, and men are made by education.

It was because of this important role of education in national development that teachers and educators were respected very much in ancient times and are respected even today, though to a lesser degree.

The efficiency or the working power of a nation depends on vocational education. Engineers, doctors, scientists and teachers come from this sort of education.

Huge buildings, big dams, construction of roads, fight against diseases, fight against ignorance, new inventions, harnessing forces of nature, trade, commerce and the system of banking -- all these depend on vocational education.

All of these activities would come to a stop if education fails to provide men for them. All comforts and amenities of life, railways and other means of communication such as ships and aeroplanes and tractors and tube-wells working in fields and irrigating soil, all depend on vocational education.

These are social or political aspects of education. Every country has a society and every man is bound to live in that society. Then every country or nation is a political entity in the world.

Social or political sort of education teaches a nation how to live with others, how to maintain political relations with them. The world of today is like a family where no nation can progress without the help of others. National development also depends on cooperation with other nations. This is impossible without education.

Moreover, without education we cannot have an established society. For national development and advancement, it is necessary that society must enjoy peace and stability which comes through social education. Again the importance of education in national development is proved.

Next comes the moral side of education. Mao Zedong once said that material revolution always followed moral revolution. His own country is a practical example of this viewpoint. If the people of a country are lazy and have no sense of duty to themselves and to their country, having no principles of their life, the country is doomed. It is at this juncture that the moral side of education helps them.

The people develop qualities of patience, unselfishness, endurance, faithfulness and a sense of sacrifice. They develop vision to distinguish between good and bad; they learn to stand and fight against that which is not right in their eyes. The progress of a nation depends on such men.

Emerson has rightly said: Not gold, but only men can make;

A people great and strong; Men who for truth and honour’s sake,

Stand fast and suffer long, Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly, They build a nation’s pillars deep, And lift them to the sky.

SALEEM NASIR MEERANI Karachi