Do we care for our educational system?
The situation is alarming and we need to act swiftly
Syed Mustafa Ahmad
Any enlightened nation plans for a better future. They always keep their past in mind. They live in the present and prepare accordingly for the future. In my college years, our political science teacher taught us that a real leader was one who comprehends the problems he is going to face in future and works out to deal with them.
In another sense, it means that they, by virtue of their attributes, know the future in advance. They tirelessly work for the solution of those problems. They mostly invest in education. They know that it is education that will keep them going. But in our case, we are the opposite picture of the above said attributes.
We are not enlightened, civilized and optimistic as well. We have forgotten our past. We don’t live in the present. And about the future, we have nothing to say. How the future will be is not known to us? Moreover, we have purposelessly invested in education. We don’t know why we do get education. What is the difference between a literate and an illiterate person? What is the difference between an educated and an uneducated person? These things never matter in our lives.
For the things to reach this stage, there should be some causes responsible. It is not like a bolt from the blue. In the following lines, I will try to discuss some of the causes responsible for this fragile situation.
The first and the foremost cause for now is the Covid-19. It has acted as the last nail in the coffin. The already crumbled system has been more exposed to destruction. The educational institutions are shut for more than three months. There are no classes. Book sellers are shut. Seminars, symposiums, conferences, etc., don’t take place. Students have forgotten their studies. As the news is that the Covid-19 is here to stay for many months, students have made up their mind to not learn till the coronascare vanishes. So, this has caused enormous loss to the educational sector.
The second factor is that in Kashmir violence doesn’t lose its grip over us. Every day brings gloom. Students, teachers, mothers, fathers, etc. get killed due to the political disturbances. If the contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be solved by the people of the 21st Century, there remains no hope for solving this issue in the future. It has also acted as a big hurdle in the way of the educational sector.
The third cause responsible for this is that corruption is prevalent in our society. When corruption engulfs the educational sector then there are no chances that this system will move forward. From the top to bottom, almost every official is corrupted. Money is their concern.
If a student does not work hard for the whole year, a sum of money can guarantee his or her promotion to the next class. In contrast, a student, who works hard for the whole year, does not find himself or herself in the merit list, loses interest in the studies and gets fed up with the system. In this process, the brilliant minds get wasted and education finds itself in ruins.
The fourth and the last cause responsible for this according to my opinion is that our society is very orthodox in nature. Innovation is never given a chance to bloom. Mindless customs and rituals are followed in letter and spirit. There is no room for enlightenment. Any enlightened person is not taken into account.
He or she is abhorred for his or views. He or she wants to make the society civilized but when the orthodox persons of the society find this happening, they go against these intellectuals and the result is the deterioration of the educational system. When the enlightened persons are not listened to, there is only one way left and that is despair and disappointment.
For the future, we hope that there will be some deliberations over our educational setup. This asset is the most valuable wealth. Are we ready to change our outlook towards this? Only time will tell. Till then, we must wait.
