Is Education a service or business? or we can develop a mid way?

Jaag For Change

Is Education a service or business? or we can develop a mid way?
aamir riaz
if one read reports of education conferences and education policies before 1979 education policy, he will observe that these writings are heavily influenced by the notion i-e Education is a service not business. But from 1979 education policy our state promoted education sector as a business too. On the one hand ziaul Haq's education policy was supporting orthodox view of Islam but simultaneously same education policy was also an advocate of private education. it allowed mushroom growth of elite education institutions all over Pakistan under new liberal economy & structural adjustment program. it is a fact that before 1979 policy, there were very few private education institutions in Pakistan except Karachi and East Pakistan. In east Pakistan state did not want to invest in education but case of Karachi was different. according to Tasneem sadiquee, an ex bureaucrat, we urdu speaking people did to want to learn sindhi which was media of instruction in sindh so we opted for creating private school 7 colleges. But after 1979 policy things started changing. Till 1990s, private education expanded partly due to policy and partly due to consistent neglect of public education. Now English medium school culture was order of the day which expanded its class base. in 2007, mid term review of education policy 1998-2010, it is reported that private education is catering 30% Pakistani kids. the report did not talk about the class shades yet majority of English medium schools included in it were in low and middle income areas. In this situation we have to develop a consensus regarding core issues of education in Pakistan. Political parties, education experts and civil society is divided on the issue of private & public education. Almost all political parties putt education sector in their party programs, some of them wants to eradicate private education under the slogan of equal education system. they want to run a classless education system in a class society which looks attractive but not practical at all. Public private partnership is a mid way to address this pinching issue. Neither we have laws to check private education nor we have vision and political consensus and in this situation we fails to address it. i tried to resolve this riddle by writing a little piece yet it needs more attention. read it.
http://jaagforchange.blogspot.com/2013/06/is-education-service-or-business-or-we.html

Iqbal Response to Skill base Education & Education for Muslims

Iqbal Response to Skill base Education & Education for Muslims 

Here i need to share a letter of Allama Iqbal written at November 27, 1920 , some 93 years back in which he gave his opinion regarding some important issues related to education, ,,our education,,,,,yet after almost a century we r still reluctant to adopt it. He wrote about two issues

1.     Skill base education (to gain economic freedom before political freedom)

2.     For education of Muslims no 1 priority will be to accept , engage all Muslim school of thoughts (Sects)

 These days we are again busy in developing a new education policy but will we decide core issues related to OUR EDUCATION THIS TIME? Or they will remain ambiguous, misleading and controversial. It includes a lot of issues like

•  Linking technical education with general education,
•  Linking education with the market, 
• Place of Pakistani mother tongues in our education system,
• Development of Language Commission so that (a) we can readjust role of English and Urdu (b)no one can use language or dialect controversies in future, 
• Co-education at primary level,
• Linking examination system with Learning Out Comes rather than obsolete prevent  method to link it with Textbooks
• Non sectarian approach in Muslim education

 In November 1920, Allama Iqbal wrote a letter in response to Mahatama Gandhi in which he gave no 1 priority to technical education. in his message to First education conference M A Jinnah emphasized need for technical education. 1951 2nd education conference was on technical education yet we still failed to link it with general education. We r producing metric, FA,BA useless people who can replace c larks only.

for reading the piece clik here
http://e.dunya.com.pk/detail.php?date=2013-08-15&edition=LHR&id=536544_46452597

interview aamir riaz: A sharp eye on education

interviewA sharp eye on education interview aamir riaz: A sharp eye on education

By Ather Naqvi 

Aamir Riaz has closely watched the state of education in Pakistan especially since 2006, when the government was doing a mid-term review of the education policy of 1998 under a federal commission and he was tasked to do a comparative analysis of the 12 education policies announced by then, including the one in 1998. The white paper of the work was published in 2007 and he plans to publish the findings of the study in a book form soon.

He has recently — in August 2011 — completed a research study in Urdu titled ‘Hum Apnay Bachon Ko Kiya Parha Rahey Hain? Punjab Textbook Board ki Nisaabi Kutb Barey ik Jaeyza’, with support from Actionaid and Jaag. As part of the study, he took 34 books, approved by the government and published by the Punjab Textbook Board in 2010, from four subjects (Urdu, English, Islamiyat/Ethics and Pakistan Studies/Social Studies) from Class I to Class X and analysed them in the light of around “45 questions”.

Of all the 871 lessons that he analysed in these 34 books, the conclusions that he has drawn are astounding, to say the least. The lessons are biased, distorted, factually incorrect, gender insensitive and lack on a number of counts.

TNS sat with him in his office behind the Readings bookstore in Lahore where he is currently working as general manager of Ilqa Publications to discuss the findings of the report. 

The News on Sunday: What is the underlying message of the report?

Aamir Riaz: The thrust of the report is that despite adhering to religious beliefs and nationalism, one could still allow some room for peace and tolerance. The problem is that our education policies are not inclusive. For example, instead of formulating a syllabus of Islamiat which would take into account sensibilities of various sects, we published a separate book for the Shia sect during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government in the 1970s. This was contrary to the Sharif Commission formed in 1959 that suggested that syllabus for religious education shall not contain material unacceptable to any sect living in the country.

This aspect has been rather reluctantly stated in the Education Policy of 2009 as well. But the problem of a textbook writer is that he can not do anything except follow the guidelines of the state policy.

Then another important issue is: what to teach our children. In the reports preceding the one in 1969, it was clearly stated that all non-Muslims would be imparted education keeping in view their religious beliefs and sentiments. This statement was removed from the 1969 report and reappeared years later in the education policy of 2009.

We do not give a correct version of history of Punjab in the Punjab textbooks. Same is the case with the history books of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The message of this report is that we should accept various types of diversities in our society and reflect them in our textbooks.

