THE Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education has become a great patron for the students for the last few years, with a number of the students scoring mysteriously high in various examinations. It is becoming irritatingly common to get over 90 per cent marks. The A+ grade is losing its shine because it is easy to attain.

Unfortunately, when it comes to quality education, at least 4Cs of the 21st century skill-set — critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication — the number of students who are able to contemplate beyond the necessary livelihood and future illusions is quite minimal. The dilemma is: how can we get rid of this rote-learning-based education system? What are the factors that prevent the authorities and political leadership from educating the nation in its true essence? Isn’t it the era of information technology (IT) and biotechnology? Can this saga of numbering-game take the country out of its socio-political as well as economic crises?

Where there is memorisation, there is no room for critical thinking. The state must ponder over the peculiar numbering-game and memorisation-based education. The problem not only is the issue of marks in the examinations, but the lack of actual intellect. And that is the matter that should concern us.

Syed Sibtain
Skardu

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2022