KARACHI, April 4: Experts on the second day of a symposium titled ‘Rediscovering Childhood’ organized by the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) discussed the influence of schools on a child’s development and their role as a social institution. The discussions on Tuesday also focussed on the effects of today’s developing media and technologies on children.

The symposium in question held at a local hotel was largely attended by parents, teachers, donors, government officials and representatives from many other organizations.

The second day of the event focused on the significance of schooling, media and technology. Speakers including a number of educationists, academics as well as a number of media celebrities spoke.

Wasif Rizvi, a social policy development consultant, urged to transform schools and education institutions to help reclaim a childhood that had damagingly been stifled by regimented routines, strict curriculum and teachers, who were not always aware of child-centred approaches without which some children never reached their maximum cognitive, emotional and intellectual potential.

He claimed the assumption that our children’s academic future was more important than children’s intellectual creativity had become so commonplace that it was almost impossible to convince parents against regimented and monolithic schooling.

His speech was followed by a lively panel discussion presided over by Dr Jan Visser of the Learning Development Institute, Prof Abbas Husain of the Teachers’ Development Centre, Wendy Griffin of the Aga Khan Foundation and Yasmeen Bano of the Aga Khan Education Services.

The panel brought to attention the need for schools to encourage diversity and tolerance for children of all capacities and intelligences. They unanimously agreed that the challenge ahead was to deepen the insight into the existing systems of schooling/education for reclaiming the respect and dignity that our children deserved.

They also expressed concern over the limited understanding of the actual learning process and the effect it had on children as they were pushed towards uniformity and pre-decided parameters.

The thematic shift towards the influence of media, technology and children led to a more intriguing session between the speakers, panellists and all participants.

The discourse on media was piloted by Prof Nisar Ahmed Zuberi of the Department of Mass Communications, Karachi University.

He claimed that the electronic media had become a powerful force in our lives, especially in the lives of our youth, as the media shaped our attitudes, desires, priorities, values and our sense of identity.

This effect is much more important when talking about children because they are much more impressionable and vulnerable during their formative years, he opined.

Also joining the discussion on media and technology was Amar Jaleel, Arshad Mahmud, Haseena Moin, Mehtab Rashdi, Rashid Sami and Prof Shahid Hashmi.

The speakers stressed the need to develop innovative and positive uses of the media to facilitate the learning and empowerment of children.

The highlight of the event was a performance of Uncle Sargam, one of Pakistan’s iconic TV characters.-–APP