TNS: What method of research did you employ for the report?

AR: I framed 45 questions in all, covering the relevant and important aspects of the research, such as religion, nationalism, modernity, gender and rural and urban bias, etc, and divided them into five sections each. We looked for answers to these questions in the textbooks. The textbooks were our respondents.

This does not mean that the textbooks in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are free of errors. But we gave greater importance to the Punjab because about 56 per cent of the total population of the country lives here.

I had access to some education documents of the federal government but they were insufficient. So, I had to meet people from various sections of society and connect the dots.

An important fact we discovered during the research was that according to the government’s latest data, about 40 million boys and girls are studying in class I to X, and out of these, 13 million go to private schools and a few thousands go to madrassahs. That means more than 60 per cent students still go to schools in the public sector. Therefore, we are imparting a biased education to a majority of our schoolchildren.

TNS: How do you compare the Punjab Textbook Board’s books with those used in private schools?

AR: I have seen some textbooks of private schools and they too are not satisfactory. The content has no social, ethical or religious affinity to our land. They seem to be preparing a lot that would end up in the Western countries.

TNS: So who do you hold responsible for this mess?

AR: The civilian governments had hardly any time or space to formulate an education policy responsive to our needs. It is very difficult for them to correct the historic wrongs. For instance, interestingly, there is no mention of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the chapter on Second Islamic Conference. In the same way, Nawaz Sharif is not mentioned in the chapter on atomic explosions conducted by Pakistan in 1998.

We started deviating from the path of liberalism and tolerance after the education policy of 1969. This policy was blatantly anti-India, among other things. The four education policies before that clearly showed we were trying to strike a balance between religion and modernity. The element of extremism had not found its place yet. There was nationalism but there was also clear space for languages such as Bengali as one of the national languages. Same was the case with other local languages such as Sindhi, etc. In contrast we had the education policy of 1959, also known as the Sharif Commission Report. Mr Sharif was a professor at the Government College, Lahore and there was no bureaucrat from the civilian or military setup in the 12-member policy formulating team, other than the secretary education. It also had Dr Abdus Salam as one of its advisers.

While comparing the education policies, I found out that while some work is being done on the policy level, there is little attention being paid to what we are actually teaching the students.

TNS: Do we have other instances of content analyses of textbooks?

AR: There is not a single comprehensive content analysis of our education policies so far. The ones that have been undertaken relate to specific areas such as minorities, women, etc. One does not get the whole picture reading those reports. And unless you get the whole picture, it is difficult to go in the right direction.

TNS: How have the local languages been affected?

AR: The issue of mother tongue is very important. We have the example of India where they formed a commission in 1948 which gave recommendations to the constitution committee, pointing out that 96 languages were spoken in India and out of them 26 were spoken by not more than 5,000 people but they should be given the right to primary education in their mother tongue. And they were allowed to do that.

We should understand that there is no clash between the mother tongue and Urdu. But some sections have deliberately done that for their vested interests — to promote centralism. In the first education conference after Pakistan came into being, it was recommended that the provinces’ languages will be kept in view while making policies but this point was later removed. The idea of one language, one nation, and one religion goes against the very presence of diversity in the Pakistani society. Quaid-e-Azam never meant that Urdu will be the national language when he said that it will be the “lingua franca” of Pakistan. There is a clear difference between a lingua franca and the sole national language. In the very next speech of Quaid-e-Azam in 1948, he said that I have no objection to Bengalis declaring Bengali their national language. In his Allahabad speech, Iqbal acknowledges the linguistic, cultural and religious diversity.

TNS: What is the way forward?

AR: Broad but unambiguous education policy guidelines should come from the federal government with the main input from provinces after consultations with the civil society. Words like enemy etc, being taught to a student of a primary class do not make sense. Education reform is not a one man show; the parliament will have to put in its share.

Pub+Private Love hate affair: Who will run and monitor Public Schools?

Who will run and monitor Public Schools?

Pub+Private Love hate affair

We have tested more then a dozen solutions to revive glory of Public Schooling in Pakistan but situation is still deteriorating gradually. The latest adventure in this regard is PPP. Don't mix it with Pakistan People’s Party , it is Public Private Partnership. Is it a new thought? Since early 1990s we are experiences such things yet there is not any independent study which throw light on the positive and negative angles of that effort.  Decentralization in education and minimum role of governments in managing education were two important parts of our pre British education system. So after 98 years of colonial centralist policies and 67 year independence experience with centralist legacy we are ready to revive pre British methods without mentioning them.

But now we are ready to handover school management to private sector without understanding their capacities. We did same in 2007 regarding textbooks too, Since 2007 textbook preparation is a private business on papers but practically till today it is being managed by Government and donor community by and large. It means that there is some thing wrong even in our liberalization of economy policy too. Decentralization of school education and minimum role of government in school management are two separate issues and one cannot deal both issues with one stick. Since 1990s Government of Sindh and the Punjab are giving Public Schools to NGOs. now Punjab Government want to speed-up that derive. Is the decision based on any study? or Government want to shift his responsibility to NGOs? 0r government is sick and tired with the behaviour of teacher unions so he just need a break? Do we have any authentic data regarding state of private education? Private education started in Pakistan after 1947 mainly in Karachi, the temporary Capital of Pakistan and East Bengal. Sindhi was medium of instruction in Sindh province since colonial times yet ICS officers instigated Urdu speaking mohajars for setting up private schools so that their children could avoid Sindhi. In East Bengal Hindu community set-up private school and colleges just to avoid public textbooks. Interestingly there were some schools run by educational organizations too. Those schools were considered as early examples of PPP. Till 1950s management of public schooling was under district government yet during Ayub regime Public schooling & textbook printing became part of provincial governments while curriculum or textbook preparation became part of central government. Government set up textbook and examination boards in 1962 which bureaucratized education in Pakistan. Till 1966 a Central curriculum Wing had been established in Pakistan and Secretary information Qudrat Ullah Sahab was heading that institution. ZAB nationalized all schools in 1972 except madrassas. Now there was no room of private education in Pakistan yet it was General Zia who allowed private education and in 1980s we witnessed mushroom growth of private education especially in urban centres. A seminar was held in Lhore on State of PPP jointly organized by I-SAPs & IDEAS and in this seminar Dr Salman Humayun and Dr Faisal Bari presented numerous figures. Engr. Qamar-ul-Islam Raja, MPA, Chairman Standing Committee on Education, Punjab & Member Steering Committee on PPP presided it while Sadia Suhail Rana, MPA, PTI was also among panellists along with Abbas Rashid and Dr. Irfan Muzaffar.

