Re-thinking Education

The 1200 plus acres of the arid campus of University of Karachi magically turn lush green after the rains, hidden seeds become beautiful flowering plants, dragonflies mysteriously appear  and puddles teem with tadpoles. Teaching art feels pretty much like that: a little watering and amazing talents emerge.  

Training in the creative arts by their nature must focus on self-realization and expression of the inner voice.  According to psychologist, A.I. Krupnov, self-realization, one of the aims of all education, is best achieved by persistence. While creative education assumes the student’s self-regulated persistence, many academic programmes are standardized, prescribed and inculcate passivity. If, as George Bernard Shaw says “intelligence forces us to learn”, this lack of engagement can only stem from the methodology of teaching or perceiving the content as irrelevant to the student’s future life.

Many seek higher education degrees, including PhDs, not as an opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding, but as a key to a coveted post, or a better salary package. Education was designed for an “extreme elite”, but is now mass market. There are 18,000 higher education institutions in the world, dominated by the model of Anglo-American universities aiming to become World Class Universities, an ambition Pakistan’s Higher Education body also subscribes to.  

There is a general global rumble of discontent about higher education. “An Avalanche is Coming” is a 2013 report prepared for the Institute for Public Policy Research, UK’s leading progressive think tank, by Michael Barber, Katelyn Donnelly, and Saad Rizvi. It specifically highlights the theory/practice gap.  How can universities ensure education for employability?  Should that be the aim of a university?  Or should universities aim to create an academic elite engaged in meaningful research? Do we need more universities, or a higher quality of university? Should we be looking at alternatives to universities?

When one looks at the 2013-14 education statistics of Pakistan, only 3.6% of the population enroll in higher education in comparison with an average of 40% in countries that subscribe to the concept of the world class university. From 1947 to 2014, Pakistan’s higher education institutes have produced  only 11,988 PhDs.  Yet from pre-school enrolment onwards, there is an unspoken assumption that the education journey is in preparation for a PhD.

In reality, in Pakistan, only 46% are enrolled in formal education, and only 7.89% are matriculate, with much lower statistics in rural Pakistan. Most are working in farming, manufacturing, construction and retail. A large percentage of the work force is self-employed. By linking progress to higher education, are we not leaving out 96% of the population? Clearly, we do need to raise standards of the workforce, but is academics the only route for education?

Education, teaching and learning are three distinct concepts. While education is a formal structured academic system, teaching can take place on the job with a mentor much, like the ustad-shagird relationship, from family elders, peers, or the circumstances a person may find themselves in. Learning is a conscious self-directed effort to acquire knowledge or technical skills, by seeking experience, books, experts or joining groups.

In a country where 22.6 million children are out of school, and 46 percent of public sector primary schools (124,284 primary schools) are without electricity, do we abandon the enterprise of education altogether?  Or do we develop alternative enabling systems?

As far back as 1972, Edgar Faure in his excellent UNESCO report, “Learning to Be” finds 70% of knowledge derives from informal learning, and  only life-long learning can produce the complete fulfilled human being.  The conditions for life-long learning need to be created. Some have already emerged in the form of television, Youtube , websites and free online access to  top university courses and lectures. 

Nuissi & Przybylska  in their study “Lifelong  learning”  write “We need to make the acquisition of knowledge and competence real, easy to perform, and capable of bringing tangible benefits.”  

Informal education , “the wise, respectful and spontaneous process of cultivating learning”, works through conversation, and experience, helping people to learn.  Conversations can take place anywhere. Socrates did not confine himself to a school but taught whenever an opportunity presented itself – at the gymnasium, banquets, casual meetings in the street.

Conversations with those who are recognized as wise are called Guest Lectures in Universities, but can equally take place in a tea shop, over dinner, or engaging with professionals.

Specialist informal educators are engaged to facilitate groups in the work place or community. Community Education in Scotland, Social Pedagogy in Germany, Animation in France, Popular Educators in South America, and the Baithak culture in Pakistan, are examples of organized informal learning opportunities.

The education theorist, Michael Sadler, suggests educational practices cannot be separated from cultural contexts, geography, economy and religion.  At the same time there is a need to synchronize with “the forward movement of time”. 

We would be wise to build upon existing practices. If there is a tradition of apprenticing children to learn a trade, can it be managed with access to quality training? Instead of separate vocational institutions, can skill based subjects become part of the matriculation curriculum?

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Durriya Kazi

October 1, 2018

durriyakazi1918@gmail.com