- By: Irfan Khan Tareen
Education is undeniably the backbone of a society, which helps move people toward the path to peace, progress and prosperity. As it fosters awareness, highlights the clear distinction between fair and foul, broadens thinking and reasoning, and improves intellect as well as moral conduct, its value cannot be neglected at any cost. What ought to be the clear objective of an independent nation’s education system is to make its people civilized, democratic-minded, and aware of their responsibilities and rights/liberties. Unfortunately, in doing so, our education system has badly failed.
The number of degree holders is extensive, but there is a sheer dearth of creative thinkers and job-creators. Instead of becoming job-creators, students become desperate job-seekers. To see a large number of competent students—even those having outstanding degrees—working as labourers in hotels, restaurants and mechanic shops is shocking. In fact, very few people know what education really means; today, it has become only a means for students to secure jobs in the future. Due to serious and long-neglected constraints in the education sector, it is at the bottom of the ladder.
One of the critical obstacles in this regard is the medium of instruction (English). As students employ their full potential in learning the English language, it results in weakness in their core subjects. Whereas, the world’s advanced countries—such as Japan, China and Finland—by imparting education in their mother languages have revolutionized the fields of science and technology. Outdated curriculum adds further miseries. Besides this, the outdated examination system, which has failed in the true assessment of students’ intelligence as it evaluates nothing more than memory power, is another huge issue. Other similar obstacles include: safety and security issues, inadequate facilities, high dropout rates and politicized hiring of faculty. One significant challenge is limited budget that restricts reform efforts, infrastructure development and teacher training. In other words, our education system faces serious multiple challenges; however, let me underscore what our already functional educational institutions need to do.
What comes up really baffling is children carrying loaded backpacks filled with unnecessary materials that harm their backs. In simple words, what is essential in today’s life is not taught, while what should not be taught is taught.
In this regard, Finland, Singapore and Japan —having excellent education systems that focus on character building, respect culture, self-discipline and understanding, not memorization— in the world, offer the best examples. In those schools and colleges, students do not have to carry loaded backpacks as they understand it elicits mental and physical fatigue. The best part is that they have to attend only 3–4 classes each day and no homework. Encouragingly, they are given time to think creatively, analyse problems, figure out answers, question assumptions, debate on various subjects and break down complex problems.
In truth, the core aim of these institutions is not to earn money like many of ours do, but to foster holistic development, going beyond academic facts to nurture curiosity, critical thinking, problem-solving and confidence. Unfortunately, our students seem less creative and confident in social and critical skills as compared to students in Western countries.
Our education sector, of course, is in desperate need of help, and it requires the collective response of teachers, parents and government. What we need to do and improve in the nick of time is briefly elaborated below.
i. Enhance concept-based learning:
It is absolutely essential to eliminate rote-learning and enhance concept-based learning by encouraging students to question the text material instead of merely memorizing answers. By enabling children to simplify complicated texts, elaborate ideas, write in simple words and explain concepts, their knowledge strengthens and confidence grows. Teach them to concentrate and focus on understanding and meaning.
ii. Emphasize communication skills:
Similarly, schools must teach students how to speak clearly and confidently and convey messages to an audience. This skill not only assists in personal life, but also in professional and emotional life. With clear, calm and confident communication skills (verbal and non-verbal), it becomes easier to influence people, express opinions, mitigate conflicts and excel in the art of persuasion.
iii. Promote financial literacy:
After students leave schools with remarkable degrees, many competent students still lack acquaintance with financial literacy, which is indeed a huge problem. No awareness of how money works in life, what the difference is between investment and expenses, and what assets and liabilities are, leads in the end to financial crisis. For building a strong economic background, knowledge about money is undoubtedly essential.
iv. Foster critical thinking and problem solving: Moreover, encouraging co-curricular activities—including debate and speech contests, sports and brain puzzles that sharpen critical skills—is of great significance, yet it is less demonstrated in the curricula of the majority of our institutions. Prioritizing students’ knowledge about mathematical operations and daily-life problem solving is crucial.
v. Promote digital literacy and AI awareness:
In addition, what is more important is to make students familiar with digital literacy, how to avoid distractions, and how to keep balance between real life and the digital world. As Artificial Intelligence increasingly transforms the world and does much of our work today, understanding it and teaching it for constructive purposes must be given due preference. In the same way, it is also necessary to highlight to students how overdependence on it in daily life debilitates our critical, analytical and executive functional skills.
vi. Improve emotional intelligence:
What our institutions lack is the provision of emotional education for children. Students memorize pages after pages, yet do not know how to deal with stress, anxiety and bullying. If they learn how to control emotions and deal with fluctuations of life despite getting nervous and broken, it can enable them to live a peaceful life.
vii. Facilitate teachers training:
In this regard, teachers play a central role in making education a purposeful endeavour by cultivating knowledge and moral values in children. For being a teacher, knowledge about three core components is essential: how to teach and transfer messages, how to explain clearly, and understanding students’ psychology. Teachers, therefore, must be given pre-service, in-service and refresher courses so that they get updated according to students’ mentality and new tools of teaching.
viii. Replace the examination system:
In the proper assessment of intelligence and creativity, the prevailing examination system has failed; it solely focuses on the memory power of students, which is not the true parameter of learning. It, therefore, must be replaced with a new one that emphasizes creativity and intelligence over rote-learning.
ix. Eradicate the culture of cheating: By the same token, it’s indispensable to eradicate the widespread culture of cheating in exams by instituting strict rules and regulations. This vicious trend degrades merit, suppresses fairness and unleashes injustice. It becomes difficult to distinguish between deserved/competent students and others.
x. Encourage the ability of asking questions: It’s often observed that the culture of asking deep and relevant questions has perished in education environment. On one hand, asking questions is like a red rag to the bull for teachers; on the other hand, students feel shy and discouraged to ask tough questions.
In a nutshell, by taking timely and practical actions, we can improve the system of education, unlock creativity, boost productivity and foster holistic development. Parents and teachers must contribute in rebuilding the system of education for better future. In this regard, the role of government cannot be ignored—it must allocate sufficient part of budget for investment in education sector.