Comparison of Public and Private education looks tricky or based on preconceived ideas. majority of private schools in Pakistan have fee structure which is less than Rs 500 a month and that schools are established in a portion of a rented house in low income areas. Few hundred schools getting support from Punjab Education Foundation and few falls in Adopt a school category. In reality people prefer private education not due to the quality of education nor due to the facilities offered in those schools but due to status symbol. Under PPP every stake holder have its own preferences and objectives. Government want to shift her responsibility. Private sector has an eye on lucrative lands associated with these schools. teacher unions have interest in their grades and take home salaries. Speakers mentioned rightly regarding absence of a policy in PPP yet in doing so they cannot separate decentralization in education and management of schools. Either government run Public schools by its own or share management with NGOs but we cannot mix this decision with monitoring of schools. No one can monitor schools from Centre or provincial capital ever. Monitoring of schools either public or private must falls in the preview of District, Tahsil and union council level. Read the piece i wrote for weekly humshehri

http://humshehrionline.com/?p=11035#sthash.JYSlFKQ3.dpbs

سرکاری سکولوں کو ہم نجی شعبہ کو دینے کو تو تیار ہیں مگر ان کی نگرانی کا کام ضلع، تحصیل یا یونین کونسل کے حوالہ کرنے کو تیار نہیں۔ گزشتہ کئی سالوں سے پنجاب اور سندھ میں بہت سے سرکاری سکولوں کو نجی شعبہ اور این جی اوز (NGO’s)کو دیا جا رہا ہے۔ کچھ لوگ یہ دلائل دیتے ہیں کہ یوں سرکاری سکولوں کی حالت زار بہتر ہوجائے گی۔ طرف عام میں اسے پبلک پرائیوٹ پارٹنرشپ کہتے ہیں۔ اس سکیم کے تحت حکومت اساتذہ اور سٹاف کی تنخواہیں بھی دیتی ہے، سکولوں کی مرمت وغیرہ کے لیے کچھ فنڈ بھی دیتی ہے، سکولوں کی عمارتیں بھی سرکار کی ملکیت ہی میں رہتی ہیں البتہ سکول کی انتظامی ذمہ داریاں این جی اوز (NGO’s ) کو منتقل ہوجاتی ہیں۔ وزیر اعلیٰ پنجاب نے تو اس سے بھی آگے چھلانگ لگا دی ہے اور اب میڈیا میں چھپی خبر کے مطابق وزیروں، بیوروکریٹوں کو بھی سرکاری سکول لینے کا کہا جارہا ہے۔ 18 ویں ترمیم کے بعد پاکستان کی صوبائی حکومتیں کراچی اور اسلام آباد کی تقلید میں مرکزیت پسندی کی دلدادہ نظر آتی ہیں۔ جیسے پاکستان کا دارالحکومت اختیارات کو صوبوں کو دینے کی بجائے ’’کالے چور‘‘ سے رابطہ کرنے میں بھی عار نہیں سمجھتا تھا ویسے ہی 2010 کے بعد چاروں صوبوں کی حکومتیں اختیارات کو ضلع، تحصیل اور یونین کونسل یا وارڈ کی سطح پر منتقل کرنے سے کنی کترا رہی ہیں۔ یہ درست ہے کہ ابھی صوبوں کو اختیارات ملے چند سال ہی گزرے ہیں مگر انہیں کسی بھی صورت کراچی اور اسلام آباد کی تقلید سے پرہیز برتنا چاہیے۔ چاروں صوبوں کے نئے بلدیاتی قوانین کا جائزہ لے لیں آپ کو ان میں ’’صوبائی حاکمیت‘‘ کا اصول جابجا شق در شق نظر آئے گا۔ پبلک پرائیوٹ پارٹنرشپ کی پالیسی کے حوالہ سے گزشتہ دنوں دو اداروں IDEAS اور I-SAPs نے سیمینار منعقد کیا۔ ڈاکٹر سلمان ہمایوں اور ڈاکٹر فیصل باری نے اس مسئلہ پر تفصیل سے روشنی ڈالی۔ دونوں حضرات ایک طویل عرصہ سے پاکستان کے تعلیمی مسائل کو حل کرنے کے حوالہ سے پالیسی سطح پر متحرک ہیں۔ سرکاری اور نجی تعلیم کے حوالہ سے دیے گئے اعدادو شمار بذات خود آپ کو بہت کچھ سوچنے پر مجبور کر دیتے ہیں۔ جہاں نجی تعلیم کا تناسب تیزی سے بڑھ رہا ہو وہاں ’’یکساں نظام تعلیم‘‘ کا ناقابل عمل نعرہ لگانے کا مقصد یہی ہے کہ آپ تعلیم کے مسئلہ کو سنجیدگی سے حل کرنا چاہتے ہی نہیں ہیں۔ - 

