3
WAS it a conscious politico-bureaucratic nuance or simplistic understanding? KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak recently said something about education that repudiates research of the last half a century in the field.
While launching an enrolment drive in the province, Mr Khattak talked about English as the medium of instruction that he felt would lead to a uniform education system in KP. He also talked against ‘political interference’ in the transfer of teachers. His most important statement pertained to the public education system being made a model one, so that parents would not choose to send their children to private schools. The chief minister failed to dilate on this.
In principle, the three major features of education — access, governance and quality — are to be dealt with in a coordinated manner. Increase in enrolment lies in the domain of access while transfer and promotions come under the purview of governance. To increase access to education for children, the government needs to enhance the annual budget as well as overall development.
The two million to 2.5 million out-of-school children in KP need 800 to 1,000 additional schools immediately. Where does the government plan to accommodate children who are enrolled if all out-of-school children are to be admitted? Similarly, the government needs at least 40,000 trained English-language teachers if all secondary schools are to have at least one English-language teacher after the promulgation of English as the medium of instruction. How does the government plan on accomplishing this?
Credible language teaching methods have been confused with the early introduction of English as the medium of instruction. Additionally, instead of providing a framework for eliminating class-based education, the chief minister maintained that the early introduction of English would automatically lead to uniform education. So, what about madressahs, elite schools system and cadet and garrison schools? How will they contribute to the goal of uniform education?
What is also missing in the discourse is the component of quality, which pertains to the curriculum, teaching methods and the academic environment at schools. At present, all three aspects tend to glorify war and war heroes, teaching students to hate whatever and whosoever is different on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion and language. Together, they inculcate isolation, segregation and fear of thinking and expression.
Elementary and secondary schools’ curriculum that is consistent with international standards should ideally concentrate on certain fundamental areas. It should encourage critical and analytical thinking, impart basic and advanced modern and traditional skills, promote civic responsibility and help develop an aesthetic sense and environmental consciousness among the students.
This would imply that students have a direct link with worldwide educational standards while being aware of their own history, culture and language.
For this to happen, indigenous languages, world civilisations, scientific and rational thought and an opportunity to satisfy curiosity must be the constituent parts of the curriculum. The curriculum needs to be designed in a manner that students learn how to observe, question, think, create and express.
The curriculum must therefore focus on human dignity and the accommodation of cultural, religious, sectarian, gender and ethnic diversity. Besides there’s a need to highlight the contributions of inventors, social reformers and scholars both within and outside the region. Mathematics and the sciences must focus on observation and analysis.
Developing a sense of aesthetics is another important aspect that comes under the academic environment. Literary and artistic taste and promoting sportsmanship might be effectively inculcated through holding exhibitions, sporting events, and literary competitions regularly. It is also important for students to have an opportunity to interact with artists, literati and craftspeople.
The academic environment is instrumental in bringing about environmental consciousness among students. Students need to be encouraged to observe and know their immediate environment, heritage and geographical peculiarities. Regular plantation campaigns and celebrations of international days of water and food, for example, might make students more aware of the environment’s importance.
Another necessary component of curriculum and quality is the method of teaching and the learning process inside classrooms. Teachers must be are provided with job training and refresher courses if child-friendly and activity-based learning is to be adopted. Dialogue, debate and inquiry must be established as basic values. Self-discipline, instead of imposed discipline, is to be emphasised.
The type of discipline expected from students at the moment results in a culture of silence which leads to emotional and intellectual dependence. On a collective level, this in turn leads to economic and political dependence.
The writer is author of Rethinking Education: Critical Discourse and Society.
