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The ‘great’ debate in Sindh education circles these days relates to summer vacations. As could only be expected, the officialdom woke up at the last minute with the idea of changing the traditional June-July vacations to July-August in view of the fasting month of Ramazan that will start in the latter half of July. Like most other things, the advent of Ramazan — plus-minus a few days here and there — was something that was known to all and sundry for at least a year, if not more. But the entire machinery headed by the education minister is not ‘all and sundry’; so it is understandable that they didn’t know about it.
Other than the last-minute realisation that has led to the current debate, the controversy has also underlined the various tiers at which education is being imparted and the divergent — often conflicting — concerns of those associated with them. The minister is pleading the case of those in rural Sindh who are expected to be exposed not just to Ramazan, but also to the monsoon which, as has been the case for the last two years, is likely to be heavy. The seminaries are generally not bothered by the whole debate and would observe their own schedule. One private-sector educational board has refused to change its schedule. The elitist schools have concerns owing to the fact that many of their students and teachers, as is their annual routine, have flight and hotel reservations for the summer. The second-tier middle class schools in the private sector are merely standing by to see which way the wind ultimately blows.
Even a minor issue — a non-issue, actually — like vacations exposes the multi-tier education system. It is not difficult to have an idea of what the divisions are like in terms of the end-product of each stream; the student. And, in turn, how impractical it is to hold seminars on improving the education system of the country and to bring it in line with the much-exalted global trends. First of all, someone needs to bring them all in line with the local trend. In fact, the first thing to do is to somehow define what the local trend is.
As things stand today, and they have been standing that way since long, the problem is three-fold. The low literacy level is only one-third of the issue; the second fold is brought up by what is being taught to those who actually make it to some education centre. The final fold, equally critical if not more, is represented by the huge difference in the quality of contents being taught at different strata and to different segments of society.
While we can talk of ‘action research’, the concept of ‘converting teachers into researchers in their own classrooms’, ‘self-development’, ‘strategically planned activities’, and ‘a three-stage journey’ from Bureaucratic Organisation to Learning Organisation; from Learning Organisation to Community of Practice; and, finally, designing a Learning Community, who will implement it and at which tier of education? Much like the society at large, the education system stands polarized along all possible lines.
A wonderful mix of confusion and apathy is playing havoc with society’s fabric. Things have come to a pass where the perceptions and notions of young adults coming out of the various educational streams — seminaries, state-run schools, and private institutions of various hues and shades — happen to be divergent in dangerous proportions. Alongside the prevailing financial inequality in society, the class-based education system is a quick recipe to ensure that the present levels of polarisation in society — already alarming as they are — will only grow in the days ahead.
Back in 1997 when the country was celebrating the golden jubilee of independence, a foreign correspondent had asked the then information minister, portfolio that is supposed to be the spokesperson for the government, what was Pakistan’s biggest achievement in its 50 years of existence. “The fact that we have survived,” came the reply. Another 15 years have passed, and one wonders if the same question is put to someone in authority today, will it have an answer any better than that. But, naturally, we will worry about that as soon as we have decided when to have our summer vacations. Till then, good luck!