 

Why Skill based general education is essential in Pakistan? Rethinking

ہنر نال جڑی تعلیم پاروں ہی پاکستان وچ جنرل ایجوکیشن مارکیٹ تے معاشرے لئی فیدے دے سکدی ہے اتے سکولاں وچ بچے جاون دی گنتری وی وادھو ہو سکدی جے۔

A Punjabi radio program LOK LHAR recorded at MastFM103, Lhore December 11, 2023

Participants : Samya Pervaiz, Moghiz Khan & Moasa Shahbaz 

Since colonial times, our general education was based on learning writing skills only because colonial administration need claraks, know as Babu, for office work. Other than writing skills, all knowledge production was theoretical largely, it had no link with market as well as society. Till 1947, we had very less schools as well as students , majority of schools, colleges were in the Punjab only but even in the Punjab school were not in big number. After 1947 school ratio increased but after nationalization public education increased a lot. Post Zia period witnessed huge expansion in private education but it was without regulation. Today more than 50 million students are in schools, collages and universities but school education failed to delink it from colonial legacy. A matriculated student is of no use of market or the society. let us listen the discussion 

A video clip of the program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCeFAO7Sg40

Mosa sharing his experience 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HlxxC9dIoO8

Listen the program  recorded at MastFM103, Lhore Dec 11, 2023

https://voca.ro/17bylU2ejaVn

Further links regarding Skill base education

2013...Those who have read the 1946 report of "post war plan " or voluminous report of 2nd Education conference of 1951, can easily understand the importance of Skill education. Some times people treat it as an separate entity but it is essential to link it with general education

Iqbal Response to Skill base Education & Education for Muslims

2015....Curriculum of Hate or Peace

Linking Education with Job Market via skill education

2018.... Our Flawed Education Systems & misleading narratives: What to do?

CAN WE CHANGE CURRICULUM? ORDERS OF PM & HEC

CAN WE CHANGE CURRICULUM? ORDERS OF PM & HEC

PM ordered HEC to change curriculum in two months after consulting with provinces . The issue of curriculum changes is very complex rather "political" and in numerous occasions we have to chose either Ideology or pedagogy. In this fight we often sided with ideology and hence pedagogy often compromised. It is history of curriculum reforms in South Asia in general and Pakistan in particular. 

In recent past as a State it was General Musharaf who had informed the world and people of Pakistan in post 9/11 perspective that Pakistan would not support extremism any more. But till 2006 GOP neither initiated any process to change infected curriculum nor ready to replace biases (religious, sectarian, ethnic, Urban, Gender etc) from textbooks. Due to such double play General was rightly criticized not only in the country but also at abroad. From 2006 till 2009 we got three things regarding curriculum changes. 

1. In 2006 Government formed a mid-term review commission of last education policy 1998-2010 but neither parliament nor major popular political parties were allowed to be part of it. So the baby had no mother/father . That process helped new government to develop its own education policy and in 2009 PPP government announced it. 

1. A textbook policy was introduced in 2006 through an ordinance by Musharaf which allowed private publishers to prepare textbooks too. From that day till today, no effort was made to check the capacity and ability of Pakistani private publishers. In a situation where private publishers have no proper editors, no proof readers, no curriculum experts how can you expect quality publications? 

1. In 2006 government had also published documents for new curriculum (SLOs) but failed to implement it and till 2008 few textbooks were published under it. Although that document had many short comings and had particular bias against elected tier  but after 18th amendment it had lost its authority too.

So after 18th amendment provinces got full control of education. It means that instead of promoting decentralized & participatory approach in Education GOP just shifted the "Full Control" to provinces. Provinces in last 4 years followed Central curriculum wing and they neither discuss education in assemblies nor invite education experts, NGOs working on education, teachers and students. Than central government has formed a Minister of state for Education under the name of Ministry of Professional and Technical Training in July 2011. Till to-date there is a confusion about roles and responsibilities of fedral, provincial and district governments. In the Punjab we have District education authorities to handle district level issues of education. If GOP want to re-centralize curriculum and standards then it must have participatory spirit in it.  All the more reasons, federal, provincial and district tiers have clear rights and responsibilities. No one has sole prerogative in education policy at all. The other most critical area is question of medium of instruction and it is high time to set up National commision for languges which will determine role of english and urdu but also adress issues of pakistani mother tongues. The commision not only resolve issues of Pakistani languages and dialects but also recommend their use as medium of instruction at primary level. It will help GOP to fulfill its commitment regarding MDGs. Can HEC develop a comprehensive report in 2 months? I read almost all important documents regarding education policies publish by GOP from 1947 till 2009 and in these documents we have to confront with contradictory policies in general. In order to avoid these contradictions HEC should develop a chart of things which must not be part of curriculum and textbooks. This chart will help to develop a minimum consensus in education. Without a minimum consensus we cannot move forward in education. 
you just read the article so that you can knew what is the power politics of education. 

http://www.dawnnews.tv/news/1012017/11nov2014-nisaab-mein-tabdeelian-aur-hec-aamir-riaz-bm-aq

نصاب میں تبدیلیاں کرنا اک کٹھن اور مسلسل عمل ہے مگر ہمارے ہاں اس مسئلے کو فن تعلیم  کے بجائے نظریاتی و سیاسی مصلحتوں سے جوڑ کر دیکھنے کی غلط روایت موجود ہے۔ اس کا سب سے بڑا نقصان یہی ہوتا ہے کہ آخرکار فن تعلیم کے مسئلے پر ہی سمجھوتہ کرنا پڑ جاتا ہے۔ اس کی ایک بڑی وجہ یہ ہے کہ نصاب تعلیم کے مسئلے پر اساتذہ، طلبا اور تعلیم پر کام کرنے والی غیرسرکاری تنظیموں کو ”تبدیلی نصاب“ کے عمل میں شامل ہی نہیں کیا جاتا۔ یہ وہی لوگ ہیں جن کے لیے فن تعلیم کا مسئلہ بنیادی اہمیت کا حامل ہوتا ہے۔

Is Shirani alone in opposing Co-education in Pakistan?

