Daily Times

Giving education its due place (as was given in Plato’s Republic) needs to be made a priority.

Being the lifeline of a nation, education directs youth in any desired direction.

Rightly-directed, people-centric and welfare-based education guarantees peace, prosperity, progress and success.

If we mark only one thing, which helped the top five countries of the UNDP index lead the rest of the globe in the provision of economic progress, political success, social justice, tolerance along with healthy living style among the population, it is nothing else except education. Education is the single thing behind its huge progress.

An egalitarian society is formed by educated and enlightened citizens who keep a check on the undemocratic behaviour of the government. They provide the best possible base for a vibrant democracy and resultant democratic delivery.

Those people who know well stand for the right cause. On the contrary, illiterate people cannot even change their own fate. How will they change the fortunes of the whole nation?

The future of nations depends upon education because it allows independent thought in all sections of society. Hence, it is responsible for a society’s intellectual growth.

Only educated and enlightened societies allow progressive thinking without implying any particular thinking via teachers or banning a certain pattern of thought. This enables the mind to be creative, innovative and excellent simultaneously.

Bertrand Russell, a brilliant genius and noble laureate, glorified that the mental growth of the students could only occur if the teachers teach the students how to think instead of what to think.

This freedom guarantees mental growth, which enables one to be open to new ventures and vistas in life. This openness guarantees the development of full mental faculties.

The freedom of thinking anew and formulating new ideas eventually leads to new inventions and discoveries. All those societies, which opened themselves to de novo became successful scientifically, educationally and morally.

All is witnessed in educated and free societies, history testifies to this observation.

Moreover, education encourages dissent and pluralism by assisting people to know each others’ point of view instead of letting people amalgamate because of their differing ideas, opinions and beliefs.

Despite this, people don’t forget their differences but start accepting these differences.

Thus, this enables diversity to become more curious and simultaneously attractive instead of being a problem. In a closed society like ours, diversity is a problem only because we do not allow our mental horizon to become broader and, in turn, engulf the differences created by sectarian and class divisions.

Owing to this very reason for being an open society, today, Americans are more diverse yet harmonious people. Diversity is beauty and not a problem.

In spite of having roots in various European and African countries, they have held the US land supreme and close to their hearts. They are ready to sacrifice everything in the way of “Making America Great Again,” and “manifest destiny,” which seems an illusion to the people of the third world. However, no one can deny that they are far better and more developed than us and lead luxurious lives, which we can only dream of.

All this is because of the unifying force of education, which removes all ills of a society provided that education is rightly directed.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, education could not become prolific owing to the neglect of rulers in making education a welfare-based, people-centric entity.

They treated education as a play toy: a toy meant to be abandoned when it breaks without considering its ill fate or worrying for its reversal. Not a single ruler in the past or present gives any priority to education.

It has remained a non-serious and secondary entity in our nation’s life. Now, it’s taking its revenge by inculcating extremist tendencies in the youth.

No one will deny the fact that during the Afghan war, the pro-jihadist syllabus was incorporated into the education system, which was fuelled by Saudi and US petrodollars.

Even after the war, no revision was considered important until the black day of 9 / 11 day arrived.

At that time again, Americans thought about the detrimental consequences of such syllabus. Hence, they directed the authorities to change the syllabus. Experimentation with the syllabus continues to this day. Nothing seems efficient enough, which could satisfy the educational policymakers when it comes to creating a consensus on the kind of syllabus.

After the 18th amendment (2010), it has become an arduous task because education has become a provincial subject, enabling provinces to create diverse syllabuses and instigate further divisions and fragmentations. The PTI came into power with the slogan to make education a priority.

Nevertheless, its education budget took a reverse dive by cutting 1.76 per cent in its previous education budget and 0.87 per cent less than the PML-N government. Reasons could be many, but guilty neglect of the education sector has resulted in “broken promises” on the part of the PTI government and “broken hearts” when it comes to people’s expectations. Our education was already lacking in the essentials of education. The current absence of the government’s concern about the fate of education is making things worse because people are compelled to think that if education is not a priority for an Oxford graduate and once Bradford University’s chancellor, how can it be for a common man?

It’s only the powerful formula of education by which all the ills of Pakistani society can be washed off. Giving education its due place (as was given in Plato’s Republic) needs to be made a priority. Declaring an educational emergency can also do the needful provided the due share of education is given in the current government budget because it’s already too low when compared to the other South Asian countries.

We cannot afford more neglect at this crucial time.

The writer is a freelancer