Dreams And Studies Poem by Matloob Bokhari

Dreams and Studies

Written by,

Matloob Bokhari






















PREFACE


It has been asserted that man is a beast of prey whose inborn natural instincts impel him to fight, to kill and to destroy. However, this supreme creature differs from other species, as it has been blessed with rational capabilities by Allah the Almighty. The purpose of education is to develop the rationality of human beings. Education is a powerful tool not simply for honing natural capacities but also for remedying some of nature's shortcomings.

Good education is not only important for the material success of an individual but is also essential for the students' moral values and ethical behaviour. Education makes the students aware of their dignity and position and encourages them to take active part in social, economic and political life.
Nations are not built by parliaments or assemblies, but in the laps of mothers and the four walls of classrooms. As Lenin said, "If I know the songs on the lips of your children, I can tell you the future of your children." The societies of the ancient world that made substantial advances in various fields were those in which highly respected people assumed the responsibility for educating the children of their nation. The ancient Greeks, whose respect for learning is evident in their art, politics, and philosophy, saw the value in educating children. Also, the political, social and economic development of the western nations have achieved through the education of their children. Their academic institutions are nucleus of intellectual activities, fountainhead of learning and abode of high thinking scholars. It is through education that China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have emerged as economic powers. In these countries, leaders brought a change through their guiding ideas and broke with the traditional authoritarian, command and control hierarchical systems of leadership and education.
Education is a fundamental human right and the main purpose of the state is to educate the people. Every individual, irrespective of race, gender, ethnic or social origin is entitled to a free education. The state is to provide a fine public system of schools, which should give substantial incentives to the children to spend part of their time at schools for learning as well as growing up together in a setting which should accord and communicate equality of status. But, it is just to wander in the fields of dream to talk about education in a society where peasants year in and year out plow and weed, yet the produce left to them is not enough to support the life of their children. Where the very horses and dogs of landlords have a surplus grain and meal. Where the exploiters, oppressors and feudal lords are becoming rich day by day, while the peasants and labourers, without even the dregs of grain to satisfy themselves with, are reduced to despair and helplessness.
The centuries old monarchy, colonialism and the oppressive rule have made us mentally slave, created social division, distrust and inequality in the society and brought about moral, social, political and spiritual degeneration. The place of an individual in our society is determined by birth or wealth or the conventional status, not by his own nature as discovered in the process of education. We are still living in the ancient golden age of the feudal princes and the legendary emperors who are controlling the masses with bayonets. Strong laws and harsh punishments are only for the lowest class of the common people whereas the members of the landholding class are crushing all the principles of justice under their iron heals.
After independence, our feudal ruling elites with their Brabantio mentality intentionally kept the people in darkness, ignorance and backwardness and never provided enough opportunities to the bond-slaves to educate themselves so as toimprove theirhard lot. Our educational system is obviously mechanistic, soulless, non-purposive, neglected and an altruistic camouflage of a basically selfish intention of the few ruling elites. Teaching which is universally considered the most important profession has been totally neglected and considered as one of the lowest-paid jobs in our country.Resultantly, the poor quality of education is standing in the way of a strong economy, democracy and human rights. Primarily, we don't have adequate facilities of education in our country. The schools which we have are fundamentally bureaucratic; where the wonder and joy of learning have no place. Our universities are in the grip of dogmatists. The learners grow up in an authoritarian environment where their parents, teachers provide the answers of all their problems. The students learn by heart the isolated facts and the aimless accounts of history. They memorize the abstract theories and the ideas unrelated to practical life. The "Banking concept of education" is being followed in the country instead of "Problem solving concept" of education.
Our under funded public school system is in need of an overhaul. Uniform standard needs tobe applied to classroom size, stipulating that average class sizes should be similar in each of the education streams - with no more than 25 students in any given class.The government must spend more on education to provide equal opportunities to all citizens through equal education in order to create a just society free of exploiters, oppressors and landlords. Education should be used as a means of transforming the society and promoting the well-being of our nation. We need an education which should change the "man" into a truly moral, rational and free citizen. Through such education, we can create a nation of able, informed and empowered citizens who should be able to claim their rights and challenge the statuesque. The central principle of our education should be to produce self-reliant citizens of a peaceful and democratic nation who should respect human rights, and love truth and peace.

To attain this purpose, the society needs to provide common schooling to all the citizens so as topromote trust and friendship, enabling all the people to participate in decision-making which would ultimately result in"a more socially unified and politically stable society." Taken together, education must necessarily be one and the same for all.
The perfecting of knowledge depends on free investigation of things. Open and free inquiry in our academic institutions is essential for quality education. Our students are not accustomed to free discussion and debate. Our system of education is instilling fear, subservience and blind obedience in the minds of students. The word "research" is unknown to us. Our whole school ethos also needs to be changed in order to make our students independent, confident and responsible citizens of a liberal and democratic society.
Our teachers need to learn that learning often occurs best through play and through interactions in the safe and secure classroom environment. It is the responsibility of teacher to light the candle in darkness. He should not only teach the sons of landless and born-bonded labourers the universal principles of human rights but also teach the children of the rich that mutual assistance, mutual love and education will make Pakistanhealthy and beautiful.
The school principal is the most important factor in determining the school's climate and students' success. The principal should not limit his leadership to reward with carrots for compliance or punishment with a stick for failure.He should do more to engage the teachers' true commitment and involvement and motivate them to do more than they originally intended. He should set more challenging expectations and achieve higher performances. He should teach the students through extra and co-curricular activities the principles of democracy and human rights.
For all this, our country needs a sincere, honest, truthful and trustworthy leadership. A leadership which should be the "prime mover of change." A leadership which should transcend the obsolete and time-dated thinking in order to solve the problems created by the outmoded mindsets; and embrace the new thinking, better-suited to today's incredible complex and interconnected society. A leadership which, besides educating the children of the serfdom and peasants, should also work to liberate them from the harsh selfish ever-smaller ruling class by strictly implementing the agrarian reforms. A leadership which should significantly change the prevailing conceptual and behavioral mindset of the top of the education pyramid. A leadership, which should bolster the status of the teachers and make substantial increase in their salaries and improve the quality of teaching workforce by their professional training. A leadership which, out of86,400 seconds in a day, should use at least two seconds in saying "thank you" to his enthusiastic followers. A leadership which should change the corrupt and inequitable social order of the society and emancipate the poverty- stricken people from the internal chains of false beliefs and ideals. A leadership which should not unnecessarily waste time in educational reforms and policies, but should believe in budget increase for education. A leadership which should work sincerely to provide decent schools not for few but for all. A leadership which should inspire the weak, oppressed and the down-trodden strata of the society with the vision of a noble and dignified existence with this message:

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number —
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you —
Ye are many - they are few.
Shelley

I hope the ideas discussed in this book will be of some value to the valued readers. The main purpose of this book is that, after reading my thoughts in the research papers, the readers should question whether our education system is producing young people with the qualities needed in our rapidly changing and mobile world.

I owe great thanks to all those who imparted me even a small meager of truth and paved the way to truth. I always welcome the truth; for nothing is dearer and more satisfying to me than the truth itself. For much of the research and theory, I am indebted to my teachers -Lynn Davies, Clive Harber, Desmond Rutherford and Michele Schweisfurth at the University of Birmingham. The original stimulation of the ideas discussed in this book came through debate and dialogue with the teachers and students at the University of Birmingham. I wish to express my deeply felt gratitude towards my wife and children- Ali, Musa, Qasim -for their continuous moral support.