Is Shirani alone in opposing Co-education in Pakistan?

Links of the Published article , click below

مخلوط تعلیم اور نظریاتی کونسل

As par news flashed in Media Council of Islamic Ideology wants Co-education abolished at earliest. It is reported that "Reiterating its previous recommendation for separate systems of education for men and women, Pakistan’s top religious body has asked the government to abolish the co-education system within the minimum time period." For me, it is not a new news, I already read 12"Sacred" documents related to education in Pakistan. The other unfortunate reality is my up to date knowledge of Public Private Biased textbooks as i am doing research since 2009 on it. The difference between what Shirani said and what is written in education documents as well as published in textbooks is of Atheist and Hypocrite. Since, the First Education Conference, held at November 1947 till 2009 Education Policy there is not any single recommendation in favor of C0-education. The reluctance about co-education is a proof of the mindset we have regarding girls and women in general. Reflections of that mindset are part of policies and textbooks, the end product. The case is same regarding public and private school textbooks as you can easily find biases based on gender, culture, religion, school of thought (sects) and urbanization (against rural & tribal livings). I can easily trace recommendations against co-education from 1947, 1951 reports education conferences, Sharief commission report 1959, Hamud ur Rahman report 1966, New education policy 1969 as well from 1972, 79, 92, 98 and 2009 education policies.  Till 1969 education policy, prepared under the guidance of General Sher Ali Patoddi and signed by Air Marshal (R) Noor Khan, our policy makers were against separate women universities yet there was a tiny voice headed by Jamat e Islami in its favor. But that tiny voice got strength due to Pak-India cold war started with new zeal in post 1965 war scenario across the borders. It was the same policy which also recommended abolishment or nationalization of Christian missionary schools as their working was considered a halt in propagation of Ideology of Pakistan. In 1972 Bhutto government coined a mid-way and 1972 education policy said "The proportion of women teachers in primary schools will be progressively increased even if this involves lowering the minimum academic qualification in certain areas. This will enable boys and girls to study together in a single school staffed exclusively by women teachers." So from that day we are in search of women teachers. In the documents of 1979, 1992, 1998 and 2009 education policies we repeated that claim time and again. Our civil military elite have double standards regarding co-education too.  Their children are enjoying fruits of co-education and in their personal life they are liberal enough yet for common Pakistanis they set different rather absurd education standards.  They are promoting elite education institutions at the cost of public education. But Mr Shirani is not a hypocrite like them and openly demands abolition of co-education system. I am a critic of orthodox people like Shirani yet what he said is not a new thing. 

مخلوط تعلیم مولانا شیرانی اور اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل

عامر ریاض

اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل کے مولانا شیرانی سے تو ہر کسی کو یہی اُمید تھی کہ ملا نے جب سے عقلی علوم یعنی معقولات (Rational Sciences) کارستہ چھوڑ کر محض منقولاتی علوم کو “جن جھپا” ڈالا ہے تب سے ایسے تمام مکاتب فکر کے علماء میں عقلیت سے ناتہ کمزور ہوچکا ہے۔ مخلوط تعلیم کے خلاف ان کے تازہ بیان نے خود اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل کا مذاق بنادیا ہے۔ یہ کہا جارہا ہے کہ اس زائدالمعیاد(Outdated)ادارہ کو اب بند کردینا چاہیے۔ میں گذشتہ دس سال سے تعلیمی تحقیق سے وابستہ ہوں اور نہ صرف پاکستان کی اہم تعلیمی دستاویزات کا تفصیلی جائرہ لے جاچکا ہوں بلکہ 2010 سے چھپنے والی نصابی کتب پربھی میری برابر نظر ہے۔ شاہد اسی لیے مجھے شیرانی صاحب کا بیان پڑھ کر کوئی حیرت نہیں ہوئی۔ جن12‘‘مقدس’’ تعلیمی دستاویزات کا جائزہ لیا گیا تھا ان میں ایک بھی ایسی نہیں جس میں مخلوط تعلیم کے حوالہ سے واضح سفارش موجود ہو۔

یہی نہیں بلکہ صنفی تعصب (Gender Bias)کے حوالہ سے تو میں نصابی کتب میں چھپنے والی تصاویر پر مشتمل تحقیق بھی شائع کرواچکا ہوں۔ حیران نہ ہوں، نجی سکولوں یا سرکاری تعلیمی اداروں میں پڑھائی جانے والی ہماری نصابی کتب جن نمایاں ترین تعصبات کی عملی تفسیر ہیں ان میں صنفی، دیہی، ثقافتی،لسانی ،مذہبی اور فرقہ وارانہ تعصبات کو اوّلیت حاصل ہے۔ شیرانی صاحب پر بھلے غصہ نکال لیں مگر جو کچھ گذشتہ 64سالوں سے ہمارے پالیسی ساز تعلیمی دستاویزات میں لکھ رہے ہیں اور جو تصاویر ومواد ہم سرکاری سکولوں ، کالجوں میں اپنے بچوں کو پڑھا اور دکھا رہے ہیں وہ شیرانی صاحب کے ارشادات کی عملی تفسیرہی تو ہے۔

