THE education system of Pakistan is a never-ending tale of woes and sorrows. It has produced social class differences. There is high-quality education where anything indigenous is perceived to be inferior, including the language. Playing on that sentiment, the rest try to copy that model without having the resources to execute it properly. The confusion leads to socioeconomic divide, with the faulty system producing students of debatable characters who have complexes in plenty.

Ironically, we consider English language to be the only gateway to success, and give no importance to our local languages. This leads to the practice of rote-learning as students speak different languages at school and at home, and are forced to just rote-learn the stuff and deliver it on the exam answer sheet. There is no understanding of the concept behind whatever it is that they have written about.

Our disjointed structure is, in fact, a barrier to innovative thinking and comprehension. Students are transformed into robots, carrying out roles assigned to them. There is no rationality in their approach.

Adding to the woes is the presence of ghost schools which affects the quality of education by not delivering education at all. Education, for us, is nothing but a commodity. You will get what you pay for. If you cannot pay, you will not get anything. The equation is simple. It is the consequences of this equation that is horrible.

Education in Pakistan is in an utter need of a bottom-up approach along with properly outlined long-term institutional reforms. Only such a step would bring equity in society by eradicating class distinctions.

Ariba Ali
Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2022