Daily Times

Pakistan has been facing political instability for the last several years. It is unclear as to why are we still unable to benefit from democracy. Is it because of the failure of the leadership we elect, which leads us to further complicated situation? The idea that democracy and civic education are interlinked and interconnected needs to be understood very clearly as they have been dealt in isolation, which is why there is a need to look into the consequences of this isolation.

Civic education can be termed as education for social responsibility, political participation and includes the topics about how to vote and understand the needs of community in order to strengthen the social fabric.

In various countries, volunteerism is the part of curriculum and incorporated in the textbooks, particularly the social studies books of different levels. In ideal situations, the values of democracy are to be introduced in early year’s education like tolerance, empathy, acceptance coexistence and respect for others. The actual implementation is at secondary and higher secondary level and school has the most important role to play in promoting democratic values and respect for democracy for all students. Civic education leads to volunteerism towards community and culture, which contributes to the formation of an open-minded society. It also prepares young mind to cope up with national and global challenges and the basics of political participation. It is very important that the young minds are made to go through a gradual process of awareness to understand the systems and use of resources etc.

Volunteerism in Pakistan is exemplary, but at the same time, it is also a fact that we, as a nation, are not trained to handle crises situations in general

These values can’t be taught only in schools, but schools can indeed play a vital role in this regard by giving the students practical examples. One fact is evident as far as our Pakistani society is concerned that in times of trouble and turmoil, we stand together as a nation to take every step that is possible. The volunteerism is exemplary, but at the same time it is also a fact that we as a nation are not at all trained to handle crises situations in general. The secondary and higher secondary school students should be trained and sensitised on what democracy and democratic values are. If a school practices and demonstrates certain values and culture based on democratic principle there is no doubt that the student would learn it directly as well as indirectly. The best practices and examples can be set by engaging children in such activities on their own as they always come up with new and innovative ideas.

A general picture of the public schools is more or less same all over Pakistan with the traditional role of a teacher limited to being a source of information dictating mostly to students whatever level he or she is catering to. Public schools usually cater to more number of students than their capacity. In such situations, the teacher is left with two major tasks controlling the students by all means and finishing off the lesson planned for the particular period. The role of the teacher is more of a dictator in these situations rather than a facilitator. There are class monitors and representatives selected or elected depending upon the criteria set by the teacher or the school. The opinion of the teacher likes and dislikes are the key factors for nomination of class representative and the opinion and participation of the rest of the class students is hardly counted.

The private schools since they talk about a specific number of students in one class, are trying to keep the school culture participatory and equal opportunities for all students. Like the class representatives are chosen as per attendance two at a time generally so that the whole class gets the opportunity. The senior sections have proper election campaigns for the head boy and head girl and any one can apply for it as these schools have well defined procedures for it. The madrassah stream has its own hierarchy and selection strategy. The first and most important challenge is of course the different streams with no unified content for the students of secondary and higher secondary schools. There are lessons in books of social studies and Pakistan Studies on democracy, constitutional development, fundamental human rights, but practically the school doesn’t exhibit the democratic culture. Therefore, we cannot expect the students to develop an appreciation for the democratic system. Unfortunately, most of the times in our political history, we haven’t witnessed democratic forms of government but the dictatorships and the appreciation can be easily assessed among masses for his type of rule.

The second challenge is the absence of a specific content designed to politically educate youth in schools for understanding the political needs and system of their country. The roles and responsibilities of an educated individual towards state government are yet to be defined categorically though the themes are touched upon in a series of topics as per guidelines of the national curriculum system. A concerted effort is also needed by the academicians and institutions to defuse the contradictions between Islamic concept of democracy and western democracy to have the public opinion in favor of democracy and democratic values.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector

Published in Daily Times, October 14^th 2017.