نومبر1947 کو ہونے والی پہلی تعلیمی کانفرنس ہویا 1951 کی دوسری تعلیمی کانفرنس،1959کا شریف کمیشن ہو،1966 کا حمود الرحمن تعلیمی کمیشن برائے طلبا یا پھر نور خان اور شیر علی پٹودی کی تیار کردہ1969کی تعلیمی پالیسی ان سب میں مخلوط تعلیم بارے تحفظات نمایاں ہیں۔ ایک طرف‘‘رنڈی رونا’’ یہ ہے کہ ہم غریب ملک ہیں، وسائل کم ہیں، تعلیم کے لیے کہاں سے فنڈ لائےں تو دوسری طرف انہی دستاویزات میں لڑکیوں کے لیے الگ تعلیمی ادارے بنانے کے سفارشات خود اپنا تمسخر اڑارہی ہیں۔1969کی تعلیمی پالیسی نے تو تمام حدیں ہی پارکردیں تھیں۔ اس پالیسی سے قبل پالیسی ساز یہ اقرار کرتے رہے تھے کہ یونیورسٹی کی سطح پر نوجوانوں کی شعوری سطح بلندہوچکی ہوتی ہے اس لیے عورتوں کے لیے الگ یونیورسٹیاں بنانے کی ضرورت نہیں۔ حمودالرحمن کمیشن تک ہمارے تعلیمی پالیسی ساز خواتین کے لیے الگ یونیورسٹیاں بنانے کے قائل نہ تھے البتہ اک محدود اقلیت یہ تکرار کرتی رہتی تھی۔ مگر1965کی جنگ کے بعد شروع ہونے والی پاک بھارت سردجنگ کی وجہ سے شامل ہونے والے نئے کھلاڑیوں کی وجہ سے ماڑاموٹا اعتدال بھی جاتا رہا۔

یوں 1969 کی تعلیمی پالیسی نے عورتوں کے لیے الگ یونیورسٹیاں بنانے کی سفارش بھی کرڈالی۔ یادرہے یہ وہی باکمال تعلیمی پالیسی ہے جس نے مسیحی مشنری تعلیمی اداروں کو نظریہ پاکستان کے خلاف سازش قراردیتے ہوئے انہیں بند کرنے یا قومیانے کی سفارش کی تھی۔ 1972 میں سانحہ مشرقی پاکستان کے زخموں سے چو ر مملکت نے نئے پاکستان کے باسیوں کو‘‘قومی دلاسہ’’ دینے کے لیے تعلیم، صنعت اور بڑی بڑی کمپنیوں کو قومیانے کا سیاسی فیصلہ کرڈالا۔ 1972کی تعلیمی پالیسی اسی کشمکش کے دوران بنائی گئی تھی کہ اس میں مخلوط تعلیم کے لیے اک درمیانہ راستہ ڈھونڈے کاآہر کیا گیا ۔ یہ کہاگیاکہ پہلی سے پانچویں تک اگر تمام اساتذہ خواتین ہوں تو پھر پرائمری تک مخلوط تعلیم کی اجازت دی جاسکتی ہے۔ یہ ریت میں گردن چھپانے والی ”شترمرغ“ والی پالیسی تھی۔ 1966 کی تعلیمی دستاویز یہ بات بتاچکی تھی کہ مشرقی پاکستان میں صرف 30فیصدی اور مغربی پاکستان میںمحض50فیصدی استاد باقاعدہ تربیت یافتہ تھے۔مجموعی طور پرپاکستان میں50فی صد سے بھی کم اساتذہ‘‘استاد’’ کے معیار پر پورا اترتے تھے۔ ایسے میں جب تعلیم کو قومیا لیا گیا تو مزید غیر تربیت یافتہ اساتذہ تعلیمی بندوبست میں آگئے۔ ایک ایسی صورتحال میں جہاں تربیت یافتہ اساتذہ ہی نہ ہوں اور عورتوں میں خواندگی کی شرح بھی کم ہو، آپ کو اتنی بڑی تعداد میں تربیت یافتہ خواتین اساتذہ کہاں سے ملنی تھیں؟

1998,1992,1979اور 2009کی تعلیمی پالیسیاں پڑھ لیں آپ کو مخلوط تعلیم کے حوالہ سے1972کی پالیسی کے منتخب کردہ درمیانی راستہ کی تکرار ہی نظر آئے گی۔ نہ تو من تیل ہوگا نہ رادھا ناچے گی کہ تربیت یافتہ خواتین اساتذہ کی تلاش تاحال جاری ہے۔ جنس کو اوّلیت دیتے ہوئے بنائی جانے والی پالیسی کا یہی انجام ہونا تھا۔ یہ وہ گھٹیا ذہنیت ہے جس کا پردہ سعادت حسن منٹو نے تو 60برس قبل چاک کردیا تھا مگر ہمارے سول وملٹری بیوروکریسی، اشرافیہ اور پالیسی ساز اس چاک گریبان پر پردے ڈالنے میں تادم تحریر”ر جھے“ ہوئے ہیں۔

