Our educational system produce pseudo
intellectuals, who have read the Holy Quran in Arabic but do not
understand the meaning as they don’t understand Arabic; they believe Islam to
be the only righteous religion but can’t justify it; they have degrees from
elite institutions but still take Ahamdis to be Non-Muslim. We have
understand that religion is more than the words written in Book, making the
subject into practices realize the original meaning so it is same in case with
education. Students end up getting degrees but no education. Instead of the number of As scored,
I believe that our teachers should evaluate us based on the amount of learning
in the classroom through psychological testing techniques that determine true intelligence
and make test taking an activity that becomes fun and not stressful. Also, such intellectually challenging
questions proved to be torturous for rote-learners. Appropriate teaching and
evaluating methods will provide them with the necessary think-tank tools to
question stereotypes and prejudices, but will negate the culture of cheating in
our classrooms, and society in general.
Pakistan’s
education policy, like the mindset of a majority of the people here, is
‘number-oriented’ and not based on quality. Whether it is the obsession with
achieving the first position in class, bagging bunch of As in O’ and A’ levels,
attaining a 4.00 GPA in university or the concern to start off with a
salary package of Rs100,000 after graduation – the depth and purpose seems to
have gotten lost in the pursuit of numbers. What Pakistan needs is not just an
upgrade in the educational curriculum but a give a face-lift of the teaching
method used. Innovation and evaluation should be encouraged amongst teachers
and students, so the system can ensure that they are producing intellectuals
and not just numbers. The O’ and A’ level system is only producing a generation
of youth embroiled in rat race to secure the maximum number of
A’s. Their learning then revolves around achieving this objective. Studying
past papers, rote learning prepared answers all have become an indicator of
what is now defined as ‘intelligent’. Evaluation is equally absurd at the
university level where a relative grading system puts students in competition
with each other. This drive for grades not only kills the learning component of
education but also forces students to cheat on exams . This could all be changed if we were
to bring innovation into the current model of teaching and evaluation that is practiced in
Pakistan. Innovation in teaching could be achieved by philosophizing
subjects – making them realize to understand the concepts and by training them
to think analytically and critically. In terms of evaluation, instead of the
GPA system, a pass or fail system should exist. This will help to ease the
rigidity of the number based approach with a fresh ‘learning’ approach
– something desperately needed in Pakistan.
To sum it up, there is a need of to break off
from the older system; change the philosophy of learning and education by
accepting creativity and originality in teaching and evaluation. Such a change
will make the class room and learning experience something students look
forward to. The students will learn to strive to be best in their own individual capacity
and this will generate the kind of people who we would want leading our country
in the times to come.
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