Re-thinking Education – II

BY: SUHAIB IDREES LATEEF.

Education, the needful and necessary process of learning, nurturing, supplying and receiving systematic knowledge of things which one need to sustain and survive in this universe of deep conscience, Education, the prerequisite tool enlightening the process for success, growth and ascendancy with prosperity. Education, A reform in taking and racking up the challenges, the winds and hardships that life throws upon us with the solutions.

Veteran Poet Dr. Iqbal poets exalts Education as precursor to Success, fame and achievements,

نہیںتیرانشیمنقصرسلطانیکےگنبدپر

توشاہیںہےبسیراکرپہاڑوںکیچٹانوں

Coming upon Schooling, Now-a-days is an arduous and tiring job for the hapless child who always and ever gets crushed under the roots of stress, failed hope as by the mismanagement.

Few years or a decade ago, the schools were a center of joy, hope and happiness. It was an activity of ecstasy-free from back breaking burdens. The Education system was a couple of books and little home work. Students were a good time to play and cheer happily. There was no competition at all and students were careless both about careers and their course. Still they moved and we got the great personalities like Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Some socio-political giants like Ali Mohammed Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal(R.A.) and others.

Our Kashmir in much of turmoil and conflict had given eminent religious souls to world in form of Sheikh-ul-Alam, LalDed,BulBul shah Kashmiri, Mufti Molvi Ameen shopyani and many others, courtesy to Education.

Things have changed now. Children are loaded with responsibilities and put to forceful activity from day ist. They are deprived of their babyhood and minor age.

At much small age of 2 or 3 years old they are put in schools. At the age of 6 or 7, they are demanded to study up-to 3 hours at home. Such tiny school students are forced to understand complex grammatical rules, solve mathematical problems, computer science and tough general knowledge with the broad social science concepts. I was astonished to see a 2nd class student with the concept of photosynthesis. Because of this excessive non-sense home work, they are deprived of their babyhood, playing and cheering and much needed essential Sleep requirements. They are mostly fed on junk foods and unhealthy food items, which retards them both mentally and physically. A delicate child can’t hold the burden, he is laden with. Preferably the child cum student himself defines to be a ladder. How much toll could they weigh on shoulders, please go through their delicacy and happy hood. Generation gap and similar situations have arised by this now. The system has become like, every school wanted to show ascendancy of the positions bagged.

I have now been in service of Higher Education for a year and couple of months more now and both an sensible witness and social human, I experienced that majority, even greater majority of Students have now started ignoring and bunking classes because of this unpleasant new education system. A roll of 250 to 300 student classroom is marking with daily 7 to 8 students. Despite counseling of experts and mentors, the curse on our little student generation is their heavy school bags with much of overweight books that is a definite cruelty causing them severe heath problems day by day. Weight of school bags is increasing and not decreasing at any rate, our school children have turned slaves of educational system where commission of booksellers and teachers making their bags heavier and heavier.

There is no scope of creativity, imagination, ingenuity, inspiration and critical analysis. These children got no time to think except rote learning and homework. The system emboldens and promotes them with memorization and rote learning concept. The little children didn’t get any time to ponder freely or think openly. This is an open oppression on them. We have kept them on method of cramming and memorizing selection of books is totally a hallucination and horror. Many companies are producing stuff in name of books and their is no to ask them the level against the children, Schools and teachers get their commissions to choose the book publishing companies. It is a large misconception we are doing for our younger generation. In fact it has became a disastrous disease among people that much difficult books mean informative and higher standard of learning. Alas!!

It is a delusion that burdensome and difficult books are prescribed. Children’s of today are more sensitive than those a few decades before (unconscious children).The extra burden and deprivation of liberty builds pressure on them. Then the children feel their life in despondency, desolation, loneliness, failure and deprivation. Then what we can get are suicidal cases and drug addicts cum chain and there should be no doubt but we should be ready and obvious for such disaster.

Parents and guardians are aware of this kind of bad Education system, but feel helpless and they have ceded to it. No parent feels a need to go  against the school system as political potential of schools will send his/her ward back to home with called off admission, with the school’s fame unharmed. The alternative of Government schools is not a good approach as they are completely at lack of proper facilitated functionary. It is a desperate situation for everyone for every member of the society. We are not establishing a good and adequate system for our next generations which they shall have to face individually and unintentionally.

One more nightmare is we have put our children on continuous coaching system. It is a chief troublesome now a days in our society. It becomes important for a student to attend the coaching classes even at the rate of her or his school. It has turned a fashion for Kashmiri students to attend tuition classes than Schools. By this A student looses his or her much precious time, playing time and school life thus fails to overlook the challenges of life as all-round development is possible only in school life. Also tuition concept has made Student’s mind such that he or she feels it unable to clear their examinations without coaching classes.

Luckily, we are not incapable, the things are in our hands, they have not yet uncontrolled. We can change the situation provided we are willing to take an interest in it, in the overall development of children. We need to think sincerely about this for our coming up future. Stress upon them for grades for social status is a kind of suppression on them, which need to be think of.

All these developments should be thoroughly applied like a necessity.

At last, I want to allure the civil society members, Teachers, Parents and councilors to fathom and assess the situation and emerge out of this state and special efforts should be made for them at this depressing and discouraging state. They are requested to come forward in order to address this problem very strongly before we may go deep into the sea and lost our future generation too.

I would once again favour to quote Iqbal;

دیار عشق میں اپنا مقام پیدا کر

نیا زمانہ نِے صبح و شام پیدا کر

(Author is working in Higher Education Department, can be mailed at [email protected])