2011-12, 2009-10 اور 2014-15 کی نصابی کتب کا جائزہ لینے کے بعد میں نے جو رپورٹیں لکھیں ان میں نمایاں ترین تعصبات میں صنفی تعصب برابر ہمارا منہ چڑارہا تھا۔ دیہاتوں میں تو عورتیں ہمیشہ سے کام کرتی تھیں کہ گائے کے گوبر سے پاتھیاں بنانا، جنگل بیلے سے لکڑیاں چن کے لانا، دور دور سے پانی بھر کے لانا اور کھیتوں میں عورتوں کا بہت سے کام کرنا ، دیہی روایات کا انمٹ حصّہ تھا۔ شہروں میں بھی گذشتہ 65 برسوں میں عورتوں کے حوالہ سے نمایاں تبدیلیاں آچکی ہیں۔ آج بڑی تعداد میں خواتین دفاتر میں کام کررہی ہیں، گاڑیاں چلاتی نظر آتی ہیں۔ ڈاکٹری، انجینئرنگ، آرٹ، صحافت، تعمیرات کون سا شعبہ ہے جہاں خواتین موجود نہیں۔ اسمبلیوں میں خواتین موجود ہیں اور اب تو فوج اور دیگر سیکورٹی اداروں میں بھی انہیں شامل کیا جارہا ہے۔ مگر نصابی کتب میں یہ دکھانا “گناہ عظیم” ہے۔ لڑکیوں کو سٹاپو،کیڑی کاٹا، کیرم جیسی ان ڈور کھلیں کھیلتے نصابی کتب میں دکھایا جاتا ہے مگر فٹ بال ، کرکٹ وغیرہ جیسی آﺅٹ ڈور کھیلیں صرف لڑکے کھیلتے ہیں۔ پرائمری کی کتب میں جب یہ دکھایا جائے گا کہ لڑکا گانا گارہا ہے ، پڑھ رہا ہے، موٹر سائیکل چلارہا ہے، بازار جارہا ہے اور لڑکی گھریلو کاموں میں مشغول ہے تو پھر ہم اپنے بچوں کو آخر کیا سکھارہے ہیں؟

اسلام میں کافر کی بجائے منافق سے بچنے کی تلقین کی گئی ہے۔ مجھے یوں لگتا ہے کہ شیرانی صاحب جیسے‘‘کافروں’’ کی نسبت ہمیں اصل خطرہ پالیسیاں بنانے والے ‘‘منافقوں’’ سے ہے۔ میں تو خود شیرانی صاحب سمیت منقولاتی استدلال رکھنے والے تمام مکاتب فکر کے علماءکا ناقد ہوں مگر67سالہ تعلیمی ریکارڈ کا بغور جائزہ لینے کے بعد میں تو یہی کہوں گا کہ شیرانی صاحب نے جو کہا ہے اس پر ہمارے پالیسی ساز اور اعلیٰ اذہان عملی طور پر کار بند ہیں۔ یہ بھی ممکن ہے کہ وہ سرکاری تعلیم کا بیڑہ غرق کرکے نجی اشرافیہ کے تعلیمی کاروبار کو وسعت دینے کے خواہاں ہیں۔ شیرانی صاحب کو ہم ضرور کوسیں، اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل پر بھی حسب توفیق تنقید کریں مگر یہ بھی دیکھیں کہ ہمارے پالیسی ساز اور سول ملٹری اشرافیہ کیوں خود اس منافقت کا پر تو ہے؟ نصابی کتب تو مختلف قسم کی متعصبانہ ذہن سازیوں میں ملوث ہے مگر بطور سول سوسائٹی ہم کس قسم کی حساسیت کا مظاہرہ کررہے ہیں؟ ہم میں سے اکثر توکبھی کسی سرکاری سکول، کالج گئے ہیں نا ہی ان اداروں میں پڑھائی جانے والی کتب بارے ہمیں کچھ علم ہے۔ میں تو مشکور ہوں علامہ شیرانی کا کہ جن کے بیانات کی وجہ سے، منفی انداز سے ہی سہی، مگر ہمیں آئینہ تو دیکھنے کو ملا۔ یہی ہمارا اصل چہرہ ہے کہ جس پر انگریزی کا میک اپ کرکے ہمیں گمراہ رکھا جاتا ہے۔ ہماری اشرافیہ اور پالیسی ساز اپنے بچوں کو تو مخلوط تعلیم دلواتے ہیں، ان کے لیے پرکشش و پر تعیش مخلوط ماحول بناتے ہیں مگر عام پاکستانیوں کو گڑی سڑی اخلاقیات کے بھنور میں غلطاں رکھنے پر کمر بستہ ہیں۔ شیرانی صاحب جیسے چند ایک سر پھرے تو اس‘‘کفر’’ کا برسر عام اعلان بھی کرتے ہیں مگر ہماری اشرافیہ اور پالیسی ساز اس پر بذریعہ منافقت عمل پیرا ہیں۔ وہ اپنی ذاتی زندگیوں میں تو لبرل ہیں مگر عام پاکستانیوں کے مقدر کو اپنی ایسی پالیسیوں کے ذریعہ داغدار رکھنا چاہتے ہیں۔ 

Curriculum of Hate or Peace: Some pages from textbooks

Curriculum of Hate or Peace 

• Don't speak without reading what we are teaching in textbooks
• Read textbooks, visit schools then you can talk about Education
• If you are ready to unlearn then you can resolve this riddle
• There are good examples in textbooks too, don't miss them for sure

Acceptance of religious, sub-religious and cultural diversity is the key but there is a mindset who is still not ready to respect diversities. Urban, gender, cultural, religious and sub-religious biases are still part of public and private textbooks. 

If textbooks remain spreading biases then we cannot move forward

Reality is more valuable from Perception: KPK failed to publish textbooks for Non Muslims as par 2009 education policy and 2006 curriculum documents yet Punjab have done the job and all ethic textbooks have been published in 2014-15. interestingly neither sensitized media praise it nor they are raising this issue in other 3 provinces. Many of them even unaware from those textbooks. 

PARADOX 1

Why Pervaiz Hoodbhai is sporting private elite education? Today at CLF, Islamabad Lok Virsa in a session at Oct 3rd Amena Syed of OUP, Faisal Mushtaq, CEO of Roots private school system, Rumana Hussain , an author of OUP and Hoodbhai all supported private education and no one talk about regulation of that sector. Arifa syeda, educationist neither supported her stage fellows nor contradict with them yet in question answer session a young boy smartly questioned out reach of elite education schools which is less then 10 percent of total private education sector in Pakistan. Hoodbhai told that state should privatize all textbook boards. He himself is adviser of Sindh Textbook Board. Interestingly they are against Islamization of Zia but they are supporter of privatization of education started by same Zia ul Haq. The session was Brokering Peace: Tolerance and citizenship in our classrooms. Interestingly, media did not reported their sermons regarding blessings of Private Education institutions.

