THE current literacy rate of Pakistan is officially 62.3 per cent, which means that an estimated population of 60 million is illiterate in the country. Why are there fewer doctors, scientists and educated people, and why are there more illiterates, beggars and criminals in the country? Is a great pianist or a criminal born, or are they the product of their circumstances?

Famed psychologist John B. Watson, who is known as the founder of behaviourism, said: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed and my own special world to bring them up in, and I will guarantee to take any one at random, and train him to become any type of specialist I might select — doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors.”

So there are more chances that a great scientist or a pianist is made, not born. The illiteracy rate in our country is high because of our mentality, poverty and the struggling education system.

Let us see it in the picture of past and the present. When great nations like Britain and America were establishing Harvard and Oxford universities, we were building Taj Mahal, Shahi Qila and such other monuments and structures in the subcontinent. They were promoting education, science and technology, and we were opposing science and technical education. So they started ruling the world. Having inferiority complex that the British, or white-skinned people, are superior to us, we adopted their dress, language, infrastructure, etc. But what we did not adopt was their education system, research and innovation, which was making them superior.

Let us look at the recently held Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Lahore. For this event, evening classes of many universities and educational institutions were closed for two weeks. Are cricket matches more important than education? We are a nation that does not know its priorities, and even the state has a serious lack of understanding about the real issues.

We and the government should take initiatives to financially support children from less advantaged backgrounds and offer better education opportunities. It is time to make education, research, science and technology our priority if we want to stand tall among the international community.

Muzna Mehmood Hashmi
Lahore

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2022