Kids need to be able to think!

Shortly after founding Pakistan in 1947, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said prophetically, “Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without the requisite advance in education, not only shall we be left behind others but we may be wiped out altogether.” (24 Sept 1947).

This paper seeks to discuss the astonishingly low figures of children who have access to, and take advantage of, educational facilities. “One-third of primary age children, a larger proportion of girls than boys, are not in school at all. Around 35 per cent of those children who do attend school and make it to grade 3 cannot do single digit subtraction.” (Barber) The one key educational reform that Pakistan needs to focus on is how to make its curriculums effective. The point of educating a child is not that he or she be able to spell their name, and memorize the multiplication tables. Too often, these ‘educated’ children are unable to make the transition from just ‘knowing’ information to being able to productively use it while tackling real-life problems, work situations, etc. The critical thinking faculty is being ignored, and Pakistan’s children are educated only in theory.

The driving force behind any educational system is the desire to increase the country’s development, the population’s standard of living, and this is thought to indirectly bolster the economy. However, when an education system is producing students who, like parrots, can repeat their lessons, but cannot turn theory into practically applicable solutions, no amount of foreign aid will help. “Pakistan could gain another 100 million people within the next quarter century, and by 2030 could have 132 million youths below the age of 18.” (Education Reform in Pakistan: Building for the Future, 2005) What will happen to our country’s “vast army of the young?” Unless Pakistan’s “dysfunctional educational system” is transformed, it will continue to churn out large numbers of unemployable young people whose bleak economic prospects make them prime targets for purveyors of extremism. Already, Pakistan’s education system “not only threatens economic, political and social stability within the country, but also poses a real danger for the world at large.”

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” (Scriven, 1996)

In order to produce capable and competent pupils, teachers can employ a number of techniques such as Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), cooperative learning strategies, teaching through the case study method, reciprocal peer questioning, and even by being vague. Strohm & Baukus advocate producing much ambiguity in the classroom. Don’t give students clear cut material. Give them conflicting information that they must think their way through.

To be implemented in Pakistan, the state needs to incorporate this as part of compulsory teacher training. There should be some method of teacher certification such as there in the United States. Not only can this initiative be taken up individually, but NGOs, private school systems, etc. can play their part by implementing such techniques in the schools they run.

Evaluation and implementation are crucial. There need to be strict checks on whether teachers are providing students with the best learning opportunities and performance levels need to be monitored. Only then can any change be sustained.

Works Cited

Barber, S. M. Education Reform In Pakistan: This Time It’s Going to be Different. Pakistan Education Task Force.

Burki, Shahid Javed; Candland, Christopher; Clark, Grace; Husain, Ishrat; International Crisis Group; Mitchell, Jonathan; Humayun, Salman; Muzaffar, Irfan; Rahmna, Tariq; Riboud, Michelle; Saleem, Ahsan; Shah, Salman; USAID; World Bank. (2005). Education Reform in Pakistan: Building for the Future. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Scriven, M. &. (1996). Defining critical thinking: A draft statement for the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. [On-line]. Retrieved December 24, 2011, from http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/univlibrary/library.nclk