While answering Herbert Spencer’s question: which education is of most worth? Will Durant in his book “Fallen Leaves” emphasizes that a good education opens to the body and the soul, to the citizen and the state, the fullest possibilities of their harmonious life by following three purposes: (i) To control life through health, character, intelligence, and technology, (ii) to enjoy life through friendship, nature, literature, and art (iii) to understand life through history, science, religion and philosophy. Late, but in the right direction, the recent initiative “Competencies Based Education” of the Higher Education Commission(HEC) of Pakistan to revamp the existing undergraduate curriculum (including BS programs – MBBS, BE., LLB, and as well as two-year associate degrees)is a magnificent step which reflects Herbert Spencer’s and Will Durant’s true definition of “Education” aiming to develop a learning culture among Pakistani students to “understand human life instead of running in self-defeating rat race of degrees.
“Competencies” are defined as combinations of knowledge, skills, behavior, and interpersonal characteristics that enable individuals to succeed in their future life.”Competency Based Education” is a flagship project of HEC in collaboration with the World Bank, having investment of $400 million for the development of higher education in Pakistan. The major purpose of this initiative is to prepare undergraduate students to succeed in their future life, not only in their jobs, but also in their social, political, and personal endeavors. Chairman HEC has recently stated that the new system (curriculum) is based explicitly on such “competencies”, which determine the future success of students, and is designed to ensure that educational programmes in all the universities orient themselves to the future needs of students. In this regard, after approval of the Commission in July 2020, HEC has forwarded “Undergraduate Education Policy 2020” to all public and private universities/HEIs for immediate adoption through normal procedures but not later than end-January 2021. This is indeed an extremely powerful idea with clear objectives for bringing a revolutionized change in the old curriculum for larger benefit of students. Academician, analysts and policy makers, all over Pakistan are appreciating the concept and believing this shift will have long-lasting positive impacts on educational achievement and future success of the higher education sector of Pakistan.
However, I observe this development in a different perspective because the situation is not as simple as it appears. The old curriculum does not provide Pakistani students with such essential 21st-century skills as critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, quantitative analysis or team building. Normally, an undergraduate (4 years BS) program in Pakistan comprises of 124-140 credit hours in Pakistan. Except two or three institutional elective courses in the Schemes of Studies of undergraduate programs, there is a substantial deficiency of courses on self-development, creative writing, performing arts, civic engagement , critical thinking, art, literature, photography, music, history, philosophy and decision making which could help students to build and transform themselves into future leaders. As a result, many important aspects of human personality including grooming, interpersonal skills, self-confidence, decision making, creative and critical thinking and philosophical understanding of life remain missing among majority of the students even after they successfully complete their degrees in the highest of grades/CGPA. Resultantly, it has created a huge vacuum in education sector of Pakistan. The students have constantly been dealing with issues on career selection, effective communication skills, self-confidence, art of decision making, relationships management and their mental well-being. Due to the lack of such subjects and skill set in existing undergraduate curriculum, there has been a sharp rise of so-called motivational speakers and life coaches in every part of the country who have been exploiting youth with their irrational theories and lofty dreams of a utopian world.
The old curriculum does not provide Pakistani students with such essential 21st-century skills as critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, quantitative analysis or team building
Therefore, the current initiative can be one of the landmarks in the history of educational reforms in Pakistan if implemented in true letter and spirit with strict monitoring, evaluation and transparency. It is a big challenge for HEC, being the highest regulatory body on higher education to ensure its execution equality in universities all over Pakistan so that a graduate from an elite university and another graduate from a low profile university can have equal opportunities of self-actualization.
Based on my research, international exposure, professional experience of over 16 years in higher education sector of Pakistan and discussions with educational community, the following recommendations are given which can certainly help HEC in successful and results oriented implementation of “Competencies Based Education” initiative.
First, all universities have to work through academic statutory bodies in such a way as to maximize the probability of such success. Since, the new curriculum is designed specifically to enable the transmission of interpersonal and behavioral attributes and emphasizes exploration, curiosity, discovery, and creativity amongst students, hence, comprehensive deliberations should be made by subject experts& practitioners on Undergraduate Education Policy 2020 and the proposed revisions in curriculum in order to integrate as per university’s needs. Secondly, development of customized training modules for universities faculty and staff on teaching methodologies and project implementation should be initiated by HEC through National Academy of Higher Education. It will help participants to collaboratively develop, critically examine, preserve and share knowledge for meaningful success of this project in its broadest sense. Thirdly, in order to provide equal opportunities and optimal benefits of this initiative to universities and affiliated colleges in remote areas of Pakistan, the existing ICTs infrastructure in those universities should be upgraded so that they can use ICTs for improvement of teaching and capacity building being centrally connected with HEC and other partner institutions of higher learning. Fourthly, there is dire need to strengthen social sciences education in Pakistan because the core objective of “Competencies Based Education” is to develop interpersonal land behavioral attributes of students which is only possible through strong focus, more than before, on subjects like sociology, anthropology, psychology, political sciences, cultural studies and human geography etc. Fifthly, while teaching such courses, “Activity based learning” methodology should be adopted instead of doing traditional theoretical teaching and power point presentations. World’s leading educational psychologists and organizations on personal development like Olde Vechte Foundation Netherland and John Maxwell Academy USA highly recommend activity based learning i.e., learning by doing. Students should be involved in real life experiments to make them fully understand the real essence of topics and subjects. Last but not the least, in order to respond to the concerns and dissatisfaction expressed by many employers in recent years, the new curriculum has made the practical experience a mandatory requirement. All students will have to complete a summer internship in an actual work environment. Therefore, creation and provision of internships opportunities for students by potential employers should be part of govt policy. Government should devise and implement a comprehensive policyon public/private institutions and industries which must bound them to create internships opportunities for universities students as part of their annual planning. Currently, there is no policy on this matter and getting an internship for a student in public or private sector is based on reference and personal connections. This is will strengthen industry-academia linkages and will promote entrepreneurial culture in Pakistan.
The Author is an Educationist, Chairman PARAS Education Services and Founder University of Success Islamabad, Fellow of PGLS Russia & 35th Event Wise Netherlands. He tweets at @AsifMalik30