PARADOX 2

Paradox: Those who criticize Islamization of Zia day and night are reluctant to criticize bogus and misleading denationalization and privatization policy of education by same Zia ul Haq. Similarly those who criticize privatization of education simultaneously praise Islamization of Zia.

SOME FACTS

TRIBUNE

http://tribune.com.pk/story/966281/love-thy-neighbour-experts-for-reforming-school-curricula/

DAWN

http://www.dawn.com/news/1210598

ISLAMABAD: Academics and education researchers called for a non-biased curriculum on Friday.

Speaking at a session titled ‘Curriculum of Peace or Hate?’ during the Children’s Literature Festival on Friday, Aamir Riaz, who researches in school curriculums and has authored a book on the matter, said there was much evidence of bias in textbooks.

He said: “For example, instances of bias against women: you will see pictures of boys flying kites or playing cricket while their sisters are making or serving food.”

Mr Riaz said this problem of bias against different groups was not just present in public curriculum, but was also scattered with examples in private school syllabus.

He thought there were several reasons for this and said privatisation was a big reason where “we think it is the only solution to every problem”.

“Textbook publishing houses have been privatised as well and they only publish books they think they will profit from,” he added.

The researcher blamed the concept of centralisation as well.

“Centralised government can only care so much about people participation. If you don’t include people in the decision-making process, things are going to go wrong.”

The author said we have to address these issues because we cannot set our children on the straight path if we don’t remove bias from textbooks.

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Researcher Amir Riaz says these issues need to be addressed

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Tahira Abdullah of the Pehli Kiran School agreed, and said our textbooks were very wrong. She said they did not show love, respect or plurality.

“Our curriculum and textbooks are very wrong. They do not show love, they do not show respect and they do not show plurality.”

She said the concept of us being divided as Shia, Sunni, Ahmedi, Christians and Hindus had to be removed.

“Let us instead include a concept of being human.”

Samina Imtiaz of the Peace, Education and Development Foundation helped along Ms Tahira’s point by talking of an incident in Peshawar University. Ms Imtiaz said during a visit of hers to the Peshawar University, an MA student, who was a Hindu, said that a fellow student had alleged in class that Hindus worship dengue mosquitoes.

The Hindu student then told Ms Imtiaz that a teacher joined in and agreed with the fellow student and commented, “What can one expect from people who worship a god with an elephant trunk.” The teacher and student were made to apologise but, Ms Imtiaz said: “The apology was offered because this happened in a sophisticated, formal institution. These sort of things happen every day in villages across the country.”

She said Islamiyat courses should be replaced with comparative religious studies.

“The word Islamiyat should not be used because we live in a country where people of different religions live together.”

Baela Raza of the Children’s Literary Festival said it was up to the students to make their voices heard.

“This situation about different types of bias in the curriculum has gotten too messy. Our curriculum is not what we want. Thinking about these changes makes your head hurt. Some policies have not been thought about at all and others have yet to be implemented. In the meanwhile, why don’t you, the children, raise your voice and tell policy-makers what you want?”

Samina Imtiaz, however, said the government did not have to do much other than read the reports already prepared and just make a decision.

In another session named ‘Article 25-A: Right to Education’ discussions about the right to education were discussed.

The Right to Education’s Syedul Hassan said Article 25 meant all children were entitled to free education but, “rights come with responsibilities. You have a responsibility to attend schools and do well”.

A debate about devising plans to get more children from low-income families into schools followed. The audience was asked what incentives should be offered to parents to let their child go to school instead of work.

Haroona Jatoi, a professor at Quaid-i-Azam University and an adviser to the government for education, said millions of children across the country had never seen the inside of a school and that it was imperative to get them into a classroom.

She said: “We need a mechanism to get 25-A to every corner of Pakistan.”

She said there was a huge gap between what the government said and what they did. The government had previously said all children between the ages of five and 16 will be going to schools by 2015, yet there are millions of children who have never set foot in a school before.

“It has been six years since devolution of power to the provinces has been announced for educational matters and they have not even drawn up their curriculum yet,” she said.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd , 2015

Riddles of Private Schools in Pakistan A Radio debate @ FM103

Riddles of Private Schools in Pakistan 

A Radio debate @ FM103

Issue of private education is very important in Pakistan. It is high time that Provincial assemblies and National assembly should resolve this riddle. State of Public Education is bad and it needs little attention

Who killed education in Pakistan? 
Why Karachi opted for private education after 1947? What was the politics and pressures at that time?
Privatization was a hidden agenda behind Islamization of Zia ? Agenda was Privitization and denationalization yet banner was Islamization. 

Privatization without regulation

 is like a car without driver. 

As par data of PMIU, more then 70% primary education is still in public sector.

The majority of private schools are low fee schools but since 1992 Education policy government is giving facilities in form of tax rebates, subsidies plots as well as transport to elite educational institutions who are less than 7% of private sector.

Millions of children entered in school education after nationalization since 1972. No doubt, there were issues in new system but zia ruined whole system by promoting private education. Even donors and WB were with Zia.

In order to control elite education it is essential to develop political consensus so that private school mafia cannot hide behind political divide.

If private education has good quality of education in their respective elite English medium institutions than why their kids have to go for tutions? No one is ready to question presence of Academies ? 

It is high time that we should discuss Sacred Cow i-e The Education in assemblies.

One should question nexus of private media and private education.

Listen the radio debate and unlearn the myths

Listen at
https://soundcloud.com/toto-riaz/who-will-regulate-private-schools